Is it possbile to copy dvd's from the pc to the hub player hard drive?

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Hub Discussions
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My media player is quite far from my pc, I’d like to be able to copy some of my dvd collection directly from my pc  to the hard drive in the hub so I won’t have to run an ethernet cable that far (I would move the hub beside the pc for the process).  And then I could use the hub to watch my favorite dvd’s.

Is this possible, thanks.

SM

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First, you have to convert the DVDs to a file format recognized by the Hub. Next, you would have to connect the Hub to your router and then it would appear as a device in your network. One caveat, transferring files this way is very slow. The most practical way i have found to transfer files from PC to Hub is with an external hard drive.

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This is the part that I’d like to understand.  The hub is always spoken of being connected to a router and never to the pc directly.  I don’t  have/need a router in my set up right now because I dont plan on creating a network with the media player.  Why is it that the media player always needs to be connected to a router and not  to the pc?  Forgive my ignorance, I bought the media player primarilly to add dvd content to the hard drive.

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If not a router then an Ethernet hub or switch would still be needed but then you’ll need to set them both (PC & HUB) to what is called a ‘hard IP address’ and that sounds like it may be out of your comfort zone.  The router would take care of that for you by assigning both the PC and the HUB an IP address via what is called DHCP after which your PC should ‘find’ the HUB on the new network.

For the expense and as a reserve asset I’d still go for the external USB drive.  It’s faster, easier for the less initiated, and a smaller 500gb or even smaller would suffice if funds are tight.

GCG

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Thanks everybody.  The externatl hard drive sounds like the right choice for me.

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If you are going to copy dvds from your collection, use ISO.  It will give you a datacopy of the disc and allow you full menu access from the Hub.  Figure DVD-9 quality is 6-7 GB.  If you want only the movie and not the extras, then use DVDShrink or similar program to extract only the desired content.  Another nice reason to use ISO is that you can burn the DVD to a dual layer disc for backup.  I currently keep an ISO on my main PC and a Copy on the Hub, for redundancy.  You can also stream the iso over the network, which is better done over wired than wireless, IMHO.

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McFrisch wrote:

If you are going to copy dvds from your collection, use ISO.  It will give you a datacopy of the disc and allow you full menu access from the Hub.

This is only true of standard DVDs and does not apply to Blu-Rays.

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I back up my dvd’s as VIDEO_TS files, and they work fine as well. It’s important to note that dvd menu’s only work if the file is stored on the internal drive.

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l10rdr33f4 wrote:

I back up my dvd’s as VIDEO_TS files, and they work fine as well. It’s important to note that dvd menu’s only work if the file is stored on the internal drive.

This is not correct, at least in my case. with DVD menus turned on in the settings, I can get the menu to a video stored in a VIDEO_TS directory on a network drive. I am on FW 3.01.19 connecting over network share to a windows7 machine and it works fine.

-P

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That’s right.   Menus on Network Shares have always worked.

What i10rdr33f4 might be referring to is “Media Servers,” which do not, in fact, support DVD navigation.

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GulfcoastGuy wrote:

If not a router then an Ethernet hub or switch would still be needed but then you’ll need to set them both (PC & HUB) to what is called a ‘hard IP address’ and that sounds like it may be out of your comfort zone.  The router would take care of that for you by assigning both the PC and the HUB an IP address via what is called DHCP after which your PC should ‘find’ the HUB on the new network.

 

For the expense and as a reserve asset I’d still go for the external USB drive.  It’s faster, easier for the less initiated, and a smaller 500gb or even smaller would suffice if funds are tight.

 

GCG

Ok I don’t doubt what you’re saying here but my Hub’s network config is set to automatic. I regularly just move it over to the PC and connect it directly to the NIC with a cat5 cable and get a lot better transfer rate than I do over the network. No router and  no switches are involved just one piece of cat5 cable. I change NOTHING on the PC other than to enable the NIC in the PC after I connect the Hub.

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Ah, yes. I am going the Media Server route as opposed to Network Share.

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flhthemi wrote:

GulfcoastGuy wrote:

If not a router then an Ethernet hub or switch would still be needed but then you’ll need to set them both (PC & HUB) to what is called a ‘hard IP address’ and that sounds like it may be out of your comfort zone.  The router would take care of that for you by assigning both the PC and the HUB an IP address via what is called DHCP after which your PC should ‘find’ the HUB on the new network.

 

For the expense and as a reserve asset I’d still go for the external USB drive.  It’s faster, easier for the less initiated, and a smaller 500gb or even smaller would suffice if funds are tight.

 

GCG

Ok I don’t doubt what you’re saying here but my Hub’s network config is set to automatic. I regularly just move it over to the PC and connect it directly to the NIC with a cat5 cable and get a lot better transfer rate than I do over the network. No router and  no switches are involved just one piece of cat5 cable. I change NOTHING on the PC other than to enable the NIC in the PC after I connect the Hub.

In order for that to work your PC and HUB subnets must match and the IP’s must be different.  If not, no go.  You sound like you have a good setup that works … for you.  The OP may or may not be as fortunate and may not be comfortable with the steps to correct whatever may be involved to replicate the setup.

That said SM, these ARE desirable skills.

GCG

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Yes, Yo can convert manually. Otherwise use some media conersion software.