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The basics of my current setup:

1. Xbox 360 Elite with the latest updates from MS Live (as of 11 November 2008)
2. Windows Media Center (WMC) on this Xbox was setup through a Notebook PC running Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 along with Windows Media Player 11 (WMP)
3. After setting up WMC, the Xbox was then set up to view shared media from a Windows Home Server (WHS) on an HP EX475 [see my guide on how to do this here]
4. My Movies for WHS (v2.49) is installed on the WHS. The x86 client (v2.49) is also installed on the notebook PC for easier metadata editing. I think settings in the WHS Home Server Console are basically the default settings (ie just set up to watch my /Videos share)
5. I have setup “//SERVER/Videos/Movies” where I have individual folders for each DVD in my collection, within which I have the ISO for the DVD. This works fine on WMC on the PC’s in my house, but this will not work with the Xbox (and apparently with any other extender), thus the following steps have helped me get around this

 

The Method:

1. Using DVD Decrypter v3.5.4.0, set Mode to IFO from the menu bar

 

2. Go to Tools > Settings> IFO  Mode and set file splitting to None

 

3. Insert your DVD (or mount an ISO) and DVD Decrypter will automatically select the appropriate VOB for the “Main Movie” as seen in the Input Tab. You can also check the Stream Processing tab and you will see that there is a video stream and subsequent audio streams (this example is a home DVD, so it is not as descriptive, but if you put in a regular movie, you may have multiple audio streams for different languages and subtitles) 

[OPTIONAL STEP]

Optionally, for videos with multiple stream, you can remove all the streams except the “Video” stream and the 0×80 Audio stream by enabling stream processing and then unchecking everything else as shown here:

For this particular movie, this decreased the total size of the resulting VOB from 4GB to 3.5GB (or a savings of 15%) and so far, I have not found that it makes any difference in quality or stability.

For some reason, this screen capture does not show all the options, but choose “Direct Stream Copy”. Alternatively, you could choose a different Audio stream, and then select “Demux” and then you could do some fancy stuff where you entirely recreating (remux) a new video with the audio track of your choice as I have partially detailed here, but this can take a very … long… time…

 

4. Select your destination that you want your files to be saved and then either click the icon that looks like a DVD or go to File > Decrypt and then you will obtain three files:

 

5. Now, rename the VOB file to “filename.mpg” (where filename is whatever you want) and transfer this file to wherever you have My Movies set to watch for new movies. As far as I know, the other two files (.txt and .ifo) are not needed for anything, but I’ve been copying those too just in case I need them someday.

You can either put this MPG file in it’s own folder or into a folder that you already have an ISO or TS Folder setup for a DVD. I have this set up the second way and so the metadata only needs to be set up once and when viewing on a system that supports ISO/TS Folder setups I get the full DVD menu/chapters/extra features etc. but when viewing on my Xbox, My Movies automatically serves up just the movie.

 

Notes, Problems, etc.

So far, I have done this process with about 12 DVD’s and it works flawlessly with the occassional hiccup (from this method or because of streaming over a network?). And of course, the following exceptions:

1. The Xbox will only play the audio that is associated with stream 0×80 (which you can check in the Stream Processing tab from step 3 above). This is not a problem unless, say, you are watching a Japanese Anime that has the original Japanese audio at stream 0×80 and then the English dubbing on a different stream. Then, you only get to watch your movie in Japanese.
2. Related to issue #1, there will be no ability to view any subtitles, but you shouldn’t have expected this anyway from a work around like this.
3. Similarly, you lose things like chapters, menus, and DVD extras; but again, this is obviously not to be expected.

This process works (basically) because a VOB is just a form of MPEG-2 and Windows Media Center on the Xbox is able to play MPEG-2. However, check out this post for a little more info on why these are not entirely the same.

As far as I can tell, this DOES retain the multi-channel properties of your audio track (ie Dolby 5.1).

Original discussion of this can be found here. I think it is clear that the makers of My Movies do not consider this a viable alternative; and I agree, it is not good for the maker of a product to intentionally implement a process that can be flawed. All I’m going to say is that I’ve watched 10 DVD’s all the way through now without any problems and TEMPORARILY this solves MY problems. Good luck!

The usual disclaimers apply: Only copy your own DVD’s or those you’ve bought under “fair use”, ie don’t pirate your Netflix or Blockbuster movies, blah blah blah… etc. etc. etc.

Tags: Hacks, Help and How-To, My Movies, Windows Home Server, Windows Media Center, XBOX 360

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 8:23 am and is filed under Help and How-To. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.