DVD Playback on TIVO - MPG? ISO? VOB?

[drpeeper]

I am in the process of trying to organize my thoughts in devleoping a DVD library on my TIVO. Does anyone have any good resources? Has anyone tried this before?

[lenroc]

I'm not exactly sure what you are looking for there. Do you want to insert random files (your DVD movies) onto the TiVo, to be played back through the TiVo's UI?

A long time ago, I read a thread that said that no tools for that purpose had been publicly released yet (which may or may not mean that they don't exist). If that's what you want to do, you might try searching around for thread about 'inserting' 'MPEG' (or 'MPG') files. (those are your search terms)

[ds2ktj]

I'm not aware of any way to do it but It would be very nice to be able to do so without having to buy a stand-alone to rip time onto it.

I'm guessing that some utility exists in some form or another (unreleased not public domain) so DTV/Starz can make their showcase and hopefully with that NetFlix deal they aren't to far away.

[drpeeper]

I'm not exactly sure what you are looking for there. Do you want to insert random files (your DVD movies) onto the TiVo, to be played back through the TiVo's UI?

A long time ago, I read a thread that said that no tools for that purpose had been publicly released yet (which may or may not mean that they don't exist). If that's what you want to do, you might try searching around for thread about 'inserting' 'MPEG' (or 'MPG') files. (those are your search terms)

There were several naysayers, but it boils down to a converter from mpeg2 --> ty. Are you aware of any out there?

[lenroc]

There were several naysayers, but it boils down to a converter from mpeg2 --> ty. Are you aware of any out there?

No. If I was, I would not have tried to be cryptic. (If anything, I'dve lambasted your searching abilities...)

So, since that is what you're interested in, I guess I was right about what you were looking for? Your description of your problem is a little lacking.

I think that currently the best way to get an arbitrary piece of video onto the TiVo is to attach a video device that is capable of playing said video into the TiVo's video inputs, and telling the TiVo to record it (Basically, if you have a DVD you want, and a DVD player, plug the output of the DVD player into the input of the TiVo, and record away. That may have Macrovision problems, though... not sure.)

This is inconvenient, and not much fun. I wouldn't do it myself...

...but it is the best way I know of to get your videos onto the TiVo. (I would actually love to be proven wrong....)

I think that the problem really stems from the fact that TiVo is a PVR, not a Media Center*. If you want a box to plug into your TV and act as a repository of video files, you might be more interested in a hacked Xbox, or a standalone media center. (Xbox is a good choice, since with XBMC you can stream from TiVo->Xbox, plus you get all the other features of the media center...)

* - Yes, with HMF, et. al, it's moving towards becoming a Media Center. But MP3s aren't everything!

[drpeeper]

I'll look into the XBOX - for now I'll "record" the video onto tivo from a DVD player...

Thanks for your help.

[grabb]

I agree that the xbox coupled with xbmc is a fantastic video playback device. It uses a video player called mplayer which has handled every crazy video format I've thrown at it. However, unless I'm doing something wrong, it's not the best for viewing dvd images. It will play the .vob files, but only one at a time (you need to play 2-3 of them per movie). It also will not allow you to navigate menus on the dvd (though I'm pretty sure this feature is being worked on). If you are ripping your dvd's to divx (or whatever) then xbox is fantastic, but for playing images of backed up dvd's I think you need to wait a while.

[lenroc]

XBMC [and mplayer] aren't really that great for viewing DVDs themselves on the Xbox, but there are other players around.

Avalaunch (a dashboard replacement which is better than Evo-X IMO) has a DVD player built-in [or bundled?], or you can use the MS Dashboard.

There are also standalone DVD players, which I haven't tried.

[xjphil]

1. Get dvdx - dongle free dvd player

2. Edit the xbmc xml file to autolaunch dvdx, and when a dvd movie is inserted, it plays automatically, menu's too.