Tech

Window Media Center and Windows Home Server are the core components for all things media in our home.  From the basics such as Pictures and Videos, to the more advanced like time shifting HD television, Windows Media Center and Windows Home Server elegantly distribute all of our media throughout out home.  Many have asked me over the years how DVDs fit in to this model; this purpose of this post is to provide you an overview of how I archive our DVD collection.  The process I use isn’t necessarily the only way to accomplish DVD archiving, this is simply the process that I use which suited my needs:

• Retain 100% full fidelity of the DVD
• Ability to distribute the DVD throughout the home via Extenders
• Ability to rewind, fast forward and 30 second skip during playback

Step One: Ripping the DVD

Although there are many ripping utilities for the purpose of DVD Archiving, after evaluating most of them I selected DVD Fab 6.  What makes DVD Fab 6 unique  is its ability to capture a dvdid.xml file during the rip.  This file is what Media Center uses to identify the DVD and display not only its title information and album art, but also the abstract, actors and more.  This “metadata” is critical to the experience and I like how DVD Fab saves me a step by producing the file during the rip.  However, by default the feature is disabled so be sure to activate it as well as choose “DVD9″ for 100% and “DVD Folder” for the ripping destination here:

After this one time configuration is set you should be good to go for all further rips.  When you insert a DVD be sure you are within the “DVD to DVD” section of the application.  Next choose the “Main Movie” tab which will select only the movie itself and exclude all of the navigation menus and extras (something that I’m personally glad to be without).  Lastly, in the audio and subtitle windows select only English AC3/5.1 and English respectively.

After hitting the Next button the DVD will commence ripping.  I rip directly to a share on my Windows Home Server and on average a rip take 10 minutes.  When the rip is complete DVD Fab will notify with a “ding” and will also eject the DVD (you can modify these settings of course).  At this point visit the directory where you ripped to, you should see three items: 1.) Audio_TS folder, 2.) Video_TS folder and 3.) a dvdid.xml file.  More the the later in a bit.

Step 2: Converting to DVR-MS

To achieve Fast Forward, Rewind and 30-second Skip across all of the Televisions in the home, we have to convert the ripped movie into DVR-MS format –  which will be one single (and quite large!) file.   The program I use to do this is VideoReDo Suite.  

• When running VideoReDo, it is important that it is launched with Administrative rights, so remember to right click on the icon when starting the application and choose “Run as Administrator”. 
• When the program launches, choose “File” and then “Open Title from DVD” and then browse to the directory of the recently ripped DVD and press “Ok”. 
• Check the box “Auto Quick Stream Fix” and select “Ok”. 

• On the next window you’ll have to adjust the Output stream to the location you want to save the file.  It is at this point that I choose the permanent location on the Windows Home Server to store the DVD.
• Be sure to select the “Save as type” as “DVR-MS” before hitting “Save”.
• Press “Start Quick Fix” button.

The conversion only take a few minutes, typically under ten.

Step 3: DVD Meta Data

As mentioned before, DVD Fab makes this step really easy.  There are several websitesdedicated to the creation of the dvdid.xml files that Windows Media Center uses to display album art and other information relevant to the DVD.  However, DVD Fab produced this XML file for us — your only work is to copy it in to the root of the directory where you have permanently stored the DVD-MS file:

That’s it!  Launch Windows Media Center, browse to Movies and enjoy! Share