DVD on Extender How-To v0.7

Links only, do not redistribute! All updates and new files will be posted on this page.

I'm not the creator of the DLL or the script, I've just assembled the bits in one place and created the how-to. The authors have asked me to keep them anonymous and if you want them to keep working on this project then I'll do as they want.

If you have a better way to get this to work. Like a better script or different steps, send them to me at (pstagman !at! htpcug.com) and I'll check it out and post it.

Remember that this is a hack. Transcoder.dll and the scripts are not from or supported by Microsoft.

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New Utility

Great news! Robert Chesworth has created a utility to automate the links process!

His "Media Center Links" utility will recreate the whole DVD folder structure locally, copy the folder.jpg files, create the links and then create the WVX playlist files. All in one shot!

Instead of creating all this on the remote storage, it creates it locally on the MCE PC. This was the procedure I had suggested for users who have WHS or NAS devices. So it will work in both cases.

You can Download the utility here. Media Center Links.zip Unzip the file and run setup.exe. There is documentation in the zip.

If you have any questions or problems, please post your question in the forums.

How to get DVD's to play on your Media Center Extenders using DVD Library

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is required for this to work correctly.

Media Center Extenders can't play .vob files, so the files have to be renamed to .mpg files. But wait! If I rename all the .vob files to .mpg files then other apps may stop working right? Correct. So, the solution is symbolic links. A symbolic link is a fake file with the name you want that links back to the original file. So VTS_01_1.mpg is a symbolic link that points to VTS_01_1.VOB. That also means you do not get anything other than the main movie.
WARNING: Do not create symbolic links on Windows Home Server Shares! They don't work and wreak havoc on the server because of the way that the drive extender works!! If you store your movies on a WHS or NAS see this page!
1. Create symbolic links to the .vob files:
  1. Open a command window with admin rights in the VIDEO_TS folder that contains the .vob files you want to link.
  2. Find the largest .vob files. The main movie will be in the largest .vob files, usually they will be 1GB in size.
  3. Use the command fsutil hardlink create VTS_01_1.mpeg VTS_01_1.VOB to create the links. (changing the names of the files for each file you link)
  4. You should get a response like: Hardlink created for D:\shares\DVDs\MOVIE\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_1.mpeg <<===>> D:\shares\DVDs\MOVIE\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_1.VOB
  5. If you want the cover artwork to be displayed in DVD Library, create a folder.jpg file of the artwork in the VIDEO_TS folder.
Next you need to create a .wvx playlist file so the extender plays the playlist and you don't have to select each file to play. You can create the file using notepad or the text editor of you choice. Here's what it needs to look like:
1.        <ASX version = "3.0">
  <Title>My Ripped Movie</Title>
  <Entry>
      <Ref href="\\Server\DVDs\Movie\VIDEO_TS\VTS_03_0.mpeg"/>
  </Entry>
  <Entry>
      <Ref href="\\server\DVDs\Movie\VIDEO_TS\VTS_03_1.mpeg"/>
  </Entry>
  <Entry>
      <Ref href="\\Server\DVDs\Movie\VIDEO_TS\VTS_03_2.mpeg"/>
  </Entry>
  <Entry>
      <Ref href="\\server\DVDs\Movie\VIDEO_TS\VTS_03_3.mpeg"/>
  </Entry>
  <Entry>
      <Ref href="\\server\DVDs\Movie\VIDEO_TS\VTS_03_4.mpeg"/>
  </Entry>
  <Entry>
      <Ref href="\\server\DVDs\Movie\VIDEO_TS\VTS_03_5.mpeg"/>
  </Entry>
  <Entry>
      <Ref href="\\server\DVDs\Movie\VIDEO_TS\VTS_03_6.mpeg"/>
  </Entry>
  </ASX>
2. Save the file in your VIDEO_TS folder and give it a name "My Ripped Movie.wvx"

Here's a script that will create the symbolic links and the .wvx files in one shot. Use at your own risk!

CreateWVX.zip

Using the CreateWVX.vbs script

CreateWXV.vbs is used for DVD that have been ripped to a VIDEO_TS folder with VOBs

Copy and paste the script into notepad and save as "CreateWXV.vbs".

There are two constants (see below “strRemoteLocation” and “strWVXOutputFolder”) at the top of the script that will have to be modified first to match your environment before using this script.

Then run "cscript CreateWXV.vbs your_DVD_folders_here", from command-prompt, run as admin.

'strRemoteLocation is the path that will be used in the WVX file to reference the location of the DVDs

'This should be accessible via the machine that will play the WVX file

Const strRemoteLocation = "\\server\DVDs"

'strWVXOutputFolder should be the location the WVX files should be written

Const strWVXOutputFolder = \\Server\MywvxFiles

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

DVDs that have been ripped to a wmv format.

CreateWXV.vbs is not needed for wmv files

Make a VIDEO_TS folder add these file to the VIDEO_TS folder the wmv file and the playlist *.wvx file (see below) and a fake VIDEO_TS.ifo file using notepad (open notepad and save at it as VIDEO_TS.IFO do not save as *.txt).

Add a folder.jpeg or DVDID.xml file to the main DVD folder for the DVD cover artwork.

For dvd xml files go here http://www.dvdxml.com/search.php

No Symbolic Link needed for wmv files

(so this will work if your wmv files are on Windows Home Server)

WMVs will play, but you have to use a small playlist e.g.: below.

<Entry>

</Entry>

</ASX>

PS use a *.wvx extension in notepad (not a *.txt) for all playlists

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recorded TV Movies (DVR-MS files)

If you have recorded a movie in Media Center (it has to be a movie) it will show up automatically with the cover artwork in the DVD Library on the extender.

No Symbolic Link needed and no playlist needed for DVR-MS files.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's another script that creates links and .asx files, submitted by Ryan Hurst

HardlinkAndASX.zip

Next you have to enable DVD Library for Extenders

UPDATE: The author of transcoder.dll has added support for other media file types. If it doesn’t find a WVX file, it will now search for any video file type and play the first one it finds.

Another new Transcoder.dll version!! v0.7

Changes:

Modified the transcoder.dll to look for the mymovies.asx files so the search logic is now as follows:

*.wvx first

mymovies.asx second

any valid video type third (note it doesn’t check for whether the extender supports or not!)

This is done by downloading this file: transcoder-v0.7.zip

Source code is now available. See below.

Unzip the file and copy transcoder.dll into your Media Centers \Windows\Ehome folder. Then run the transcoder.reg file to import the dll registration.

Start an extender session and DVD library should now appear in the TV ribbon.

Add the share for your DVD folder to the DVD library and it should begin to populate your movies!

Enjoy!!!

Hopefully you'll end up with extender menu's that look like these: