Windows 7 - Play DVD from Hard Drive in Vista Media Center

Asked By DavidKir

06-Mar-07 05:21 PM

Can Windows Vista Media Center only read DVDs in an optical drive or is it
possible to play DVD's ripped to a hard drive location?
--
David Kirk

06-Mar-07 04:21 AM

It depends on the format to which you rip it. If its WMV I would think
definitely.

I tried just doing a straight copy of the .vob files, renamed one to .mpg. I
couldn't get either of those to play. In fact, the .vob files didn't even
show up in Media Center. But on the mpg it was just a codec issue so it
seems with the right codec you could probably get those to play too.
Theoretically Vista has an MPEG-2 decoder built in. So I'm not sure why it
didn't play. But someone else here might.

06-Mar-07 06:49 PM

Yes you can.

If it is a commercial DVD it will be encrypted, so you can't just copy the
files over.

You need to use a program like DVD Decrypter to copy the DVD to your hard
drive.
This will give you a Video_TS folder containing all the DVD files on your
hard drive.

Best practice is then to create a parent folder to store your ripped DVDs,
you might
as well call it DVDs and create it in your videos folder.

Then in that DVDs folder create a folder named for the title of the DVD e.g.
'The Matrix'
then place the Video_TS folder in that named folder.

You then need to change media center to support DVD Library mode which is
done by
following these instructions;
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930526

Throw in a reboot... and you should be done.... the Play DVD tile will have
changed
to DVD Library which will contain your ripped DVDs, and as a bonus all the
movies
you record from TV will also appear in this library.

Once you get all that working... and as a bit of polish i usually set the
parent DVDs folder
to hidden, this stops it showing up under Videos, but has no effect on the
ability of the
DVD library to see your DVDs.

06-Mar-07 09:17 PM

Thanks!  I am always afraid to edit the registry but here goes ...
--
David Kirk

03-Apr-07 12:08 PM

Buellpilot - this was very helpful. Can I push it one step further? I did as
you wrote below and was successful at viewing DVD's from my hard drive
through Windows Media Center on my Media Center PC. Does this also work with
Media Center Extenders such as the XBox 360? I don't see the "Play DVD" or
the "DVD Library" options in TV+Movies on the XBox 360.

Thank you for your help.

03-Apr-07 12:42 PM

I've edited the registry but am still unable to play ripped DVDs from within
Media Center becayuse my movies are on an external drive and there's no
apparent way to "watch" a folder on an external drive.  Is there are way to
add an external drive to the menu of folders from which I can choose when
selecting a new folder to watch?
--
David Kirk

11-Jul-07 10:00 AM

Hi Buellilot, I did exactly as you said, changed the Registry and indeed the
shows he movies I have recorded from TV, not the ones I have on my hard
drive.I have ust recently upgraded to Vista from XP and under XP it all
worked fine!  Please help?

11-Jul-07 09:30 PM

Oh yes, I also right clicked and told VMC to monitor the directory on my hard
drive that has the TS folders in it.  My strucutre looks like this:

e:/Storage/videos/[holidays]/[holiday name]/Video_TS/[various files]

note I have my DVD collection sorted into topics eg kids, holidays, movies.

Would the strucutre be the problem?  Too deep?

24-Jul-07 01:30 PM

camshep, any luck?

I have the same thing: changed registry, added DVD folder with all the
_TS files, still MCE comes up empty - no movies listed. Your structure
can't be the problem as mine in just C:\DVDs and then just two movies
ripped right in there. Still the only thing shown in the DVD library is
recorded tv clips....


--
barryn
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24-Jul-07 02:58 PM

I don't know what the original problem was since you didn't include it in your
post, however, you should not store data in the root directory C:\.  For
security purposes, this is a restricted area and Vista does not like programs
reading and writing to the root of C:.

--
I Bleed Blue and Gold
GO BEARS!

30-Jul-07 06:30 AM

Barryn - I've got all my ripped DVD's to appear in the "DVD Library" but they
are all in the same directory now, which annoys me no end.  Someone suggested
using "My Movies" to categorise them for eay reference, but that software
(which indeed looks good) crashes Vista regularly.  So for this reason,
together with the fact that:
1. I can't backup to my Seagate external hard drive anymore (Vista driver
issue);
2. Vista has stuffed the sound quality from my Bose Lifestyle system and
3. Vista regualry hangs for no apparent reason

I'm going to go back to MCE2005 this weekend!!

28-Aug-07 05:54 PM

Supposedly this is possible with a registry hack.  It goes something like this:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Open Registry Editor (Start, Run, REGEDIT) and navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MediaCenter\Settings\DvdSettings
Double-click the key ShowGallery and change the value from “Play” to
“Gallery”.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I tried this and rebooted.  Now in Vista Ultimate Media Center, under the
into the registry and changed back from "Gallery" to "Play", rebooted, same
problem.  I have tried messing with default program settings to no avail.
Has anyone seen this???

--
WANGuy

06-Jan-08 03:59 AM

Hello! Yes but original DVDs are copy protected. You must use DVD Shrink
and/or DVDFab free software. First software can compress comercial DVD9 to
onelayer DVD4.5 GB, second just rip DVD to HDD. If DVD come from Sony Home
entertainment definitely You must use DVDFab latest version because Sony
always have some new strong protection. How play DVD with Vista Media player
11. ?
Simple go to folder VIDEO_TS and select first file with name VIDEO_TS who
have extension IFO file and select open with Media player.
Example D:/Stealth/VIDEO_TS/