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Suggestions for a DVD Video on Demand System?
An anonymous reader asks: "I was paid, with about 1000 DVD movies, by a video rental store that owed me money and then subsequently went out of business. I'd like to rip a couple hundred of them to a 1 TB disk array, and serve them up to my big screen, via a video on demand system. However, all the systems I can find for interfacing computer network to the plasma display only serve up the basic MPEG files, and not the entire ripped DVDs with their menus, etc. What systems would Slashdot readers suggest that could manage the ripped DVD files as a complete disk, and serve them up?"
I would start with MythTV. They have a section on working with DVDs for their PVR software.
libertarianswag.com
And as a plus, it also runs MAME and Unixware.
If he's got a plasma screen, he's not going to want to give up any video quality, so recompression really isn't an option.
.VOB files? If he's planning on using the original DVD navigation, I'd think they'd try to access those files anyway.
Who says he has to recompress? Maybe there's a solution that will use the original
BTW-- damn, I wish I had 1000 DVDs. He should open up his own store, then "black out" certain ones while they are rented so he can't watch them at the same time.
The disadvantage is that it is a) not cheap (starting at $27k) and b) not f/oss.
but then again, it is exactly what you are looking for
Read the HTPC topic on the AVS Forum. You can learn all about this topic, in exhaustive detail.
First, I would recommend transcoding the DVDs to XviD or DivX with a high bitrate (2Mb/s). You won't notice the quality loss and you'll save a whole lot of disk space. This route also gives you a lot more options, as you can use software like Winamp or BSPlayer to play the videos.
Second, are you any good with programming? What I've done is rig up a simple fullscreen frontend with Java. When you select a movie, the player starts fullscreen. I've got a simple IRman interface, a remote control, and Girder to translate keypresses on the remote into keystrokes that the Java app recognizes. Works great, and it's customizable to my preferences. I can understand if you don't have the time or skill to write a frontend, and I'm sure other posters will point out pre-made frontends.
The best part about Girder: you can translate keys like FF, REW, STOP, etc. into commands the player understands.
RTFA... uh, wait, there isn't even an article to skip here. ...I'd like to rip a couple hundred of them to a 1 TB disk array...
In a similar sort of situation, I ripped all my DVD's to a HD, then converted them into ISO files; I then mounted these with Daemon Tools. The result is that the OS doesn't know the difference from there being an actual DVD in your drive.
Of course, this assumes you're using Windows...but maybe a similar approach could be used on other operating systems.
Who modded this insightful?
Almost every DVD playback software can play DVD disc layouts from a folder (I know PowerDVD and WinDVD can both do it, to name a few off-the-shelf products, as well as Xine and Ogle), complete with all menus and original features. How do you think people who author DVD content test their menus, etc. before committing to disc?
Of course if the disc was encrypted, you need DeCSS to get the disc contents onto your HD, and that's legally iffy right now (fair use says yes if you own the original disc, DMCA says no). But there's absolutely no problem supporting menus, multiple audio tracks, subtitles, multi-angle, etc etc. from content in a HD folder...
Some kind of raw image ripping program (CloneCD, BlindRead, etc.) combined with DAEMON Tools and DaemonUI .DUI scripting language
Mount the images and run the DVD player using DaemonUI's
Obviously this is a Windows solution. This can also be done easily with linux, although I don't know the specifics of mounting disc images.
Now as to the storage, an average DVD has 7 to 9 GB of data. 1000 DVDs will take up nearly 10 TB. The MPEG2 data cannot be compressed any further losslessly.
If you don't mind a quality loss (and spending a HUGE amount of time re-encoding the video and converting the menus) you can convert to your favorite MPEG4 derivative (Divx, Xvid, Quicktime MPEG4, etc.)
This will be a hugely expensive project, with the cheapest hard disk based solution costing over $30,000 (3x Xserve RAID 3.5 TB) plus the client machine to attach to the fibre channel switch (and that's not cheap either) to read from all the Xserves.
My suggestion: Just like with legal adivce, this is not the time to ask slashdot. With the kind of money involved, hiring a professional is the best option.
I used to get high on life, but I developed a tolerance. Now I need something stronger.
Yes, Sony has a car player with a HDD, and auto ripping capability. Model # Sony MEX-1HDP rodView.asp?s=0&c=3&g=62700&I=158MEX1HD&o=m&a=0&cc =01&avf=N
Here is a link to crutchfield:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-bpdQMmcLqTX/cgi-bin/
You didn't mention whether you were looking to run Linux or Windows or OS X, but I think the principles are the same.
This is a good Windows-only setup using mostly freeware tools:
DVD Decrypter to rip the DVDs to macrovision-free/region-free ISO images
Daemon Tools to mount the isos as virtual drives on demand
MyHTPC as a TV-friendly filesystem shell (in combination with some simple batch scripts to control Daemon Tools, several of which can be found in the MyHTPC forums)
Zoom Player to play the DVDs (it's fast, full-featured, and you can turn off the GUI entirely which is nice on a TV.
You will also want WinDVD: not to play the DVDs, because the interface is so bulky and slow, but because you will need good MPEG-2 codecs and I don't know of any free ones as good as the filters that come with WinDVD. Zoom Player has a feature that automatically finds the codecs and registers them for you. (AC3Filter is a free AC3 audio codec that is comparable to InterVideo's.)
There are loads of ways to do it in OS X and Linux. Somebody who knows better than me is sure to post them.
Kaleidescape has developed several patent-pending technologies. The company's products are manufactured under license from the DVD Format Logo Licensing Corporation, DVD Copy Control Association, Inc., Macrovision, Inc., Dolby Laboratories, Inc., and others.
321 Studios should use this info in their DVD X Copy appeal. Obviously, the DVD CCA is willing to let some companies sell fair use products, but not others. It is probable that Kaleidscape system DVD reader has a legit player key so as to not need to circumvent the DCMA, but that establishes a double standard where fair use products can only be developed by companies willing to pony up cash the the DVD groups.
Moderation Totals: Flamebait=2, Troll=1, Redundant=1, Insightful=6, Overrated=1, Underrated=1, Total=12. (not mine)
This site has Tons of information on anything do with DVD's, VCD's, Video etc.
Firstly, if you intend to keep the DVD's data intact, as in not re-encoded, there'll be a more difficult issue with CSS-encrypted DVDs. Even the libre software that decrypts is bound to the hardware device, AFAIK... please correct me on this!!
.iso images. The directory or directories of disk images are browsable, and can be made to appear such that each is its own disc in a platform-independent manner. I bet you could do the same for DVD's... and with a little work on existing projects, it'd become very popular. ( =
I think you might want to consider using Samba to share the drive images, in any case. I think it was the Linux Journal, which had an article about using it as a CD jukebox, using
(oh, you can do nfs simultaneously if'n you like)
Was it a bat I saw? Racecar. Stack cats. A man, a plan, a cat, a ham, a yak, a yam, a hat, a canal--Panama!
I don't want to say don't do it, but...
:). It will even connect to the internet and catalog your DVDs. It's very nice, and, more importantly, hassle free.
Buy yourself a couple of Sony DVP-CX777ES 400 disc DVD changers and connect them to an Escient DVD-M100 DVD manager. This is what I use for ~450 DVDs in my theater (110" DLP front projection
Some rough numbers off the top of my head: 3x changers @ $700 each + 1 manager @ $1800 = $3900. More expensive than 4x250GB drives + computer, but you'll be able to store all of your DVDs and not spend a ton of time ripping them and figuring out how to manage/play them.
You can check out the Escient manager at www.escient.com.
get nemulator
I use DVD Backup to copy a DVD to my iBook when I take a trip but do not want to take my original DVD with me. For a thousand DVDs you will need more than a terabyte of storage, but you should be able to setup a machine to serve that over nfs maybe with a few mounts. Hook-up a mac to your plasma screen and use the DVD Player included with MacOS X to play your movies. DVD Player has a menu item 'File -> Open VIDEO_TS Folder..." that does the trick. Plus you can script DVD Player with applescript, so you can quickly hack something together that lets you choose the movie you wish to play. Then you can navigate the usual DVD menus as you wish. You can get a wireless keyboard and mouse to make navigation from your couch easier.
Regards,
John
Falling You - beautiful
The markup isn't for any rights on DVDs. The markup is simply so that they can release it to rental stores before any sane person would want to buy it. Wal-Mart's not going to stock an $89 DVD, but rental places will buy it at that price. Then, a few weeks later, the price plumets for everybody, and that's when retail picks it up.
So, the $89 was likely the price Kosmo paid, but not the price they could replace it with now.
isnt this the obvious solution?
create images of the dvds, then load them up in a virtual drive such as daemon tools?
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Wouldn't you have to circumvent CSS encryption and violate the DMCA to do this?
He probably failed to mention that this was a porno video store. As far as I know (and in my experience), pornos don't use CSS encryption. Just copy over the VOB files and you are done.
Also, Bollywood (Indian movies) and probably other foreign film makers don't use CSS encryption. I think its only those Hollywood jackasses that pull that crap.
Zoot!
How we home automation integrators handle starts with being able to spell, write an understandable sentence, and formulate a logical sequence of steps.
Crestron is http://www.crestron.com/ (the best home automation controllers)
HumaneInterface.com is http://www.humaneinterface.com (the leading program/design firm)
http://www.kaleidescape.com/ (the referenced DVD server system)
http://www.request.com/ (makes a DVD changer controller that interfaces to the excellent Audio Request music server)
aem
-a.e.mossberg
Of course if the disc was encrypted, you need DeCSS to get the disc contents onto your HD, and that's legally iffy right now (fair use says yes if you own the original disc, DMCA says no). But there's absolutely no problem supporting menus, multiple audio tracks, subtitles, multi-angle, etc etc. from content in a HD folder...
That is incorrect. DeCSS is for getting at the underlying mpeg stream. If you are going to be ripping complete images, you can keep them in encrypted form. Your player software will legally decrypt the data for you.
Just as the subject says. If you make an iso of it you can just mount it with the above command in linux and you will see it just like the dvd... You could then setup a small mysql database with all the different info like, title, genre, length, rating, ranking, path to mount point, etc., and then write up a little front end program (be it a website with php, or a java app), which allows you to sort/view/select the movie, and then calls the appropriate software dvd player to play the cooresponding dvd. Shouldn't be that hard, just time consuming to create the iso's and input the info into the database (well, not too time consuming if you only have stuff like title, and mount point, in the database table).
We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
The disc changer is a neat idea if you only ever plan to watch movies in one room. Yes, its cheaper, but you (and your family) can only watch one movie at a time on that.
Anyway, I'm sitting here trying to get Freevo running on an Xbox, so I can watch DVDs over my network. I had it working (briefly last week, before trying to update some stuff and blowing it), and it was pretty sweet. I want to rip my 300+ DVDs to a RAID, then serve them to Freevo (or mythtv, or whatever) clients throughout my house. When I get my system finished, I'll be able to watch 4 different movies on 4 different TVs (i bought 4 xboxes for this project), and each addition client costs about $230 (xbox+dvd remote kit). The server storage will be the expensive part.
Another cool bonus... When I rip the movies to my server, I can copy just the movie, and not all of the unskippable trailers or FBI warnings. Instead of putting in a disc and having to wander off and do something else for 10 minutes (like sit there and curse the movie studio for ruining my Zen), the movie will start right away.
blog
I know for a fact that all it takes is two solders to mod an XBox now. I don't know the exact process but I've seen one of my frat brothers do it on pretty much all the XBoxes in our house. It works great, the only disadvantage is that you can't switch between Dashboards like you can with some of the mod chips, but unless you're playing XBox Live that's probably not much of a problem for you.
Anyway, I would google for that before buying a mod chip at this point. If you can't find anything, post here and I'll ask my frat brother for a URL. Hope that helps.
dvd decryptor can make disk images that are identical to the orinal disks with the difference that they are decrypted.
Put thos images on some server (samba?)
A dvd drive emulator (demeamon tools) kan be used to mount the images
windvd can be used to play the disks
DvD decrypter will rip the DVD nicely, menus and all to your harddrive.
Most software media players will not recognize DVD menus, but one called ZOOM Player will, and just happens to be a nice player to boot.
After you have those it is simple a question of hardrive space. Most movies run between 5-8gb so 1000 DVD's going to require something in the neighboorhood of 5-8tb. Most of the newer high end mother boards will hold up to 10 devices (CD/DVD/hardrives). You biggest problem is going to be one of heat, noise, and enough power connectors. You might want to think about is having multiple servers, with one connected to the TV with the absolute minimum required to run in order to keep it quiet, but enough to fullfill any recording you'll want to do. You then would have one or more servers tucked away on a home network where they won't bother you, with their hardrives mapped to your main server at the TV.
Don't forget you'll want to use to use your machine as an MP3 jukebox as well as a video recorder (TV shows).
While it's not a computer solution Sony does make 200+ DVD carasel players. A friend of mine uses two of them to hold his collection, and has them set up to be controlled by his palm top. He has an older machine connected in as well for the mp3 and video recording functions.
RAID 0 is horrible for anything but video scratch. For this application you'll want RAID 5 or 3 (RAID 5 is redundancy spread across the array, RAID 3 has one drive dedicated for redundancy.)
The proper way to do this would be a hardware RAID array but those are expensive $1500 at least for a decent rack + controller. Infortrend make some nice stuff, but it's not cheap. The EonStor range is lovely. I'm mostly experienced on the high end and mac side of things, but there may be software based RAID 3 or 5 solutions for windows/linux. YMMV however, but it's generally not recommended as computing parity is very processor intensive. The controllers the Infortrend stuff uses is a PPC G3 to give you an idea...
ps. I don't work for Infortrend but I just know they make damn good shit.
I use Mac the Ripper and Panther's DVD Player... I also process the entire DVD w/ DVD Requantisizer down to 4.1 gigs for the average movie. Quality is totally your decision; higher quality takes longer to re-master, but as an example the newly remastered Indiana Jones titles ripped gave me a 7.2 gig packet. Remastered at highest quality setting w/ DVD Requantisizer it took about 2 hours to get it down to 4.1 gigs. Pumped through s-video to my widescreen TV it's indistinguishable from the original DVD when the DVD is pumped through an s-video cable... of course component is preferable, but from my current media server it's not an option. My approach to ripping my DVDs has been similar to my approach to ripping my music collection... most movies are perfectly fine to have ripped to a HD, but just like some LPs are better left to listen to on vinyl, some DVDs are better left to view from the original discs. The Indiana Jones DVDs were my benchmark, but when it's time to watch them, I always go back to the original discs. The programs are out there, and they're cheap shareware titles or freeware in most instances. What I really want is an iTunes type front end for movie files, complete with artwork, genres, and ratings...
Ditch both of em. Just grab Xbox Media player (XBMP). It runs natively and has a bunch of different streaming options for playing media off of your LAN.
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