Creating a DVD menu on the hard drive - is this possible?

[LonePalm]

I keep my dvds on my hard drive and use my firefly pc remote to control them while playing on my tv. With the video card I have (Matrox Millenia P750) it only outputs to tv when a dvd or other movie is playing on my computer (this is normal operation for this card). So therefore I cannot browse my movies from my TV. So what i'd like to do is create a dvd type menu that allows me to select which dvd i want to launch. So then i can set my pc remote to launch PowerDVD loading that menu and can select the movie from my tv instead of having to go into the other room and select it on the computer. Does any one have any suggestions on how this might be done? It would be great if this menu could be created in code so i code a little program to go through my HD and auto-generate this menu everytime I add a new one but even if I have to create it manually that'd be fine. Any one have any thoughts?

[Gary D]

What you want to do is create an ISO of your DVD folder.

Then you want to "mount" this ISO with Daemon tools. Your computer will then think that the DVD is on a disc. Then you should have no problem watching it then.

[LonePalm]

I can already play the movies fine but what i want is to be able to launch a menu from my remote - navigate that menu and select which movie and have the movie then load. Basically i want to create a dvd menu which my software player will load but instead of scene or chapter selections it will jump to the appropriate movie directory on my hard drive.

[admin]

I don't think you'll be able to create a DVD menu that launches different movies stored in different DVD folders. The DVD menu would only be able to access the current movie, I don't think it can go and open up other movies.

I'm a little surprised by the fact that your graphic card's TV output does not permit the desktop to be shown ... most other video cards offer a driver option to allow the TV output to be either normal or video-only. If your card's drivers really cannot output the desktop using the TV output, then you might want to invest in a PC to TV converter, like the ones on sale here from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_e/104-1634001-6842349?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=PC+to+TV

[LonePalm]

I don't know much about how dvd menus are structured but there must be something in them that points to which file to open for a selection so I don't see why that couldn't be set to open another menu file (say for a specific movie) like when you go to special features and another menu is brought up. And I think that it only outputs video to the tv because it out puts to a tv through a dongle which connects with dvi to the computer and has a vga and s-video ports on the other end. If anyone knows of any way to make a Matrox Millenia P750 constantly output to tv that would be great.

[blutach]

DVDs are a set of filkes on their own. Each have their own menu system within the DVD project itself. Unless you combine the projects with special software like DVD Remake Pro, the menus within a DVD can only open titles within that DVD.

Regards

[r0lZ]

Unfortunately, the DVD-Video standard is very strict, and it is impossible to link a menu to any folder, or even to any file. A DVD is supposed to be played by a standard DVD player, and nothing else.

There are tools able to generate some sort of interactive video, such as Flash. Maybe with some of them it is possible to launch another player to play the DVD. However, I'm not sure your graphic card will accept to show that kind of interactive video, and I don't know if they can be controlled by a remote, especially from another room.

[EDIT: blutach was faster!]
BTW, DRM Pro can join 2 or 3 DVDs together, but it is also limited by the DVD-Video standard. It is not possible to have more than 10 titlesets per DVD, and many DVDs consume already several titlesets. Therefore, you will not be able to do a complete catalog of your DVDs with DRM Pro.

[LonePalm]

Hmmm...OK guess it's back to the drawing board then to come up with a new idea. Thanks for the info.

[Chewy]

Hard Disk Drive Video Players

[bigotti5]

It is not possible to have more than 10 titlesets per DVD

Very likely a typo, you can have 99 titlesets per DVD volume

[r0lZ]

Oops, right!

Anyway, although I have never used that function, I think DRM Pro can join only 2 or 3 DVDs.

[NightTran]

if you put all iso dvd movie in one HD, you can make them alphabet or even date make then just play by VLC

That is how I play my movie

[Chewy]

http://www.inoi.com/English/MH720.asp

wonder what the longest usb cord you could use?

[blutach]

Oops, right!

Anyway, although I have never used that function, I think DRM Pro can join only 2 or 3 DVDs.

Given quality constraints, why join more? But, I am sure there are people out there who will do so to save 20 cents.

Regards

[r0lZ]

I agree, but since LonePalm wants to play the DVDs from his HDD, the size does not matter, and he could generate a very big "pseudo-DVD" containing several DVDs. I suppose the players will accept it, if it has less than 100 VTSs and less than 10 VOB files per VTS.