DVD Catalog with MyVideos

[maxxgraphix]

OK, I got this cool idea.

I have 150+ DVD's, they are numbered and in a case. What I would like to do is use MyVideos to catalog the actual disks.

By creating a shortcut named let's say Men in Black II - 002.lnk and change the target to windvd.exe you can double click the shortcut to launch windvd. If and when a DVD is inserted it will play.

You can also create a *.dvd file and set the association to winDVD or whatever app.

Since MyVideos uses the file name for video information and thumnail lookup MyVid will add the description and thum to the link file.

Normally you play a DVD by using the playDVD button. But it would be better to simply press play from the movie info screen like you would a avi / mpeg.

I use GB's directshow for avi / mpeg and divx. For DVD I configed WinDVD since I like being able to skip chapters and other fetures directshow doesn't have.

MyVid doesn't handle the .dvd extension correctly. I think it trys to play the actual file with directshow, times out, then returns to the menu.

How about few ideas or work arounds here?

[reven]

errrrr what the heck is the ".dvd" file format? similar to .ratdvd ?

[maxxgraphix]

errrrr what the heck is the ".dvd" file format? similar to .ratdvd ?

There is no such thing. I just picked an extension so that it does not conflict with any other. It's only a zero file.

You can also use ".lnk" (windows shortcut). Add the lnk format to the list so MyVid with process the IMDB info.

If you create a shortcut to the DDVD-Drive) and change the Target to windvd.exe Windows will launch WinDVD and play what ever disk is in that drive since WinDVD plays Auto by default.

[KingArgyle]

Something you might want to consider is using ZoomPlayer professional, and setting up My Videos to use an external player for all videos. I believe ZoomPlayer has a graph that it can use to play DVDs using the WinDVD codecs.

Other options I'm sure exists using an external player and My Videos.

[maxxgraphix]

Any external player will still have the same problem. My Videos passes the filename to the app as the file to play. We don't want that in this case.

So in the directory you have a Zero file that is nothing more than the name of the DVD disc movie and it's ID number. When using GB to browse to it you get the thumb and IMDB info. When you select it you get a [PLAY] button.

From here depending on the file type we want to either play with Directshow or Launch DVD player. If DVD player then ignore file name and use default drive as DVD source. If not exist then exit.

[reven]

if the .dvd is a empty file why do you want it to be run with windvd?

[maxxgraphix]

if the .dvd is a empty file why do you want it to be run with windvd?

We don't want to use the external player to play the empty file. The file is only a marker so that the IMDB data is stored in the myvideos database. The DVD player is executed with no arguments and plays whatever is in the DVD drive.

The file name would be "Men in Black II -002". The -002 means this is disc #002 If you want to watch it then go get it out the case and place it in the drive.

All this is doing is providing a catalog of real DVD movies that are not on the HD. You know those things we pay $19.95 for and leave laying around so our kids can scratch them up so that they won't play.

I thought it would be cool to browse my DVD disc collection within My Videos. I labeled all the discs with a number so that we place them back in the same spot and know if one is missing. We use one of those big 200 disc case folders. Hey if I had an extra Terrabyte I'd encode all of them onto the HD.

This will work fine as is. All you need to do is browse through your stuff, but instead just click [Play DVD] from the main menu. If you try to play by pressing OK then it will just fail and return to the menu.

Sorry if this sounds trivial.

Now what would be just awsome is if My Videos cataloged the DVD when inserted and created marker for you.

[reven]

add the .dvd extension to the known extensions, add "WinDVD" as a external video player and add "GBPVR.exe" (browse for that file) as a external player, that way you can choose to play thing either in gbpvr or thru windvd.

[reven]

my videos isnt designed for offline files,

most of my dvds are stored in my database however, but the way ive done it is add a "DVD" item to the "Virtual Root" and then when the disc is in the drive lookup the info, that way when you take the disc out and swap them all around and putit back in the drive you will still have the info. its useful in finding out whats in the drive without having to eject it and see.

[maxxgraphix]

OK, I wondering about somekinda setup like that. I'll try that.


Thanks, works fine.