I ripped three DVDs to my computer with AnyDVD (Rip Video Disc to Harddisk mode). Once on my computer, I copied them to my USB stick (I'm trying to get ability to "rent now, watch later" and/or preserve). I tested playback of two of the movies. Neither one let me use menus. The first film I tried to watch started playing fine, but after about 15 minutes flipped to Spanish language and rest of movie was unwatchable due to language. The second movie played in english all the way through, but periodically there would be a 2 second blue screen as it transitioned from one VOB file to the next. I know I can always rip the DVD files to a DVDR, but I neither want a horde of DVDRs for movies I may only watch a couple times (and DVDR discs lose integrity over a few years, so not good for long-term). I know I can watch them with VLC or Shrink on my computer, but would greatly prefer ability to watch on my TV, so family can watch together. I'm not as concerned about having menu ability, as being able to watch in english start to finish and not have the blips between VOB files. Any advice on a good way to accomplish this?
Regarding the menus, do you refer to chapter marker or something likewise? As far as I know, most DVD rippers won't save all the chapters and languages if you choose to "transcode" the video. Try the disc copy mode (it may output a DVD folder or so), then use VLC player to watch the copied video. I'm using multi-track mkv feature of Bytecopy (uncompressed MKV, it requires your TV or media server support lossless MKV format), with options to free choose audio tracks, so far so good.
The process you used to rip the dvd is what i use & will contain the menu.It sounds like whatever it is that your using to play the usb can't read/navigate the menu.This can happen even on the computer ,tho it normally is with a tv series dvd,if vlc can't play it i'll switch to klite or cyberlink to select from the menu the next episode what i suggest is use dvd shrink to process the ripped folder however don't include the menu,just strip the main movie,you may as well remove front & end credits as well with shrinks cutting tool.Do this for the 3 dvd's & create 3 named folders so that all movies are in a folder of their own,then place those 3 folders onto the usb drive. Using shrink you can also remove the extra lang & subs then be left with only english audio & subs Doing the above will still allow you to navigate the chapters if required @ nepheler anydvd is disc copy it can't transcode to other formats.clonedvd mobile is required for that or program of choice
