playing iso files on windows 7

[greener]

so I've backed my purchased dvd's to disk saving to an ISO but WMP cannot play. What do I need to do? I can always use VLC but it seems messy.

Curious what Microsoft suggests as far as workflow as the need to play your dvd's that you have purchased and copied to hard drive is fundamental to a media center.

I can do it with Boxee and the interface is fantastic.

please help!

 

[zigzag3143]

so I've backed my purchased dvd's to disk saving to an ISO but WMP cannot play. What do I need to do? I can always use VLC but it seems messy.

Curious what Microsoft suggests as far as workflow as the need to play your dvd's that you have purchased and copied to hard drive is fundamental to a media center.

I can do it with Boxee and the interface is fantastic.

please help!

Iso's are a different format than what WMP can handle. If you had copied them uncompressed then wmp would not have a problem with them. Im the wrong person to comment since I dont use WMP, instsad I do use VLC

Ken

 

[mickey megabyte]

you will have to use a virtual-drive tool.

this will 'mount' the iso, so windows will see an extra drive, with the normal dvd file/folder structure. wmp will then be able to play the movie.

i use daemon-tools for this, but other tools are available, for instance virtual clone drive.

 

[greener]

I'd love to use VLC but the forums are riddled with quality issues of VLC and windows 7. if not, that is my solution (can you just set it as the default player in windows 7?)

once again, i'd love to hear how Microsoft was planning on people playing their dvd files with Windows 7. Surely their must have been some plan to enable people to play stored dvd files?

rg

 

[stereomind]

Hi folks

By the way:

1. how is the best way to store DVD content on a HD in order to play it in WMC with all its functions? ISO ? in folders as the original? other?

2. Supose we have many ISO files in a library, do we have to mount each ISO file in a different drive to see all them in WMC menus?

3. I think I heard that Daemon Tools has compatibility issues with W7, is it true?

4. Inside WMC settings there is a entry to DT, may I use another mounting app there instead?


Thx u all

 

[greener]

daemon tools, virtual clone drives - is the rest of my family supposed to figure that out :sarc:
with boxee, I saved the iso to my drive - the software found the title (it might have been from IMDB). It imported all the meta data including thumbnail and the end UI is slick and easy. That is the way media centers should work.

 

[mickey megabyte]

Hi folks

By the way:

1. how is the best way to store DVD content on a HD in order to play it in WMC with all its functions? ISO ? in folders as the original? other?

2. Supose we have many ISO files in a library, do we have to mount each ISO file in a different drive to see all them in WMC menus?

3. I think I heard that Daemon Tools has compatibility issues with W7, is it true?

4. Inside WMC settings there is a entry to DT, may I use another mounting app there instead?


Thx u all

i've never used any media centres, so maybe i'm not the best person to answer these questions - maybe i'm wrong, and if i am, i hope someone will correct me.

1 - it seems wmc cannot handle iso files. so that option is out. saving each dvd to its own folder is a sensible option, ignoring copy protection issues. other ways include ripping the dvd and saving as an xvid or mkv - this will save a lot of drive space, but you will lose dvd menu functionality.

2 - it's not sensible to mount too many drives at once - for a start, you are limited to the letters of the alphabet (minus reserved ones).

3 - the latest daemon tools runs fine with my windows 7 rtm x64.

4 - i don't know, i've never used media centre.

it looks like you are both going to have to look at third-party alternatives to be able to use a big dvd library stored on your hard-drive.

can anybody recommend any?

 

[Tews]

I convert all of my DVD's to .AVI files ... use the player of your choice..
-

 

[greener]

I convert all of my DVD's to .AVI files ... use the player of your choice..
-

good if you want to rip to avi. I have not done it but I would think a full movie from vob to avi would take 2 hours +. it takes me 15 minutes from start to finish for an iso.

 

[Tews]

Time I have plenty of....the resultant file is 7-800mb vs 3-4gb... the advantage is obvious...

 

[Lee]

What you may need is a one of the codecs packs. Here are two that are probably the two most popular. Just type them into google then download and run one of them, this should hopefuly fit the problem. Win7codecs_v119 or Media.Player.Codec.Pack.V3.3.1.Setup. I have tested both, and at present am running Win7codecs_v119. Virtual Clone DVD/CD is the one I use to play ISOs. The codecs will allow WMP to do just about any video mode.

 

[mikinho]

daemon tools, virtual clone drives - is the rest of my family supposed to figure that out :sarc:
with boxee, I saved the iso to my drive - the software found the title (it might have been from IMDB). It imported all the meta data including thumbnail and the end UI is slick and easy. That is the way media centers should work.

Well Yammm will take care of the artwork and metadata. For playing the ISO, you'll need a virtual daemon as mentioned. I stick with Virtual Clone Drive I've never had luck myself w/ Daemons Tools. Popular addins like Media Browser, OML and MyMovies will mount and play DVDs. Personally uninstalled them all for different reasons and wrote a quick plugin that does two things: 1- Lets MediaCenter find ISOs and show them in both Video Library and Movie Library; 2- Adds itself to the More menu and lets you mount that way. It will then play the DVD.

That aside, why not rip to VIDEO_TS format? It takes the same amount of time and same quality as the ISO.

 

[mikinho]

Here is my app for mounting image files: Mount Image in Native Movie Library and\or Video Library

I'm slowly going to migrate away from ISOs for my Blu-ray as TMT3 can load them from drive again.

 

[UKMedia]

Hi

There are a number of options for non HD/BD movies but the best for HD and BD in terms of quality is an ISO file. I would recommend virtual Clone Drive from Slysoft to mount the ISO and then if using MediaBrowser select 'Use Autoplay' on the advanced settings of 'extenders + ISO'.

Make sure that you select the drive letter for your virtual drive and you'll have no problems.


(If you use PowerDVD, you hit the same problem as vista, in that it will not play a DVD ripped to your hard drive.)

Regards
UKMedia

 

[stereomind]

Please...

I'm having troubles with iso files, everytime I quit the playback of the video 7MC aborts, this is happening with both Daemon and the CloneDrive.

Any clue?

thx

 

[mikinho]

Please...

I'm having troubles with iso files, everytime I quit the playback of the video 7MC aborts, this is happening with both Daemon and the CloneDrive.

Any clue?

thx

Are are you playing mounting them? With a video library app or with the plugin I wrote?

 

[stereomind]

Are are you playing mounting them? With a video library app or with the plugin I wrote?

Oh yeah! I'm using Media Browser, and already tested with the two mounting applications described above.

 

[UKMedia]

Did you upgrade to 7 or carry out a clean install? I needed to uninstall and reinstall the ISO mounting software (Virtual Clone Drive) and the DVD player (PowerDVD) before they would work correctly.

UKMedia

 

[mckillwashere]

I personally use bit-ripper with xvid codec.
Yes it takes about 2-2.5 hours. but like what was mentioned before.Would you rather a movie take up 4+Gbs of space or less than 1Gb at almost the same quality?
You can set daemon tools (Which does not have issues in win7) to when a file is clicked it auto mounts the file. That would make it easier on your family. If you use a MCE (media center extender) you cannot watch your iso files over it, were the .avi files you can.
It all comes down to personal preference, space, usability,time, and of course the user.

McKillWasHere

 

[masterB]

so I've backed my purchased dvd's to disk saving to an ISO but WMP cannot play. What do I need to do? I can always use VLC but it seems messy.

Curious what Microsoft suggests as far as workflow as the need to play your dvd's that you have purchased and copied to hard drive is fundamental to a media center.

I can do it with Boxee and the interface is fantastic.

please help!

Just rip the dvd to a folder not ISO and any player can play the DVD content from there, WMP also.