After using Windows Media Center and Media Center Extender, I found I wanted my DVDs visible within it. At first I used a few legit digital copies of DVDs I have. The results were great. It was great until I had two hard drive crashes one after another. The first time I called and/or emailed the companies I own digital copies and told them my hard drive died and I had to reinstall. They reset my code. This was great, I could readd my movies to my media center extenders and watch it any of those rooms. I no longer had to go find those movies put them in the DVD drive and use another remote to watch them. However the second time, I did not want to go back thru the process. With time I wanted older DVDs in my media center and did not want to go buy newer versions with Digital Copies. So I started investigating how to bring them over. The answer came to me to encode. VLC media player became a natural first program I was directed to on the Internet and worked almost perfectly alone. However on my extenders it would not encode in a format they recognized. Since then this is the process I have elected to follow.
What is needed?
- Microsoft Expression Encoder 2
- Apple QuickTime
- VLC Media Player
First, you need Microsoft Expression Encoder 2. This can be expensive, luckily I was able to get this free from Microsoft DreamSpark. Please note: That you must be in college to get this.
For the purposes of this VLC and Microsoft Expression Encoder 2, it also needs Apple Quicktime. VLC will work without it, but the file I make using VLC needs quicktime to encode to WMV.
I imagine that this can be also done with Microsoft Media Encoder 9. I however have written my script to only run thus far with Microsoft Expression Encoder 2 so no other progra will be mentioned here.
You will also need VLC media player.
The great thing about the above is that I got them all free. VLC someday alone may be able to encode perfectly to WMV, but I have had nothing but problems trying to get it to encode and work with Media Center Extenders.
The Script: The Meat and Gravy
I have developed the script so this should work with both x86 and any future or current x64 versions of the software listed above.
Without furthermore here is the script: (Just save the following text to a Batch File and you are ready to go.)
@echo offcolor 70clsREM Initial Setup of any variables that are needed throughoutrem Set X86 Folder to run on both x86 and x64 in 32-bit mode. This assumes that no x64 software is used, only x64set ProgRoot=%ProgramFiles%if not "%ProgramFiles(x86)%" == "" set ProgRoot=%ProgramFiles(x86)%rem echo %ProgRoot%set ProgMSExpress=%ProgRoot%set ProgRootVLC=%ProgRoot%REM Initial Startup to Test if x64 software is there. This is still in Testingif exist "%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Expression\Encoder 2\Encoder" (set ProgMSExpress=%ProgramFiles%) else (rem set ProgMSExpress=%ProgramFiles(x86)%)if exist "%ProgramFiles%\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" (set ProgRootVLC=%ProgramFiles%) else (rem set ProgRootVLC=%ProgramFiles(x86)%)ECHO --------------------------------------ECHO.ECHO Welcome to DVDEncoder.batECHO.ECHO Written byECHO Shane PurcellaECHO.ECHO.ECHO --------------------------------------ECHO.ECHO.ECHO After Answering the following question, you may wishECHO to leave this running overnight until everything is done.Rem Ask User Input for Title to UseECHO.ECHO.ECHO.:inputset INPUT=set /P INPUT=Type Title Number used by VLC to play DVD Movie: %=%if "%INPUT%"=="" goto inputset DVDTITLE=%INPUT%Rem Ask User Input if the user wishes to only encode a set amount of movie:timeinputECHO.ECHO.ECHO.ECHO TYPE AN INTEGER VALUE TO ONLY ENCODE A SET AMOUNT OF MOVIEECHO OTHERWISE INPUT ANY OTHER NON INTEGER LETTERset INPUT=set /P TIMEINPUT=Type an Integer value to only encode a set amount of movie: %=%if "%TIMEINPUT%"=="" goto timeinputif %TIMEINPUT% EQU +%TIMEINPUT% (set EncodeTime= --stop-time=%TIMEINPUT%) else (set EncodeTime=)rem echo %EncodeTime%rem if %TIMEINPUT% EQU +%TIMEINPUT% @echo Variable TIMEINPUT contains an integer.rem --stop-time=30clsecho Using Title %INPUT%ECHO.ECHO ...ECHO.ECHO.ECHO.ECHO.Echo Generate Time at end of filerem created unique log filename, Bit like XP\2k : 26-11-2003@Wed@03_41_pmrem or NT4 26-11-2003@Wed@03_41__rem get date, make if file name friendlyFOR /F "tokens=1-4 delims=/ " %%i in ('date/t') do set d=%%j-%%k-%%lrem get time, make if file name friendlyFOR /F "tokens=1-9 delims=:. " %%i in ('time/t') do set t=%%i_%%j_%%k%%lset LOG=%d%%t%rem echo YOUR FILE NAME IS : %log%rem Echo Create File as will be created using Notepadrem notepad "%~dp0NameMe %log%.wmv"rem pauseset TEMPFILE=%~dp0FullDVD %log%.mp4rem echo %tempfile%set WMVFILE=%~dp0NameMe %log%.wmvrem pausecolor 73color 84color 78clsECHO --------------------------------------ECHO.ECHO Encoding StartingECHO.ECHO This will take a some timeECHO.ECHO.ECHO --------------------------------------ECHO.ECHO ...ECHO TEMPORARY FILE USED: %TEMPFILE%ECHO WMV MOVIE FILE USED: %WMVFILE%ECHO ...ECHO.ECHO All Temporary Files will be deleted at the end of this processECHO.ECHO.ECHO.rem echo %ProgRootVLC%rem echo %ProgMSExpress%rem pauserem Change to VLC Directorycd "%ProgRootVLC%\VideoLAN\VLC"echo Start encoding Movie to Temporary File where this Script was run fromecho Your Temporary File is located and called %tempfile%vlc %EncodeTime% -vvv "dvd://D:\@%DVDTITLE%" --sout-ffmpeg-qscale 1 :sout=#transcode{vcodec=mp4v,vb=1024,scale=1,acodec=mp4a,ab=192,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=mp4,dst="%TEMPFILE%"}} vlc://quitECHO.ECHO ...ECHO ...ECHO.ECHO.ECHO.rem Change to VLC Microsoft Expression Encoder 2 Directorycd "%ProgMSExpress%\Microsoft Expression\Encoder 2"echo Start encoding Movie from Temporary File to WMV FormatEncoder.exe /Source "%TEMPFILE%" /Target "%WMVFILE%" /FileOutputMode AsfSingleFile /AspectRatioMode Sourcerem Previous Options usedrem /VideoComplexity Best --- Removed as this created really large files and took forever and a day to makeecho Delete Temporary Filedel /F /Q "%TEMPFILE%"
Let me know any suggestions and/or comments to give to this script.
How do I use the script?
Well first, I have some work to go, but don't worry it is pretty easy. Before encoding a DVD for use, you need to open VLC.
From Here, choose Media and Open Disc...
At this point a new window will pop up asking you some options to choose. You will need to find the title to encode just the material you want to encode.
Please Note: The Title differs from the Chapters. Some DVDs may include more than one movie or previews as seperate Titles. DVDs that include a Theaterical and Special Edition normally include more than one title for example. Most DVDs seems to work with a Title of 1, however I had one DVD that was all the way up in the early 30's. You just have to choose the title you want and then press Play. This will take some playing around with to get the version or title you want.
When you go to play the movie, you will see the number that you chose briefly show on the screen and then fade away. Make sure that the movie plays fine and that it is the version you want. I normally check it si in English, the length, and that the movie goes all the way to the end. I think some manufactures try to hide under different Titles. I have almost been fooled by versions that appear to be what I want but are really just the commentary.
Launching the Script
Once you find the movie title you want, just launch the script I gave you. It will fist ask a question of
Type Title Number used by VLC to play DVD Movie:
Just enter the title you found to work earlier and press enter.
Next it will ask
TYPE AN INTEGER VALUE TO ONLY ENCODE A SET AMOUNT OF MOVIE
OTHERWISE INPUT ANY OTHER NON INTEGER LETTER
Type an Integer value to only encode a set amount of movie:
This may be confusing, however I have used this for testing and thought it a good idea to release it with this option used. If you want to test out this process and want to make sure that everythig works, just type in a value like 90 and it will record the first 90 seconds of the Movie. Type in any letter, (non integer) and it will record the full movie.
The Encoding Process
Part 1
The Encoding Proscess is a two step process. It will first bring up VLC and encode the movie to a MP4 video from where you run the script. This is a temporary file used later to encode to a WMV File by Microsoft Expression Encoder 2.
Part 2
Next it will use the temporary file mentioned above to encode to a WMV file using Microsoft Expression Encoder 2. This is all by command line and nothing other than the script is shown for this part. This process will normally take some time to encode and set up to work. It will make the file compatible with any Media Center/Media Center Extender at this point.
Cleaning up
At the end of the script it will delete the temporary file created using VLC.
