Multiple DVDs on Hard Drive - Home Theatre

[Job2]

Has anyone managed to store several DVD's on a hard disk and access them via a simple click or double click icon/hyperlink?

I have tried having some authored via TMPGEnc DVD but the authoring process is required every time you update with another DVD.

You see I got this 1000GB disk for my Home theatre to record HiDef TV programs and thought I could load up all my DVD's on the disk also for quick selection as required.

Of course chapter points need to be retained - so I guess it's not that simple.

Any ideas?

[gircobain]

Why don't you store each dvd in a separate folder?

That way you would be able to create one shortcut for each dvd to play it with mpc, for instance:

mplayerc.exe /dvd "pathname"

[Job2]

Could you help me a little more?

Setup a shortcut on my desktop or in a web page snapshot of the movie and link code would look like....?

mplayerc.exe /dvd "pathname"

eg: movies are stored in;
G:\Movies\Bridget_Jones_Diary-Dead_Man_Walking-Ferris_Buellers_Day_Of-Phenomenon\VIDEO_TS

Yes - that's four movies....each one being
Vts_01_1.vob + Vts_01_2.vob
Vts_02_1.vob + Vts_02_2.vob...etc...etc....

Keeping in mind - at the moment - when I double click on them - I dont get chapter settings - which is a little inconvenient.

[M7S]

Am I missing something? Wouldn't you get chapters if you choose the ifo-file instead of the vob-file?

[dvd_maniac]

Just a suggestion.

I have just started to put my dvd collection on hard drive. But I an encoding them with Nero Recode into MP4's. They come out to be an average of 900MB each and look great. They are also 1 file each.
I rip about 15 dvd's a day, import them to recode set size for each and encode. I also use Sage as my interface. although, as of yet does not support HD recordings. What HTPC software do you use?

[gircobain]

I'd say rip each movie to a separate folder
Then you could just create a shorcut in your desktop to run this:

"C:\Program Files\Media Player Classic\mplayerc.exe" /dvd "G:\Movies\Bridget_Jones_Diary"

Same for each other movie/folder

[Job2]

I could make a folder a virtual drive...

Not sure what software to use for this - tweaknow?
I dont have a copy - so will have to go out looking......

Any freeware out there that I might be able to try?

I might head over to Cyberlinks PowerDVD website and post on a forum over there.

I tried the following command line in a shortcut
"C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\MPLAYER2.EXE" /dvd "G:\Movies\Bridget_Jones_Diary-Dead_Man_Walking-Ferris_Buellers_Day_Of-Phenomenon\VIDEO_TS"- but Media Player - says - "does not compute"

Thanks all - Keep the suggestions coming.

PS - I have 100 movies and 1200 music video clips to setup like this.
Lucky I got me a terabyte.

[gircobain]

Uh...what I told you is valid for Media Player Classic (MPC for short) by Gabest (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84358), not lame M$ Windows Media Player 6.4...

As far as I'm concerned, MPC with /dvd switch expects for a full dvd file structure under "pathname"
That is to say, a VIDEO_TS folder and (I'm not sure if this one is mandatory) an AUDIO_TS one
So your command line would be:

"C:\Program Files\Media Player Classic\MPLAYERC.EXE" /dvd "G:\Movies\Bridget_Jones_Diary-Dead_Man_Walking-Ferris_Buellers_Day_Of-Phenomenon"

I don't know what you did do to get those 4 movies vob files under the same directory, so it might not work (that's why I said rip each one to a different folder)

As for virtual drive, look for Daemon Tools:

http://www.daemon-tools.cc/dtcc/portal/download.php

[Job2]

I'm running Win98SE on this particular computer....although my HTPC is running XPsp2. Universality would be good though as I plan on having the two networked.
the link you gave me was for xp-me versions of WMPC - any for 98SE?

[gircobain]

At that same page, the file named mpc98me6482.zip is the win98/me version