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[rosie]

Hi, I have ripped a lot of my DVD's using DVDDecrypter to single file .vob-files. Why can't I play them in MC? The play fine in WinDVD.

[glynor]

You need to have a DirectShow filter that can decode MPEG-2 files (and maybe AC3 audio).   WinDVD has it's own built-in decoder, but doesn't let other apps utilize it fully.  Try installing FFDSHOW, and make sure to select it as the handler for MPEG-2 during the install process.

I describe it in some detail on this post:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=35449.msg241400#msg241400

You can download it here (get ffdshow-20051129.exe):

http://ffdshow.sourceforge.net/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php?page=Getting+ffdshow

[rosie]

Thanks for your reply! I have tried to install FFDSHOW before and it was painfull (and never worked) but if I can figure it out and get it to play .vob's does it also mean that I can use J River Media Center 11 together with FFDSHOW for playing back normal DVD's (is this combination comparable in (top)quality to Zoom Player + FFDSHOW)? By the way I'm using NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder.

[BartMan01]

I have tried to install FFDSHOW before and it was painfull (and never worked)

You probably downloaded one of the many 'unofficial' builds floating around.  I have had various issues with those (including MC/Explorer crashing while trying to build thumbnails).  Make sure you are running the 20051129 version linked by glynor.

[glynor]

Thanks for your reply! I have tried to install FFDSHOW before and it was painfull (and never worked) but if I can figure it out and get it to play .vob's does it also mean that I can use J River Media Center 11 together with FFDSHOW for playing back normal DVD's (is this combination comparable in (top)quality to Zoom Player + FFDSHOW)? By the way I'm using NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder.

In theory you should be able to, but I've not had a lot of luck playing actual disk-based DVDs through MC with only FFDSHOW.  MPC (Media Player Classic) seems to be able to handle them, but MC gets all messed up in the menus.

I keep WinDVD installed for the rare occasion where I need to play a real DVD (I might switch to TheaterTek but I don't know, I already have WinDVD).  I use FFDSHOW for basically everything else.  In practice, I almost never need to actually play a real DVD though (generally unless someone shows up with a disc for a "movie night" and says "here, play this").  All of my discs I immediately rip to the hard drive and AutoGK them to XviD AVIs (though I'm now starting to investigate using meGUI to encode to x264 MP4s and I think I might eventually switch to that method).

If you're not comfortable installing FFDSHOW all on it's own, another option is to install the CCCP (Combined Community Codec Pack) which includes FFDSHOW and all the other splitters and filters you could ever hope to need.  It's nice because the install is unified and painless and It Just Works^TM.

http://www.cccp-project.net/

---

If you're interested in using AutoGK to turn those VOBs into (vastly) smaller AVI files, check:

AutoGK Home Page (I'd install the "release" version, but then update to the "beta" version 2.32 as I find it much more stable than the release.)

AutoGK is simple to use, and (like CCCP) It Just Works^TM.  The developer claims he isn't actively developing it anymore (though new versions keep appearing), because the entire VFW/AVI method of compressing and storing video is being replaced by the AVC-style MPEG-4 codecs (like x264).  If you can't figure it out youself (which is somewhat unlikely) then check the AutoGK "official" tutorial here:  http://www.autogk.me.uk/modules.php?name=TutorialEN
or the Doom9 one here: http://www.doom9.org/autogk.htm

If you're interested in checking out the "new generation" of MPEG-4 compression (which offers much higher quality at the same file sizes) check out:

meGUI Wiki Help Page
Doom9 meGUI Thread
Doom9 MPEG-4 AVC - H.264 thread
"Cutting Edge" builds of FFDSHOW, x264, and the current release build of meGUI (among other things) at x264.nl

These are much more experimental and "in flux" though I'd say meGUI is beginning to "get there" compared to AutoGK's ease-of-use.  As I said, I'm just beginning to play with it seriously now....

[Jaguu]

Playing copied vob files to disk is quite tricky. Unlike converting to divx where you only need the main movie vob files, you have to make an exact copy of the DVD on the hard disk with a subfolder VIDEO_TS and all files included (also the TS files). Then you can import the ripped DVD into MC11.1 and play it without problem.

This worked a few months ago, but as this is an area that changes continuously, I don't know whether it still works.

For me this was not really handy, so I decided to convert DVD to divx by using AutoGK. This works very well (except that it takes a few hours to convert depending on your cpu power).
The main advantage is that you have only a single file for the whole movie (about 1.4GB) and save plenty of disk space. After converting I remove the vob files again (as I have the original DVD). You may need to use a more recent tool than DVD Decrypter to decrypt some newer movies, but most of the time DVD Decrypter works very well.

[glynor]

Playing copied vob files to disk is quite tricky. Unlike converting to divx where you only need the main movie vob files, you have to make an exact copy of the DVD on the hard disk with a subfolder VIDEO_TS and all files included (also the TS files). Then you can import the ripped DVD into MC11.1 and play it without problem.

If you use DVD Decrypter in IFO mode to extract just the VOBs you need for the video, you can play those directly (as long as you have a DirectShow MPEG-2 filter installed like FFDSHOW).  I've used this extensively and it does work.  My workflow is generally:

1. Rip the DVD in ISO mode to an ISO file (using DVD Decrypter as long as it works on the disc).  Put the DVD into safe storage.  I do this because it's easier to have access to the "full disc" in case I rip the wrong IFO.
2. Mount the ISO using Daemon tools to my "virtual" DVD-Rom.
3. Rip the specific video file I want in IFO mode using DVD Decrypter.
4. Load that IFO into AutoGK and convert to XviD.  Generally I find:

• Average movie, average length compresses well to the 1/4 DVD-R size (1120 MB).  Sometimes I set this manually to exactly 1 GB (1024 MB) for convenience and it works well.
• High-quality movie compresses well to the 1/3rd DVD size (1493 MB) or 2 CD (1400 MB)
• Really long, high-quality movie I usually splurge a little and go with 2048 MB or 3 CD (ripping something like LOTR).
• Average hour-long TV show I usually go with 350 MB (1/2 CD).  Things I don't care about as much I drop down to 233 MB (1/3rd CD)
• Half-hour shows I go with either 233 MB or 200 MB depending on quality.
• Very high-quality hour-long shows (like the Sopranos or Deadwood) I go with 420 MB.  These come out beautiful.

• I almost always go into Advanced Settings and set the Audio to VBR MP3 @ 160 -or- 144 kbps. 
• However, really high quality rips (where I want the 5.1 sound) I set it to AC3.  If you leave it set to Auto it decides to do this (MP3 or AC3) based on the final desired file size, but I can never remember where the cuttoffs are, so I just set it manually.