New to the portal - can someone help an idiot (1 Viewer)

[dunkle]

Hi - first post so be gentle

Just transferred from MCE to MEdia Portal as I am on the understanding taht MP will allow me to use TheaterTek and FFDShow to upsacle DVD and video playback to 720p

Problem Is, is that I am a bit thick and unsure on what I am doing so if anyone could help I would be grateful

(1) Using DVDDecrypter I have ripped around 70 movies across 4 Hard Drives. However when I ran the Setup Wizard its only found a handful of the movies on 2 of the 4 discs. How can I go about getting the rest added. (The movies have a folder each in video_ts format etc)

(2) I then have a folder in which are various other folders for various .AVI files - one folder for HD clips etc another folder for trailers and another for home movies etc. In MCE each of these appeared seperatly under MyVideos and I could then choose each individual clip - How does ths work under Media Portal

(3) TheaterTek and Upscaling. How do I make sure Media Portal uses Theatertek and that I get upscaled to 720p playback. Also how do I go about disabling the Theatertek splash screen.

(4) Movie artwork - I think this is retrievable via IMDB but clueless how to do it

Thats about it for now - but if anyone has any other suggestions how I can get upscaled 720p and best picture possible be grateful

Whole thing needs to be driven by front end as its my other half who will be using it also so fully remote useable

Thanks

 

[Taipan]

Hi dunkle, and welcome to MediaPortal..

but if anyone has any other suggestions how I can get upscaled 720p and best picture possible be grateful

You don't say what type of display device you are using (TV, monitor, plasma, projector, etc) but the easiest way to get 720p output is to set your video card's resolution to 1280x720 progressive (for 16:9 display). There is no need to use ffdshow or TheatreTek, as the video card will do the "upscaling" for you.

I have a DLP projector in 1280x720 progressive mode and it gives a superb picture, particularly with the NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder.

HTH, but maybe I have mis-understood your query?

 

[dunkle]

Hi dunkle, and welcome to MediaPortal..

but if anyone has any other suggestions how I can get upscaled 720p and best picture possible be grateful

You don't say what type of display device you are using (TV, monitor, plasma, projector, etc) but the easiest way to get 720p output is to set your video card's resolution to 1280x720 progressive (for 16:9 display). There is no need to use ffdshow or TheatreTek, as the video card will do the "upscaling" for you.

I have a DLP projector in 1280x720 progressive mode and it gives a superb picture, particularly with the NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder.


cheers for that - no not misunderstood at all and thanks

The reason I changed from MCE was that accoring to many and also based on my own findings no matter what res I set my PC to MCE was designed to change it and would not upscale a DVD picture

Im connecting to a 50" Samsung DLP set

if anyone could help me get my vido files set up as needed then things should be fine at last
HTH, but maybe I have mis-understood your query?

 

[dunkle]

would have helped if I had actually posted an answer

I am using a 50" DLP set - native res is 720 - used to use MCE but discovered that although desktop resolution was set to 720 MCE would lower the res and would not upscale DVD to 720p

SO moved to Media Portal and just a little confused on how to set it up like I want it

In videos I would like a Folder for an icon for each film that shows the dvd cover or similar. When I click on this icon I would like that film to play. I would then like a folders in which would have seperate clips etc.

I ran the search function but it only found a few of my DVDs (stored as Video_Ts) on a few of my drives - still leaving me some short - it also shows no artwork

If someone could help me I would be grateful

Is there a beginners guide to getting it set up to play with TheaterTek and FFDShow - thanks

also another BIG problem is that when playing back w/s DVDs they appear as a aquare in the middle of my screen - not only do I get the standard W/S bars but big black ones at the side

 

[Taipan]

also another BIG problem is that when playing back w/s DVDs they appear as a aquare in the middle of my screen - not only do I get the standard W/S bars but big black ones at the side

You can cycle through the various "zoom" modes by using the "S" key - you should find a mode that eliminates the black bars.

 

[dunkle]

Thik I am slowly getting there but still having two BIG problems

THE FIRST

Have 4 HDs across which loads of DVDs have been ripped using DVDDecrypter - stored in a folder for each movie in video_ts format etc

When I use SCAN Media Portal only finds a few on a few of the HDs - not all of them

When I try and add them manually, although I think I am doing it correctly, the files fail to show in the MyMovies section.

Following on from this - all I want to be able to do is click on the movie and have it play - however when clicking on a selection it just goes into that folder instead of playing the movie

Also - How do I get the info for each movie - do I have to scan each one in IMDB or can I just get it to go off and find each one

THE SECOND PROBLEM

No matter what I do I can not get a W/S image - the film, no matter what it is - is just showed in a box in the middle of the screen - big black bars to left and right - this seems toi be the case with MediaPortal or TheaterTek

 

[Taipan]

No matter what I do I can not get a W/S image - the film, no matter what it is - is just showed in a box in the middle of the screen - big black bars to left and right - this seems toi be the case with MediaPortal or TheaterTek

So, I take it that using the "S" key to cycle through the various aspect ratios, did not help?

 

[FlipGer]

Hi,

1)
- The automatic scan of the wizard does not work well
- Add the shares of your movies manually: Setup->Movies->Shares
- You do not have to add each movie / directpry, just add the root directory
- Do the IMDB lookup there Setup->Movies->Database or within MP by hitting F3 on the movie / folder (with the VOBs)

Flip