Playing Rental Discs which aren't recognised by online search (1 Viewer)

[robbo100]

Hi there.

I was wondering if there is a way that you can set up a dummy movie within Moving Pictures which can effectively play any disc in the drive (using the external player).

I am subscribed to LOVE FILMS and their Blue Ray discs are often rental versions and are not recognised by the online media data search and as such do not appear within the Moving Pictures film list (also, I don't want them added when I don't own the disc in any case, as I will only have to delete it later).

This means that to play these films, I need to close MP and load PDVD manually. Clearly this is not an enormous problem, but I am lazy .

I have used HD_Starter in the past for this, but now I use X-Factor (which doesn't support X-Factor in basic home) with Moving Pictures, I would ideally like to have a single point for all discs to be played - Moving Pictures is my favourite option and the wife finds it simple to use.

Would it be possible to put "Play Current Removable Disc" as an option in the Moving Pictures startup filters menu, so that I can just click on that and my external player will automatically run?

Or, is there an existing way to do this within Moving Pictures already (such as creating a dummy film entry or something)?

Thanks

Robbo100

 

[RoChess]

The reasons behind MovingPictures are explained here: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/moving-pictures-284/tv-show-support-music-dvds-45417/

Next thing you know, somebody wants MovingPictures to start their coffeemaker, because they love a cup when watching a movie.

You should however be able to use MediaPortal MyVideos for this, as that one is designed to browse folders and discs without adding them to a database. This also solves your do-not-add-Rentals problems. You can even configure MyVideos to play DVDs automatic, so it doesn't even require user intervention, which your wife will appreciate.

jonaskp, I'm not the one with the problem, but I was under the impression that MyVideos has no problem with Blu-Ray discs when you use an external player, which is what robbo100 specified as using.

 

[jonaskp]

RoChess: The issue is with Blu-ray discs, not DVD's. The problem is that Movingpictures can handle Blu-ray discs in different ways, which are not possible in MyVideos.

Unfortunately I have no solution to your issue.

 

[robbo100]

Next thing you know, somebody wants MovingPictures to start their coffeemaker, because they love a cup when watching a movie.

Easy tiger - I don't think my request required quite such a harsh response. All I was asking, if I can use the excellent user interface of Moving Pictures for other MOVIES (not music videos etc) which don't quite fall into the normal category.

If the answer is no, then fair enough and thanks for the tip of using MyVideos, but as jonaskp correctly states, I don't believe that MyVideos can play BlueRay disks. I have it configured already to autoplay a DVD when it is put in the drive, but this does not happen with BlueRays, hence my post here.

Does anyone else have any other ideas?

Thanks

 

[RoChess]

Easy tiger - I don't think my request required quite such a harsh response. All I was asking, if I can use the excellent user interface of Moving Pictures for other MOVIES (not music videos etc) which don't quite fall into the normal category.

Didn't mean to sound harsh, just putting things in perspective that it will be impossible to please everybody and that it is better to focus on doing one thing perfect, then a lot of things shacky. You mainly asked for ability to play a movie without adding it to the database, and that goes against the core database driven design of MovingPictures.

So just to confirm for Moving Pictures, you tried the Config -> Behaviour -> "When DVD is inserted" -> "play movie" option, combined with setting the advanced settings to use your external player?

And MediaPortal v1.0.1+ MyVideos should have no problem detecting Blu-Ray media and use external player to play them (if you lack DirectShow filters). This was fixed in Issue #1847.

 

[usualsuspect]

AW: Playing Rental Discs which aren't recognised by online search

I have used HD_Starter in the past for this, but now I use X-Factor (which doesn't support X-Factor in basic home)

perhaps it's the easiest way to integrate hd-starter in x-factor's basic home (which should not be too hard, all you need is a window id) and go on using this solution...

 

[robbo100]

No problem, I probably over reacted a bit.

Moving Pictures (on my system) will only play a blueray automatically, if it is in the database (which brings me back to the starting question). I have got normal (recognised) bluerays and HD DVDs working with no problem through Moving Pictures perfectly, so the setup is correct.

MyVideos - I haven't tried using an external player, because you don't seem to be able to split out sending DVDs and hard drive stored videos to the internal player and Bluerays and HD DVDs to the external player. I really don't want all of my videos being played via PDVD as it is not as slick as using the internal player.

I think I will do what usual suspect says and use HD_Starter. I can select the other home in x-factor which does list it there, even if it is not in basic home.

I thought I might be onto something by putting "0" in the "Media/Disk Label" for an inserted Blueray (manually added to database) in the hope that I could have a film in Moving Pictures called " BLUERAY DISC" which would generically play any blueray disc (since the full path should be the same for all i.e. D:\bdmv\index.bdmv). But sadly it does not work.

Robbo100

The other problem is that MediaPortal does not maximise again after quitting PDVD when using HD_started (and the green H icon stays in the task bar).

But I haven't tried to use it for ages, so I probably just need to have a tweak around with it.

Robbo100

 

[usualsuspect]

AW: Playing Rental Discs which aren't recognised by online search

integration of hd-starter in x-factor basichome is easily possible. I just tried.
just modify the attached dummy.xml (change name and window id of your hd-starter multishortcut), copy it in x-factor skin folder and you can easily modify your basichome with the x-factor basichome editor...

 

[robbo100]

usualsuspect -

Wow, I didn't realise it was that easy!!!!

Thanks mate

Robbo100

I fixed the problem with MP not maximising. My remote key was mapped to "alt F4" not "esc"

Thanks

Robbo100