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[brainsoup]

Here's a little food for thought for MC12 brought about by me using different PVR software for my digital TV card last night....

MC is an amazing audio beast... you want MC to do it.... there is pretty much a way it will work (most of the time!). One of the most loved things about MC is it's ability to work seamlessly with many portable devices, simplifying and extending the often horrid mess that is bundled with the device.

Video devices are now creeping onto the market and MC can handle them but in its current state doesn't provide as much functionality as it does for audio. I personally am looking to spend as much as $100 on Video/TV software very soon - I would love to throw that money in JRiver's direction but MC doesn't shine in this area... granted, it's great for video playback but here are the "holes" I can see now I own a couple of video devices and my video collection is expanding!

* MC can't convert or edit video like it can audio. It would be great to right click on a file and for MC to be able to change it to XVid or MP4 or whatever your Video player required. I understand that this is a CPU intensive job but it could be performed in a background thread and if more than one file is selected then a 'queue' could be enabled. It would be nice to have a video editor like the audio one where you could cut and trim your video file. I would pay around $30-40 for such a program... honestly!

* When playing video files the audio can be all over the place! I have lots of music videos in MC. When I play several together I am constantly jumping for my remote as the audio level is massively different between files.

* Digital TV cards are still not supported. I have a Hauppauge Nova-T that is BDA compatible and is supported by every other program I have tried except MC... enough said here really. In a few years time Analogue TV will not be around in the UK....

* TV Schedules are not... well they don't exist! I just know MC could do this soooo well... you have a proven track record in making things that are easy to use. MC could be so absolutely amazing if you just highlighted Desperate Housewives in a scheduler, selected that you wanted it for your PSP or Zen Vision and then woke up in the morning and could sync it across.... just think about it, fan-tas-tic!!! MC would sell by the bucketload! seriously.... I would pay $50 extra on top of MC if it could do this.

Video players are here to stay. Fact. We all want MC to be here in 10 years time. Fact. People wil pay a lot of money for software that makes others weep when they see what it can do. Fact!

[JimH]

* Digital TV cards are still not supported.

ATI's is -- the All in Wonder HDTV card.

Thanks for the video comments.  Video is high on our list, too.

[JustinChase]

Video is high on our list, too.

That's excellent news Jim!!  I'm also keen to see MC turn it's focus to this very important entertainment media.

[Mr ChriZ]

Looking forward to MC 12 

[HTPC4ME]

AMEN ALLELLULIAH uhhhh huh.. Video options please!!!!!!! I will pay 100 for the program.. just for the fact i've spent more then that on piddly programs to edit my vid. be cool to just play vid in media center of my son thas hour long, stop t, and cut the clip i want. MAN talk about the All for one program!!

Hoping and looking forward to it if it ever arises.

~X~

[spb]

MC could be so absolutely amazing if you just highlighted Desperate Housewives in a scheduler, selected that you wanted it for your PSP or Zen Vision and then woke up in the morning and could sync it across....

Yep I agree too.  Just to get Video to work well on the Ipod would be nice But Interaction w/ Tivo to Go or other DVR's content would be fantastic

[HTPC4ME]

there ya go never thought bout that. i wouldnt need my tpmg(for throwing the video on my smartphone)dvdshrink(for backing up my movies\throughing them on my hard drive for theater(jus do  it all in mediacenter! SWEEET

[glynor]

Thanks for the video comments.  Video is high on our list, too.

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it
I'm about to lose control and I think I like it
I'm so excited and I just can't hide it
And I know I know I know I know I know I want you

[4BYE]

Hello Jim,

Thats good news for me too. Since I want to add all of my media: DVD's on HD, Images, Music to MC I find it hard to add DVD's since I miss tags like Actor(s), Director. I know I can improvise but I guess in time this will be available in MC (12?). I also don't mind paying for an upgrade since I think that the price I paid is worth the money!

When ripping a DVD to HD what should I import into MC? When I add it through import media I get all the files (.vob/.ifo)
When I open file and open the .ifo file it won't let me import it to the library.

I added a folder.jpg with the inlay image of the movie but it doesn't use it and i have to manually import it.

What would be a proper way to handle these DVD's?


Thanks,


Best regards,


Theo

[Jaguu]

Hi 4BYE,

import of .vob files is a very tricky thing in MC11.1. It works, but you have to know exactly how. This is something completely missing in the Help file!.

If you are used to rip only the main movie of a DVD, you are lost. You need to rip the complete DVD to HD the files video_ts.* included.

Then you can import from inside MC11.1 by specifying the root of your video files:

Example: D:\Media\Videos\MyMovie\VIDEO_TS\*.[ifo|vob|bup]
Import from: D:\Media\Videos

You will get only one entry per DVD. You won't see any vob, ifo, bup files in media library.

The bad news right now is: Importing from Windows Explorer is buggy. Doing it from there you get all vob, ifo, bup files into media library, but you cannot start the movie.

Hope this helps!

[4BYE]

Hello Jaguu,

Yes indeed this will help...

I noticed earlier (I put every spare hour into exploring all of MC) that when I open the .ifo file it will play the movie. I dragged the file to the left on the "video" icon and then it will be added without all the other files. On the other hand I think it's not a big issue since I understand there will be major updates for video in a later version. I will start adding the files to my HD and if there's a better way to handle them later i will do so. I only use the year and name of the movie sofar.

Thanks,


Theo Voorbij (4BYE)

[4BYE]

Hello Jaguu,

I tried what you wrote but I get still all the files. I ripped a movie to HD with only the main movie without the extra's.
So I have some .vob files and .ifo and .bup files. They are on j:\Jaws\

When I import with Tools-Import Media I still get all the files included. So maybe I got you wrong on that.

Like I said when using file-open media file and then open the video_ts.ifo and then drag it to the video-icon I get what you said. Only this takes much more time then doing it the other way. I still have to add the cover image manually. Also since I'm asking things anyway, is there any use for putting an image that is in a certain movie (or CD) folder - folder.jpg - in the cover art location?

I tried to go into windows explorer and click right on the .ifo file then "media center" then import and that works too (sofar with a couple of movies) I get only one file!

Weird?



Thanks again,


Theo

[JohnT]

It should work if you have a copy of the original DVD-Video volume on your hard drive. For example, if you have the DVD movie "Jaws" and copy it to your hard drive (under J:\) using something like DVDDecrypter you will end up with something like:
J:\Jaws\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO
J:\Jaws\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.VOB
J:\Jaws\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_0.BUP
J:\Jaws\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_0.IFO
J:\Jaws\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_1.VOB
J:\Jaws\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_2.IFO
etc.

So each movie has the VIDEO_TS subdirectory and the IFO and VOB files within it.

Now when you use Tools/Import Media... and select the "J:" drive for importing, MC will import one entry for each movie on the J: drive.

In the above example, after the import you could use "Library tools/Fill properties from filename", select "Directories" and set it to "[Name]\VIDEO_TS\". Then the library name will equal the video directory name ("Jaws" in this case").

[4BYE]

Hello John,


Thanks for your help! Idid what you said and it works. What went wrong was the fact I skipped the VIDEO_TS directory. So my files were in Jaws\xxx.vob etc. Because there was one file WITH a VIDEO_TS folder that didn't work either I though it was not relevant. But when I looked closer I noticed I had no underscore between VIDEO and TS! After fixing everything I got it right.

I still am working on this: should I use [NAME] or [ALBUM] for the DVD title? I hope they will add all those fields specially for VIDEO anyway and I will rename them later. I renamed the [ALBUM] tag and guess it really doesn't matter. (or does it?)

And where should I put the folder.jpg? I stored it for now in the VIDEO_TS directory or should it be in the JAWS\ directory?


Thanks again,


Theo

[Jaguu]

Hi J River,

as you can see from different posts of users having difficulties with copying DVD files to disk, an update of the Help file would be a great help.

Even with the newest Help file searching for "vob", you do not get anything and searching for "DVD" you get very little information.

[CadErik]

* Digital TV cards are still not supported. I have a Hauppauge Nova-T that is BDA compatible and is supported by every other program I have tried except MC... enough said here really. In a few years time Analogue TV will not be around in the UK....

* TV Schedules are not... well they don't exist! I just know MC could do this soooo well... you have a proven track record in making things that are easy to use. MC could be so absolutely amazing if you just highlighted Desperate Housewives in a scheduler, selected that you wanted it for your PSP or Zen Vision and then woke up in the morning and could sync it across.... just think about it, fan-tas-tic!!! MC would sell by the bucketload! seriously.... I would pay $50 extra on top of MC if it could do this.

I agree with you on video conversions. This would be very nice!
But concerning all the TV part, it doesn't make sense to me for MC to implement all that.
To be a serious PVR, many more features are necessary. Take a look at SageTV for instance... The tv feature list is *huge*. What I believe is a solution here is an integration between MC and other PVR software. For instance, there is a plugin for BeyondTV to play everything through MC. When I'll find some extra time, I'll have a look on how to possibly integrate SageTV and MC.  But I don't believe that TV is the right direction for MC12... there are many improvements that can be done out there that are more important than PVR features...

Erik.

[JohnT]

I still am working on this: should I use [NAME] or [ALBUM] for the DVD title? I hope they will add all those fields specially for VIDEO anyway and I will rename them later. I renamed the [ALBUM] tag and guess it really doesn't matter. (or does it?)

This is personal preference depending on how you want to organize and search your database. Personally, I use the NAME field for the movie name and set ALBUM to "DVD Movies" so I can easily search and set up smartlists, etc.

And where should I put the folder.jpg? I stored it for now in the VIDEO_TS directory or should it be in the JAWS\ directory?

Just put the folder.jpg in the same directory as the IFO and VOB files. You'll need to get the latest version though, since the image file wasn't getting recognized for DVD movies previously. With build 11.1.126 the image file will be grabbed whether you're doing an import or using the "quick find cover art" menu command.