MyHTPC > Powerdvd and using shortcuts

TB

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OK tearing what little hair I have left out.

HTPC is setup and working lovely.

Setting up a Media server..... and trying to setup MyHTPC as my frontend on the htpc.

Soooooo.....my ripped DVDs are across several drives.....so I thought the best solution was to setup a seperate folder structure on a single drive with a jpeg and a shortcut in each folder and point MyHTPC to that.

e.g.

f:\R1 Movies\Shrek 2

Then in Shrek 2 there is a jpeg and shortcut to Shrek 2 on Drive Y.

Thus when I go to "my Movies" the first thing I get is a jpeg of all the films which is great (looks superb).....click on the one you want and it displays the jpeg in a bigger size but does not show the shortcut so I can't start the movie up.

I realise that I could point myhtpc to the DVD folders themselves, but then it displays all the file names (VTS_01 etc...) and I don't want that. I just want a picture and a renamed shortcut......i.e. a pic of Shrek 2 and the words "Shrek 2" which when I click on it starts the movie.

This is a very long and convoluted way of asking HOW ON EARTH DO I GET MYHTPC TO RECOGNISE AND DISPLAY A SHORTCUT!!? Aaaaaargh.

Thanks...apologies if this is a bit garbled.
 
Is it myHTPC or Meedio you are using?
 
You may want to get Meedio, its what myHTPC became. Its commercial now, but you can trial it for a month and may solve some issues. :thumbsup:
 
Think I may have to.

Shame coz I'm so chuffin' close to having exactly what I want.

Thanks for the help anyhow.
 
No experience of HPTC but what is stopping you creating a shortcut to ;

"If you wish to play the film of the hard disk from the beginning open VIDEO_TS.IFO which is the control file for the whole film. Opening any other .IFO will only play the part of the film that IFO knows about."

This is taken from a previous post i made on dvd issues;

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225755&highlight=ifo

If you had a icon editor you could convert the jpeg to an icon and use that in the short cut!
 
It's a good theory, but the problem I'm having is that myHTPC can't see shortcuts.

Sooo if I change the jpeg to an icon I won't even get the cover art displayed as myHTPC won't see it.

Do shortcuts have a file extension? They don't show up if they do.
 
Is it .lnk? Or am I thinking of somehthing else.....
 
In "pure" version of Windows (98, NT4, Windows2000 & XP) by default they should keep the extension of the original item, but you can change this to what you want.

If you look at the attached picture there is;

Sky new application (with .exe extension)
Shortcut to Sky news application
Shortcut to Sky news application renamed to my preferrence

Remember these views change with your folder options preference. You can turn off the arrow in the bottom lefthand corner (windows default to tell you it is a shortcut) and you can turn on/off the file extension (.exe in this example)
 

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Aha this is my point...the shortcut file doesn't have an extension. The setup you show there is what I have for say Shrek 2. I have the original VIDEO_TS.IFO file and then a renamed shortcut (called "Shrek 2").

Neither your rename not the original shortcut have an extension as such, they are just a shortcut with a name.

I've tried .lnk and that didn't work.

This is doing my nut in, coz it seems so simple. the shortcut solution seemed like the answer to all problems, and would have provided with a really simple a good looking front end. Why are these things never easy?
 
The .lnk will only exist in a command prompt/DOS.

Quote " I just want a picture and a renamed shortcut......i.e. a pic of Shrek 2 and the words "Shrek 2" which when I click on it starts the movie"

So you must have on your Y drive

Shrek2.jpeg
Shrek2 which is actually a Shortcut to f:\R1 Movies\Shrek 2\VIDEO_TS.IFO

I think you answer is file associations. For example when you double click .doc word opens etc.

Have a look at the picture (found by open explorer, tools, folder options, file type).

This gives a list of standard MIME types and associations. In my example .IFO is opened by WinDVD

I think if you give your shortcut a .IFO extension which ever application plays dvd should work!

Alternatively you should be able "frig" this by creating your own extension (must be three characters) and changing the application association.

I will try it later when i get home.
 

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I have just created a shortcut to a VIDEO_TS.IFO and renamed it "italian job.ifo" (in my case) and it automatically starts PowerDVD the only problem is that i had to select "files from hard disk" and reopen the shortcut.

If your DVD player can be configured to automatically "play from HH" i think you are sorted...........possibly!
 
Got it working....the solution?

LNK! Stupidly I'd ".lnk" and "ink" into the recognised file extension field...also there was another parameter which needed setting.

Anyhoo, I now have a nice big piccie of the cover art and a bar to click on which says "Shrek 2"

Happy man, will post some screenshots when I work out how. Thanks for your help folks.
 

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