Build Your Own DVD Movie Server
By Alexander Grundner |
August 9th, 2004
Comments (5)
A couple weeks ago I got around to playing with “DVD Shrink” and “DVD Decrypter,” both of which are DVD decoding tools that strip DVDs’ of their Macrovision copy protection but leave in all the menu functions and extras for on-demand playback, and found that either of the two could be used as the foundation in creating an inexpensive DVD movie server.
I really don’t want to go into the details of what each of these freeware programs can do, but I will tell you that DVD Shrink is best suited for shrinking down DVDs to file sizes that will fit on a 4.7GB backup DVD and DVD Decrypter makes perfect DVD copies at around 7GB in variety of formats including ISO image files. The decision you have to make early on is, do you want to have a library of compressed DVD movies that you can easily make burned copies of, or do you want the best quality possible at the expense of disk space? I contemplated the question and looking at the numbers for total number of movies in relation to disk space and the choice was clear to me to go with the shrunken down version, plus the convenience of being able to make backup copies on the fly was a nice perk too.
Okay, so here’s the setup. First backup all your DVDs using the above mentioned software to either your computer’s hard drive, NAS (network attached storage) server, or central (always on) PC home server – last two being the best options. In all cases it’s a good idea to map the hard drive the files will be saved on to every computer, or at least make sure that the computer that your DVD file folder is on has its properties set as a “Shared” folder. Then you’ll need a way to playback the DVD files from a hard drive (not as easy as you might think). I tested three popular DVD player apps: WinDVD 4, Windows Media Player 9, and CyberLink PowerDVD. Testing results for VIDEO_TS.IFO (the main DVD startup file) playback were buggy in both WinDVD 4 and WMP 9, but PowerDVD worked perfectly due to the fact that it can play DVDs from the hard drive natively via the open file type function (see below).
PowerDVD Control Panel Instructions:
Select Source (Ctrl-O) –> Open DVD file on Hard Disk Drive –> (go to the folder that contains) VIDEO_TS.IFO
Let me give an example of how this could work: say I’m in the den and I want to view a movie on my laptop, open PowerDVD and locate the DVD folder on the network and select the VIDEO_TS.IFO file of the movie you want to watch and bingo you’re now streaming a DVD movie. Better yet, if you have a Windows XP Media Center Edition PC, you can navigate to the My Videos folder, select the movie DVD folder you would like to watch, and Media Center will play the movie as if a DVD was just inserted (no poking around to find the VIDEO_TS.IFO file). On a similar note, there is also a forum thread that was started here for media adapters that can play VIDEO_TS.IFO; unfortunately, none exist at the present time. If any media adapter manufactures read this how-to article, PLEASE add this functionality! I’m sure most network savvy people would love to be able to buy an inexpensive, non-PC based solution for streaming their DVD movies around the house by using the process laid out above.
So there you go. The concept is fairly straightforward and will work in both a wired or 802.11a/g wireless environment. As always it’s good to point out that you are breaking MPAA copyright laws when stripping copy protection and using content in ways that are not originally intended. However, it is fair to share the knowledge on how one can use content they own in ways to better enjoy them.
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Filed in: Digital Media Servers____________
I received a message from our reader SeattleBob regarding an interface that will pull up DVD info and play DVDs from the hard drive using the method explained above.
I wish I could help you out with this, but I haven’t found a solution to this. I do know of something that comes close, though… checkout My DVD Collection 2004. The application works only on Windows Media Center, but as mentioned in the how-to article, MCE plays DVDs from the hard drive perfectly when you select the folder. Hope this helps! If you find anything else or if anyone has a suggestion let us know.
I always wanted a real video server for my big screen tv and 5.1 audio setup. I bought a 980H oppo dvd player to upconvert my dvds to 1080p. It has a usb port for viewing pictures or video from a thumbdrive. I burned three movies to a thumbdrive and tested it. Perfect video and sound. DTS and ac3 worked plus it upconverted the video to 1080p too. I just ordered a 4TB raid5 usb external drive. I should be able to store 600+ movies on it. Now I can hit the usb port select button on the dvd remote, pick a movie, and have instant dvd playback with out any scratched disc worries. It’s the greatest thing….
I have converted movies to many different formats and can stream the video to my Plasma via wireless connection to my netgear digital Entertainer. I also have a WDTV connected to another TV and have an external Hard drive connected via USB. Both work fine. I am trying to find something that will let me use the Cover Art for the Thumbnail and then be able to select a movie and then have a screen appear that lists the description of the movie as well as the actors in the movie. Do you know of any media servers that will allow me to do this?
Have a look into XBMC. Ive just done pretty much the same thing by butchering an XBox. Just point it at my network drive for the movies. The advantage to XBMC is that it will organise everything into a library, download the dvd covers, actor info and lots of other cool stuff. It also has a program built in which downloads all the new movie trailers.
I’ve heard that the video is choppy using XBMC on an XBox… Thoughts?