DMA1000 and Thecus

Hi

I also just managed to get a DMA1000 from PC World at Cardiff (last one).
For the price I couldn't say no.

However I have already got a lot of movies on a Thecus 5200 in the workshop which are in Vob format from memory. Unfortunately I think each movie is split into several VOB files. I think I used ANYDVD or Clone DVD or somesuch! It's a while ago now.

Three questions:-

1) Can these split movies be played?

2) Can the DMA1000 see the Thecus Nas Box without installing any software?

3) Should I just bite the bullet and buy a Netgear EVA8000 or Popcorn hour to save re-encoding everything?

Thanks, Gerald.

Further Info.

Connected it all up. No joy.

Enable Mediabolic Server on Thecus and Bingo!!

However.... Plays some VOB files for 30 secs then stops with the message "Media Read Error". Others play OK?

Any ideas?

Gerald.

OK, not much help here.

I have just updated the firmware and am giving it another try.

Anybody know how to get the album art to show up in the Boxed area on the DMA1000 menu screen?

Gerald.

[Nelviticus]

I have a DMA1000 and a Thecus N1200 and had terrible problems getting it working - basically the Mediabolic server built into the N1200 is a woeful pile of dreadfulness. I am guessing that the N5200 is the same.

Fortunately the Thecus boxes support add-on modules so I was able to install a Twonky server module on my 1200 and that works fine. You can get the Twonky module (and several others) for the N5200 at the Thecus Wiki here:
N5200 Module List - Thecus Wiki

Also, there is a Thecus support forum over at Hexus which is reasonably active and is sometimes visited by Thecus staff:
Thecus.care@HEXUS - HEXUS.community discussion forums

Finally, if you use DVD Decrypter you can configure it to rip the main movie file from a DVD to a single VOB file. This may noy be much use to you if you've already ripped all your discs, but I found these two apps which claim to be able to stich VOB files together:
VOB Joiner - join VOB files, merge vob merger, combine vob combiner, Camcorder, MiniDV
MPEG Joiner, AVI Joiner, WMV Joiner, RM Joiner , all Video Joiner in Movie Joiner, join movie.

I have never tried them so can't vouch for their reliability.

Regards

Hi Nilviticus.

Thanks for that. I also came to the same conclusion as you regarding Mediabolic and I installed Twonky.

Question is:- Can DVD Decypter rip all the latest discs? Last time I tried it (1Year ago) it failed to rip "The Pink Panther" with Steve Martin. The only software back then that would rip it was "Clone DVD".

Are there any new versions of DVD Decrypter, or would I be better off buying a new streamer that will play split VOB files such as the Tivx or Netgear?

Thanks.

[Stan_Ipkis]

I use dvd shrink to re-author to produce one VOB. For TV shows and such, you end up with one VOB per episode and I end up renaming the VOB after.

Hi Stan.

Yup, that's another good one. Question is again though, is DVD Shrink up to ripping the l\test copy protected DVD's?

Regards.

[Stan_Ipkis]

This entire dvd/bluray/streaming/codec/tank thing is such a moving target that it makes predicting the future kind of hard.

In the past 5 years, I've had trouble with dvdshrink and perhaps a handful of movies. For that handful, I've had to resort to either, dvddecrypter, or dvdfabdecrypter, or dvdfabhddecrypter or anydvd or somesuch hoop.

But for over 98% of regular dvd's, this has worked out extremely well, and it's software after all.

This new hobby is making me real familiar with dvd formats, encoding formats, media players codec list, NAS, powerline networking, subtitles, lossless audio etc.

It is interesting that I don't recall having had to learn all the intricacies of each device when I first bought bought them, i.e. a tv, vcr, telephone, microwave, refrigerator, mp3 player, or any appliance like this before.

[Nelviticus]

The last version of DVD Decrypter was 3.5.4.0 - after that they were bought out and the new owners basically closed it down. I have yet to come across a DVD it can't rip, but if I do I'll just ry another app for that one DVD.

If it failed to rip Pink Panther then you can probably count that as a point in its favour!

Hi Nelviticus.

Ooooh, that hurt. And I thought it was a good movie!!

Hi Stan.

Couldn't agree with you more btw, what do you use for lossless Audio ripping, and do you find it makes a big difference over MP3 at 192Kb?

Gerald.

[Stan_Ipkis]

I don't really think I know enough about lossless audio to be able to provide a
reasonable opinion.

Come to think of it, none of my opinions here might be that reasonable
anyway

Nevertheless, I am still getting everything lined up so it can all work together, and I'm sure once that's done I'll tear everything apart and get a new one because the novelty's worn off and there's a newer and better toy out there that promises everything and delivers ...

So my audio strategy is to get as much out of the encoding as possible and this latest attempt was to convert mpeg audio 320Kbps -> 320Kbps mp3 using the LAME MP3 encoder. It seems to work and I'm okay with it.

How does one end up comparing anyway?