I want my VOB

[Salesman.Gil]

Hello All

I've been working on this for months, and tried multiple solutions.

Goal - Rip my OWNED DVD's to a network drive to be played on Western Media Hub and Xbox

OK. I love the Simpsons. I OWN 13 seasons. I would like to rip them to VOB format to preserve menus and such.

Have done and can play on computer that ripped them, but fails on Western Digital Live Media Hub.

Please help.....

Gil

[_Al_]

WDTV Live Hub should support DVD structure, I don't think it is different than WDTV Live players, try to navigate into VIDEO_TS folder and press play.

[Salesman.Gil]

Thanks for the reply. I think it has something to do with the write protect on the DVD's. I understand the method of using VOB and navigating to the folder.

It works on the computer I rip it on, but the Media Hub just tries playing it then goes back to the folder to try again.

The media hub does support VOB format. I have older DVD season that work perfectly.

[Krispy Kritter]

RIPping should remove the copy protection. So the most likely issue is that the playback device doesn't support vob format. What is listed in the player specs? Some will play vob's, some will support a DVD iso.

[Salesman.Gil]

VOB is in the specs, and have played other VOB's. Maybe it is the ripping program. What is the best to rip to a VOB

[Krispy Kritter]

I use DVDFab.

[manono]

VOB is in the specs, and have played other VOB's.

Yes, but does it play DVDs? There's a diffeence. If not your best bet may be to decrypt the individual episodes to the hard drive with no file splitting so you have the single episodes in a single VOB.

[Salesman.Gil]

I'll give DVDFab a chance. I really do not want to rip each episode. I want the menu. It is nice being able to press "play all" and other features.

[_Al_]

What exactly is you media device, Is it this unit? http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=570

That unit should play DVD structure even VOB alone, but you keep your DVD structure, just copy your VIDEO_TS on hardisk using a ripping program. Do not extract any VOB's out of it, only then you keep menu and DVD navigation. Yo navigate inside VIDEO_TS folder and press play to navigate DVD.

[manono]

That unit should play DVD structure even VOB alone, but you keep your DVD structure, just copy your VIDEO_TS on hardisk using a ripping program.

Are you saying that based on personal experience? Because I can't seem to find anywhere that it plays DVDs. Maybe I'm missing it, but I can only find this:

Video - AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1), TS/TP/M2T (MPEG1/2/4, AVC, VC-1), MP4/MOV (MPEG4, h.264), M2TS, WMV9, FLV (h.264)

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=570

However, the instructions you gave are worth trying, just to confirm or disprove.

Edit later: I did find this in the reviews/comments, so maybe it plays DVDs after all. If it plays ISOs, it should also play DVDs:

I have not found any standard media formats that this unit will not play flawlessly including DVD ISO files just like you were watching the DVD from a DVD player!

[_Al_]

All WDTV Live's players have DVD navigation capability not BD though just BD light, meaning no menus for BD, and some BD's of course will not play correctly,..., op is not really clear what he is actually doing with DVD.
It has to be ripped into VIDEO_TS folder. That is the flag for media player that it is actually DVD he is trying to play. If there is different name for the folder it assumes that it is just bunch of media in it.

Also if you navigate on VIDEO_TS folder and play is pressed one title (first, biggest, not sure) is going to be played. No menus, dvd navigation, for that one must navigate inside VIDEO_TS folder and pres play.

edit: ISO is a solution also, but I would be cautious with ISO, not many devices can play it, not sure if it is good idea for the future. Others might think different, it is a personal choice, certainly it is much more easier to work with just one file, one name..

[filmboss80]

I've ripped a number of DVDs from my collection to my WDTV. It will play them fine in their VIDEO_TS folders. To separate TV episodes, I use DVDShrink in the reauthor mode. For example, for season 6, episode 4 of the Simpsons, you'd create a folder like Simpsons_S06_E04, and direct DVDShrink to build a VIDEO_TS subfolder (containing that specific episode's vob, ifo, and bup files) under that episode folder. DVDShrink will also automatically create an AUDIO_TS folder, but it won't contain anything, and you can delete it.

Of course, DVDShrink is dated software, and may not handle newer copy protection. In that case, you'd need to rip the entire disc to hard drive using the free decrypter part of DVDFab, then reauthor in DVDShrink as a second stage to separate the series episodes.