I’ve done a search and most people seem to be having problems playing ripped DVD’s or some such. Mine is a little different. I am trying to get my owned DVD ripped to the HD so that i can play them. I am using DVDNextCopy. Legit copy and ripping the DVD. I’ve tried two different formats creating VOB files and creating an MP4. These are on my PC and I’m LAN conencted to it from the WD Live. My WD Live can’t even see the files let alone play them.
It can see the PC and see other files AVI and MKV’s in the same directory but these files just don’t appear. I even created an ISO version from CloneDVD and it can’t see that either. (not sure if should be able to play ISO).
DVDNextCopy wouldn’t rip it until i downloaded Machinist2 (region protection thing) but after that it ahppily ripped the disk and i can play it on the PC.
Hi dude, are you able to verify if your ripping software is copying the DRM from the DVDs as well? If it is, then you WON’T be able to play them as the media player is unable to see files with DRM…
More details can come in handy, like the codec (Not the file extension itself), resolution and framerate to narrow down the possibilities…
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 1h 38mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 165 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Stream size : 117 MiB (5%)
Encoded date : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00
Tagged date : UTC 1970-01-01 00:00:00
Magic DVD Ripper (MDR; PC Only) - Rips specific titles from the DVD in various formats (including original MPEG-2, so you don’t lose quality; but does not support H.264 as far as I know), OR you can use it to rip the entire DVD (with menus and such).
MakeMKV (PC and Mac) - Rips specific titles from the DVD. Your file will have the extension .mkv, but realistically it can be any number of video file-types (e.g., Original MPEG-2) that is contained within the MKV, along with smart data. For example, using this program, you can choose any file from your DVD (a specific episode or a bonus feature, for example), and you will have the option of choosing which audio tracks & subtitle tracks you want to keep. It will also keep the original chapter markers. I’m currently ripping all of my Simpsons DVDs. I have each episode in MKV format with the main English track, the English Commentary-track, English Subtitle track, and all of the original chapter markers. I had the option to keep the alternate language audio tracks (French, Spanich, German, etc) as well as the alternate language subtitle tracks, but I decided not to (to save space, since I don’t see myself ever using those). You might be able to rip the ENTIRE DVD image with this program, but I haven’t bothered even looking into that yet. I’m not sure if you can.
HandBrake (PC and Mac) - It has a lot of the same capabilities as MakeMKV, but I’m not too sure on the specifics. I only use this program to compress my MakeMKV in H.264. All smart data from my MakeMKV rips are retained in the compression.
The beautiful thing about these programs is that all of my rips so far have been playable on my WD. I presume some of my rips had DRM protection, but these programs defeated it (maybe).
A good program that I have used for ripping DVDs is DVDFab. Many here use this program and the rips are compatible with the WD box. There is a 30 day free trial, but even after the free trial expires, the DVD ripper part of the program stays active perminately.
EDIT: richUK, great minds think alike! I guess you typed your answer a little faster while I was still typing mine.
Thanks for all the feedback. It really helped. I did download and try DVDFab. It didn’t make any difference. But because of that i looked elsewhere. I don’t know why i didn’t twig earlier because i’d checked this setting a dozen times but i was getting desperate.
It turns out i wasn’t logged into my PC from the WD Live. I could see some of the directories and play some of the files because i was , by default, logged in as “anonymous”. I logged in with my User name and password and hey presto… I could see everything. Even my earlier rips…AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! how stupid is that.
Funny thing is that if I’d copied the files to my NAS drive it would have worked becasue that is set up with username and passowrd.
I do like the DVDFab software though and will probably buy it.
I guess you typed your answer a little faster while I was still typing mine.