I jsut want a step by step easy process to rip movies so that they are playable in nice quality through my xbox360 in my bedroom. I have dvdshrink already and am runnin the My movie emulator in my windows Media Center 2005 and i am alrunning it in my xbox360 and xbox can see the movies i have ripped using My movies recordign system. but i get a c: error saying that it cannot see the web page. i am at a loss. please soomeone teach me the easy way.
also: cna someone tell me what format the xbox 360 reads and what format recorded tv is in my media center and my videos are? I am reading all of these forums and hearring about all of these different formats you have to record and then convert to. But i dont know the difference between them.
Well, TwoTone, I can tell you a method that works, but not with your current set-up.
You'll need the following programs: (1) AnyDVD and CloneDVDMobile (www.slysoft.com); and (2) VideoRedo (www.videoredo.com) . These programs can be downloaded for free on a trial/evaluation basis - the Slysoft programs for 21 days; VideoRedo for, I think, 15 days. If you decide to purchase you're spending about $110 - 130 total.
Install AnyDVD, CloneDVDMobile, and VideoRedo.
AnyDVD works in the background whenever you install a DVD into your DVD device. AnyDVD strips any copy protection (Macrovision, etc.) from the DVD.
1. Insert DVD.
2. Open CloneDVDMobile (not CloneDVD2).
3. Select "VOB file (passthrough)" from the list. Hit "next."
4. In the "DVD files box" find the "Video_TS" file on the DVD. Hit "OK."
5. Select the files you want to rip (usually just the movie). Hit "next."
6. On the Audio and Subtitle screeen, just hit "next."
7. Enter a file name and destination to write to (e.g., "J:/movie.vob). Hit "Go."
The DVD will now be ripped to your harddrive as a .vob file.
8. Find your .vob file (e.g., "movie. vob") on your harddrive.
9. Simply rename the .vob file to ".mpg file." (e.g. "movie.vob" becomes "movie.mpg").
10. Open VideoReDo.
11. From the "Tools" menu, select "Quickstream Fix."
12. Select your .mpg file as the "Input Stream."
13. Give your "Output stream" a name (e.g. "movie(2).mpg")
Since I don't currently have a .vob/.mpg file created on my harddrive, I don't have the next steps exactly memorized, but, I think, that's essentially it. In short, you created another .mpg file which VideoReDo has "fixed" for any sync errors.
The resulting .mpg file will play perfectly on your extenders (I know it will on an Xbox 360 and see no reason why it wouldn't on an Xbox or other type of extender) from the "MyVideos" application.
Total time (for all steps): about 20 to 30 minutes. That's it!!
Note: I, personally, have had problems playing the movie(2).mpg files on the "host" PC from "MyVideos" in the Media Center application . . . BUT, the movie(2).mpg files play perfectly on Windows Media Player, so I can still watch them on the "host" PC (just not through the Media Center application).
Furthernore: I did not create this method. I learned about it from this forum - specifically a thread started by CodaBrett in, I think, the Extenders thread. If you search there for DVD rip - you should find it. Props where props are due.
MceSaint.
ok i printed out your step by step but what do you mean by
"Well, TwoTone, I can tell you a method that works, but not with your current set-up." whats wrong wth my setup? do you mean software?
I mean with your software. That is, I can tell you how to do it with the AnyDVD, DVDCloneMobile, VideoReDo software, not with the software you have (mainly because I don't use that software).
It *may* be possible with your software, I just don't know.
But, the gist of the thing is rip your dvd's to .vob files on your hard drive and simply re-name that file from "whatevernameofmovie.vob" to "whatevernameofmovie.mpg." That will probably work fine 70% to 80% of the time. That is, 7 or 8 times out of 10 doing that alone will result in a file that will play fine on your xbox extender. In the remaining 2 or 3 cases, you may have difficulty - especially sync issues.
To get the remaining 20% to 30% you'll need to fix the sync errors that sometimes creep-up when a .vob file is re-named to .mpg - that's where software like VideoReDo comes in.
MceSaint
yea, I mean you'd think that Microsoft would have thought this out since they were placing the extender software into the xbox360 from the "get go" that they would throw their hands up in the air and tell all. "Hey look an update patch for all you who have bought a Pc running Windows Media Center 2005 that adds an extra tab called "My Movies" that allows you to play any format of movie directly from your Pc through your xbox 360 to your Tv.
Plus since they "Microsoft" knows that there are extenders out there and that there is this capability of ripping dvd's to our media centers and that they are comming out with this neat game system that acts like an extender that they "Microsoft" would have made "it" the xbox360 be able read directly ripped dvd's that are on our system's through it.
"You think? yea?"
it's so obvious that a simpleton like me thought of it yet they pay all of these techs in there company to make something that could to it. But just leave it out.
Well . . . back-up a minute.
The Xbox 360 already has a DVD player built-in. I think it fairly reasonable for MS to assume that most people will simply play their DVDs on the Xbox 360's built-in DVD player. *THAT* is the easiest method of watching your DVDs.
So if - strictly speaking - it's the easiest, non-techie thing you want: just put your DVD in the Xbox 360's DVD tray, hit play, and sit back. That's what most of the world is going to do.
When you take that very same DVD, put it in you PC's DVD drive, rip the DVD content to the hard drive and then export the result over a network to the Xbox 360 - you've chosen a harder path to navigate than simply playing the DVD on the Xbox 360 directly.
So, yes, you have to do some extra work. But it doesn't require a computer science degree from MIT.
Why is it a harder path to navigate?
Well, first your standard DVD contains a lot of stuff. Stuff like: the main movie, menus, subtitles, sound options, extras (alternate endings, director's comments, etc.) that some users may want to keep and others may want to dump when they copy the DVD to the hard drive. So you have to have an edit function.
Second, is the file format. Oversimplifying a DVD disk stores information in one format (.vob) and contains instructions (IFOs and BUPs) for playing those files. A stand alone DVD player (like an Xbox 360) only has to follow the instructions and read the files. But, ripping those files to the hard drive, converting them to PC friendly format, and piping them over a network to the Xbox 360 requires several more steps:
Specifically, let's be honest here: most people are ripping retail purchased, commercial DVDs. That means copy protection - i.e., the DVD is encrypted somehow. Which, under normal circumstances, would prevent copying the DVD's .vob files to your harddrive. So, the encryption has to be broken if you're going to be able to rip the .vob files at all. Decryption is NOT a program Microsoft itself is going to provide for a variety of reasons (i.e., most countries having laws against such decryption programs, MS relationship with content providers already nervous about copy protections being defeated, etc.).
Given the decryption issue alone, I think it is quite understandable why MS didn't build a "one-click" DVD rip, convert, and network to Xbox 360 solution into MCE.
Half of the time required for the method described in my original post - about 15 minutes - is the time required to break the decryption and copy the DVD's .vob files to the hard drive. And, quite frankly, 15 minutes to decrypt and rip a commercial DVD is about quickest time you'll find today.
The other half of the processing time for the method described in my original post is converting the vob file (which is a file format the Xbox 360 cannot read) to mpeg (which is a file format the Xbox 360 can read). Maybe you could "fault" MS for not making the Xbox 360 compatible with .vob files, but - by the same token - why not blame the movie studios for using vob? (the truth is neither is at fault; they're simply using what they believe is the best file format for their situation).
Vob files are very much like mpeg-2 files. Consequently, simply changing the extension on the file name from .vob to .mpg will result in file that will play perfectly when piped out to the Xbox 360 *most* of the time (80% maybe more). Renaming the extensions only takes a few seconds.
But because .vob files and mpeg-2 files are not EXACTLY the same, however, sometimes the little differences between the two CAN make a difference in playback. VideoReDo fixes those differences that sometimes (maybe 20% to 30%) occur. Running the VideoReDo fix is about another 15 minutes.
Compared to ripping a DVD to the hard drive and buring a new copy (for back-up purposes), it's about the same amount of "complesity" and takes about the same amount of time.
The funny (ironic) thing is, the movie studios all cry about how easy it is to rip DVDs to hard drives. But as the comments here suggest, despite the *relative* ease of ripping DVDs to the hard drive, some people will stind think it is way too complicated for them
I understand what your saying. I guess what I’m getting at is that you take the example of the software the guy made called "My Movies." If he can create an upgrade that allows you to copy the DVD info to your HD for playback on your computer then "Microsoft" with all of its MIT educated boys working for them could have written a patch for us running MCE that would have added something similar to "My Movies" that would allow us to store our dvd's to our HD in the proper format "for play only" and then also write in to the xbox360 extender a way to watch them. while still keeping the copyright in tact so that you cannot burn copies. Now ask yourself why didn’t they do that? Well yes the xbox360 can play DVD directly. But that’s not why. Think Ad-on sales AKA the HD-DVD player for the xbox 360. i believe that they didn’t do what i stated above because they want to sell us add on's. "The Grand Conspiracy"
After this three step process: 1) Rip 2) Rename 3)ReDO which seems to work great, I have a few more questions.
1) Is the movie still in DVD quality once viewed on the 360?
2) When viewed on the extender does the movie have surround sound?
3) When viewed on the extender, can you fast forward, rewind, chapter skip forward and reverse, pause?
In other words, is a normal viewing experience possible using this method?
Thanks
1. Yes, and upconverted if you got your 360 on HD. You might lose some marginal quality if your compression rati on on DVD Shrink is to great.
2. Yes if you choose the AC3 5.1 as the default stream on DVD Shrink
3. No chapter sforward and rewind only 30 Seconds but there is plug in http://blogs.msdn.com/toub/archive/2007/01/03/position-changer-add-in-updated-for-windows-vista.aspx that improves FF Rewinf using time code input
4. The only lost is menu, subtitles, and ohter audio streams other than your default, but if you use my Movies you can configure it to play extras by ripping the extras in a folder fixing the time code and linking it to your folder. Example
http://360mediacenter.com/images/albums/NewAlbum_ada5d/tn_Attackof_the_clones.JPG
I remember 10 years ago when I first made my first mp3's it took me over an hour to encode my first CD into mp3's. My point is that at beginning making mp3's and having mp3's players was only a novelty. I mean who would pay $100 plus for a music player ten years ago. The mp3 revolutionized music because it became a universal format that could play in virtually every device. Ten years later the average Joe can buy an IPod and load the music with their CD collection. There is a larger amount of people that no longer load Cd's tp listen to music, but instead use MP3 players. What made it possible a universal format, software that made it easy to rip and encode audio, and cheaper larger flash memory. The moral is that customers will embrace new and better ways of using media if it is cheap and easy.
Microsoft, Apple, and Sony all want control of the living room but all there solutions fall way short of making it easy for customers to embrace their product. The belief that the best way to show movies is to load a DVD or HD-DVD is short sighted. The best way is to have something like a home IPod where you can access whatever video, no matter the room, place or time. The job of Microsoft is to make this happen not use litigation as an excuse to limit their innovation. With their incredible power Microsoft could make the streaming of DVD's possible.
This is the reason media center computers have not been the next great electronic product.. Why would you want to buy a product for your media room that cannot play or make a video library and only records some TV channels? The Xbox 360 has the capability to be the product that can do this by adding VOB playback with all titles and menus, adding IPTV capability that was hyped up and smaller chip with quieter fan. Is not Microsoft fault but the ones of MPAA and Cable companies, but I do fault them for encouraging fragmentation of video format with there support for expensive an ineffective DRM's. video format. Digital information should not be managed what makes it great is its freedom and versatility. Companies need to make better products not protect old, outdated, and inefficient products.
I have had the most success with DVD-WMV. Pretty close to a single click solution. Good quality video at about 1.5GB per movie. Downside is that it is WMV rather than an Mpeg4.