I would like to backup my collection of dvd movies to my XBOX and play them directly from the hard drive in my XBOX. I have ripped the dvd and copied it across to e:\videos\ folder in my xbox. However, when I try and play them using XBMC it will only play each individual file, it does not move on to the next file in sequence. Does anyone know how I can play dvd movies from my xbox hard drive? Preferably without converting the dvd to divx format. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
You can start the movie by choosing one of the large IFO. files. There may be two or three but one of the large ones will start the movie and it will play without stopping. Why take up so much harddrive space when you can use DVD Shrink and burn your movies to a DVD-R. Shrink copies the entire disk and plays fantastic on the xbox.
Thanks Hdrdk, Its not actually for me, I use shrink and burn using decrypter. My dad wants to use an xbox as a media server.He wants to store everything on one box. I suggested the XBOX with a large hard drive as it is the most versatile system and should be easy to set up. I know the IFO files contain how and when the VOB files/Audio files are played but your suggestion does not seem to work in all cases. I ripped Kingpin to my XBOX hard drive and tried each of the IFO files in order of size. But 3 of them are trailers and one is the menu. The menu would be fine, but it does not stay on the screen, it runs through the file and then goes back to XMBC dashboard. THere must be a way of doing this, the only other thought I had would be to create a custom IFO file. Is this possible and easy to do?
What I do is 1.Rip the dvd on my PC 2.turn it into a avi file 3.FTP it to my xbox and play it using xbmc
lcarbutt told you a good way to do it, but since you said you don't want to convert to divx, the next easiest way would be: 1 - Shrink the movie ONLY (no menus or extras or it won't play right) on your comp with DVD Shrink 2 - Once finished, FTP the files in the VIDEO_TS folder over to your Xbox. Select the IFO file (there should only be ONE, but there might be two) 3 - The movie should play just fine. I've done this method with about 6 movies and put them on my xbox, and they play just fine when selecting the IFO file...
isn't there a way to do this without a pc? what is a good ripping prgram to avi? sorry for the piggy back but this topic also interests me. thanks.
Thanks for all of the replies, I have successfully set this up as follows. XBMC cannot handle dvd with menus loaded and play them from the hardrive - thats official. What I do is reauthor in DVD Shrink, and create an iso image file that contains just the main film (no extras or menus). XBMC can play iso files and stream them from my PC. I prefer this method as the whole film is then just one file (like it would be as an avi or divx), rather than a mixture of VOBs and an IFO. In XBMC, I have turned off the file extensions, so when going to my videos on XBMC, it simply looks like a library of films.
I also backup DVD's on my xbox for later viewing. A friend of mine does te same but when he chooses the big .ifo file it does not start the complete movie. Sometimes it runs but jumps back to the dashboard, sometimes it is all pixelated. Reworking the files on a pc is not an option for him at this time. Hope someone can help me out...
So is there a way to copy a dvd to your hardrive via dvd2xbox, then somehow get it to play full through and even show up in my xbmc MOVIES tab in the dash?
Has anyone tried to install a player that supports VOB files (I use Intervideo or Nero on my PCs) or is there a codec which are required to play them in the XBMC that I may have missed? It appears as though the configurations may be different for those who have the VOB,IFO files playing properly. The quality of AVI drives me nuts on the HDTV! Unless someone has a way to clean it up?
xbmc will play vob's. the advice to convert to avi is, well, wrong. its good way to lose quality ANDmake the file bigger. additionally you will lose chapter control, fastforwarding will lock you up and you will lose audio and subtitle control. what you want to do is just back up with a program like dvd shink with the following two special xbox/xbmc consideratons: 1) reauther. ie remove menu and only keep film. xbmc will still let you have full chapeter control, full autdio track options, full subtitle control you just use their menu (just like you can do with your other dvd players). 2) you want 3.95 gb files (xbox file limit). if you might be keeping some of the films on the xbox reduce them to 3.95 gb instead of 4.4 gb for dvd5. if it is avery long fim and you don't wish to compress too much split it into two files. the only downside is that you will have to re pick audio stream/subtitles if you are using other than yournormal defualts. ie you will have a 20 second "intermission between halfs of the film -- much the same as if you opt not to compress long films on our normal dvd burning and go with two disks. lastly rename the film.iso to film.img before you ftp it. I keep about 50 3-5 gb films on my xbox in the car this way along with a boatload of music and games. (I have a 250 gig hdd). same with the xbox in the kids room. For the car one it takes about two minutes to take the xbox outfrom under the front seat and load new films overnight if I wish. the in home one plays contained films as well as streams from films on pcs through the house bia samba.