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[rec head]

I have been buying UHD releases. They have all come with BD's and Vudu versions as well. I activate the Vudu code and rip the BD just so I can see it in my library but it seems like a waste of space. If I'm going to watch the movie at home I'll pop the UHD disc into my stand alone player. If I'm away from home I can watch on Vudu. But I want to see the movie in my MC library too.

Is there a way to add media to the library so I can see it in theater view without actually having the movie ripped? My first thought was just to use a small file and rename it as the movie but if there is a better way I'd like to do that.

[JimH]

What happens if you insert it long enough that MC sees it, but don't rip it?

That works for CD's.

[blgentry]

But I want to see the movie in my MC library too.

Is there a way to add media to the library so I can see it in theater view without actually having the movie ripped? My first thought was just to use a small file and rename it as the movie but if there is a better way I'd like to do that.

Yes, the "small file" way definitely works.  There was a thread here a while back by a guy who was cataloging all of his DVDs in MC using a dummy file that was something like 3 seconds long.  A real video file, just really, really short.  He copied this file to new file names for each movie and then edited the metadata to do the lookup.  Do a search and you'll probably find the thread.  Or do some experiments. 

Good luck.

Brian.

[jachin99]

I brought that up, and I used it for vudu movies.  I think i even had it pop open a browser and go to vudu's homepage when you selected the move.  I'm pretty sure the file extension was .vob and then i somehow told jriver to open files with that file extension using a browser with the command line argument www.vudu.com or something similar.

[rudyrednose]

Yes, the "small file" way definitely works.  There was a thread here a while back by a guy who was cataloging all of his DVDs in MC using a dummy file that was something like 3 seconds long.  Brian.

Just want to mention that you may not even need a real video file. 
Sometimes, I replace a compressed .mkv movie by a less compressed one but need to move it on a different disk as space is missing.
Rather than wait for the transfer of the smaller (original) file to the new location, I delete the old my_movie_name.mkv, create an empty .txt file, then rename it my_movie_name.mkv. then do the RMC thing.
Finally I overwrite the dummy mkv with the real (larger) file.
I do that in order not to have to import again, to keep my original import date and last watched date.

[rec head]

What happens if you insert it long enough that MC sees it, but don't rip it?

That works for CD's.

I don't have Anydvd. I rip to MKV.

Thanks for the insights. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't a built in cataloging feature that I had never come across. I'll use the renamed small files.

[jmone]

I used to use the multiple Dummy File approach (small video that said go put a disc in) prior to ripping all the discs.  You could probably do the same thing these days with one file and use Particles to create an entry for each one.  It would be easier and you could still get all the meta data scraping for each title.

[blgentry]

Particles are messy.  Just use a little file.  Don't make it overly difficult.  Why would I say this?  Try moving 100 particles to another disk.  *Poof*.  All gone.

I want to like particles.  I want to use them.  Currently they have too many considerations to make it worth my while.

Brian.

[RoderickGI]

I haven't done this yet for my unripped DVDs and Blu-rays. I was going to use the BDMC Index files, as suggested in one thread.

But I like the idea of a small movie file, which I would make, that says something like; "This movie is in the bookcase. Go find it!" Maybe even customise the movie to give the disc location, since it can take a while to find the physical disc. 

[TheShoe]

I have been buying UHD releases. They have all come with BD's and Vudu versions as well. I activate the Vudu code and rip the BD just so I can see it in my library but it seems like a waste of space. If I'm going to watch the movie at home I'll pop the UHD disc into my stand alone player. If I'm away from home I can watch on Vudu. But I want to see the movie in my MC library too.

Is there a way to add media to the library so I can see it in theater view without actually having the movie ripped? My first thought was just to use a small file and rename it as the movie but if there is a better way I'd like to do that.

i’m struggling to understand what the point is?  what do you do with this?  just stare at a list in theater view?

(not trying to be snarky.   just wondering “why”)

[jmone]

For me it was to know what you have.  When you are out and there is a sale of back catalog items going cheap I ended up with duplicates.  These days (even though mine are now all ripped), I just bring up one of the Remotes on the phone and I can see what I have.

[rec head]

i’m struggling to understand what the point is?  what do you do with this?  just stare at a list in theater view?

(not trying to be snarky.   just wondering “why”)

What jmone said plus exactly what you said, to stare at the list in theater view. Sometimes I sit down and I'm not sure what I want to watch and I scroll through my movies. This way the UHD titles are included and I'm not taking up 25+GB of disc space.