Trouble Getting Ripped DVD's working (1 Viewer)

[Harblar]

MediaPortal Version: 1.0.2
MediaPortal Skin: Streamed MP
Windows Version: Vista Premium 64 bit sp1
CPU Type: Intel E5300 2.6 Ghz
HDD: 120 gb Sata
Memory: currently 2gb ddr2-800 (expanding to 6gb in a day or two)
Motherboard: Asus P5N7A-VM
Video Card: Integrated Nvidia 9300
Video Card Driver: 8.16.11.9062
Sound Card: Integrated
Sound Card AC3: same
Sound Card Driver: Realtek
MPEG2 Video Codec: MPC Decoder
MPEG2 Audio Codec: AC3 Filter
h.264 Video Codec: MPC Decoder
Cooling: Numerous Fans
Power Supply: Diablotek 380watt micro atx
TV: Sony 1080p Rear projection (not hooked up yet... Currently Running a 15" crt monitor)
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI (currently using Vga Out)

Hello All!

New to the forums as well as too MP. Been holding off on putting together a dvd server system for myself for quite awhile, but with 1-2tb drives getting into the reasonably priced range I've took the plunge. I loaded up media portal and the Streamed MP skin and I like what I see. I've got lot's of movies and TV series and this should work well for both. I'm kind of still in the testing phase and figuring stuff out. I am not entirely certain of the procedure I should be using to rip DVD's. I'm storing them on a separate computer I setup running an UnRAID OS. Tried ripping Pulp Fiction and a few episodes of Gurren Lagann using Dvd decrypter. No problems there. Cut out all the junk and ripped each to it's own folder:
Movies\Pulp Fiction\ and Television\Gurren Lagann\Season 01\Ep 01\ respectively. Each folder contains 3 files: vts_whatever.txt, vts_whatever.ifo, and vts_whatever.vob

I'm using the Moving Pictures and TV Series plugins. Got them loading up, identifying the correct movies and/or episodes, etc. I load up Media Portal and every thing is showing up where it should. I try to play Pulp Fiction and nothing happens. The screen just freezes and MP becomes unresponsive. no black screen, no movie... nothing. I Should note that the computer isn't locked up, just MP.

Again, I'm new to MP so maybe I'm just missing something really easy. Wrong ripping procedure/folder structure, screwy codecs or player settings, or something else. Any thoughts?

 

[technick]

Hi, not really a total answer to you question but for information I use makeMKV (MakeMKV - Make MKV from Blu-ray and DVD). With it, you have the exact quality of DVD, no intro and no unneed stuffs. It's also perfect for series DVD.

For datas I have 5TB on master system but I use also freenas. Not in raid to have only one disk in action (less noise, less t°)

 

[NLS]

Did you pay for unRAID?
I've been using unRAID for years and now I am running away.

 

[Harblar]

I've not used MKV, but I have heard of it. I was kind of shying away from it if for no other reason than to save a couple steps and some extra time in the ripping process. If it works I'll give it a shot. I need it to be able to do multiple audio streams, subtitles, and chapters. I think I read somewhere that it can do this, but I want to make sure before I get a whole bunch done.

NLS, I have not handed out the dough for UnRAID yet. Just using the Basic. So far it suits my needs fairly well.

I have 3 computers. My main desktop system, My HTPC, and and old computer I turned into the UnRAID server.

Is there any particular reason I should avoid it? What would be a better option? I've seen another option called FlexRAID. Would that be a better option? If I'm going to switch, I'd prefer to do it before I start ripping 700 some dvd's.

 

[NLS]

Better move this to PMs as it goes of topic.

Contact me.

In the meantime read this:

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/general-62/best-nas-solution-45568/index3.html

 

[Harblar]

I read that thread and I guess I'm missing something.

My Current File server is running a p4 3.0ghz with 3gb off DDR400 on an Asus P4C800-E deluxe board. Currently have a 2tb parity drive and a 1tb data drive running on a Gigabit Lan. (had 2 1tb drives, but one was faulty and I'm waiting on the replacement). All I need for a server is something that can just start up and run (administrated remotely), Protect against drive failures, and allow for additional disks of different capacities to be added to and/or replace other drives at any given time. It's ability to run the os off a small flash drive is also nice. All I'm going to be storing is DVD's. That's it. Maybe some day down the road I'll want to mess with ripping Bluerays, but for now I have an Oppo stand alone player that is bullet proof in terms of HD playback and Lossless audio support. So far UnRAID does exactly what I need. FlexRAID looks like it might what I need as well, but I don't know enough about it yet to make a decision.

Back to my original Question... I tried out MKV and it works fairly well with a couple exceptions.

1. A lot of the Television series I am going to be ripping (I have a feeling) are encoded as one large file and individual episodes are broken up by chapters. In order to get individual episodes I have to first rip out the specific episodes one by one and then have MKVmaker put them together. Then I have to edit the file name to work with the TV Series plugin. It works, but is time consuming.

2. Once in MKV form and loaded into MP everything works great. Video plays, multiple audio streams work, but Subtitles are a no go (at least for me and my limited knowledge) I have a number of Anime discs so Subtitles prove to be very useful... Even if I'm listening to the english track there are often forced subtitles that will pop up with translations for Japanese Kanji, etc on screen at times. It seems that there are ways to get subtitles to work with MKV files, but they also seem fairly time consuming.

I revisited the ripping straight to a Video_TS folder, but this time used any dvd and DVD Shrink (on Pulp Fiction). This worked perfectly... video played, Subtitles worked. Only problem... No audio, at least in Media Portal. I tried playing it with WMP 11 and it worked fine. Outputed the full DTS surround sound to the reciever, synced up... No problems. Tried with Gurren Lagann Episode, Dolby Digital Track. Same results

I'm guessing I have a codec screwed up somewhere, but only god knows where. In the past I used Theater Tek as a DVD player with good Results. Would using this as an external player be better than MP's internal player?

Edit...


Ok...

I'm an Idiot. Was changing codec settings under video player. Changed them under Dvd player and Viola`. Had the renderer set to HDMI (which I will eventually be using when I integrate it into my theater), but I'm testing with and optical connection right now. Doh!

Ok, so Problem solved. Ripping To the Video_TS Folder with DVD shrink/anydvd is giving me exactly what I need now.

Now I just have a couple of Questions to help me streamline the process a little. When DVD shrink rips the DVD it ends up with two IFO files: VIDEO_TS.IFO and VTS_01_0.IFO. When I goto Import the videos into the MP TV Series plugin it tries to parse both files. I have the strings setup to correctly Parse VIDEO_TS.IFO and I know that If I don't manually add VTS_01_0.IFO it won't get added, but it still bugs me. Is there anyway to set up a parsing string that will ignore everything but VIDEO_TS.IFO in the folder?

Also when I play The Gurren Lagann episodes there is a set of subtitles that should play automatically, but doesn't. Is there anyway to force these?

 

[technick]

FYI I don't have problems with makeMKV and subtitles but be carefull if you shrink DVD : No problem until you have a 52" screen. Ok the MKV is big but with makeMKV you have a 1:1 copy, the image quality is better. When MKV don't work on my DVD I make a ISO.

 

[Harblar]

Not an issue. I'm not compressing anything... There's a reason I waited for 1-2tb drives to get affordable.