So, I've started a sort of related topic at The Lair but now I have a more specific question to submit to the Collective.

I store DVDs in their original format, VIDEO_TS folders with .VOB files and such. I was hoping to enter the media center community and after asking if my XBOX ONE would make a decent server, opted for running Plex Media server on my PC. The indexing of my music collection went fine, almost exclusively .mp3 format but when I selected my movies folder the joy stopped there.

Before trying another program I ask you gentlemen if there is a media center that will handle my video_ts contents the way I expect or am I asking too much?

Not too much oriented to listening music nowadays so the Plex Server is a goner unless I sort this out and am able to see my movies as I can see the music. Series I download in mkv format and watch them before erasing them . No problem there. Movies I keep for years.

Have downloaded jriver to give it a shot but will hold until I hear from you.

0-0

What is it that you're expecting/wanting regarding the TS format playback?

What isn't Plex doing? Or what is it about how VLC handles TS that you prefer?

Some of my films are in TS format and I don't recall it acting any differently than MKV, etc.

Plex doesn't like video_ts or iso

I use .mkv for DVD/BluRay rips, just because it's easier to have 1 file than a folder & makeMKV is stupid easy to rip with. You could use MakeMKV on your video folder to create a .MKV. You won't lose anything (unless you cut out foreign audio/subtitles as a choice) & it will be faster than ripping from a disk. You can run multiple instances & get it set up quick, time will be just your system chugging through them.

I used to use video_ts structure, but it becomes a pain in the ass with a larger library. Not too many metadata scrapers like it either. I use MediaCenterMaster to automatically rename the video file/folder, get art & keep my collection organized. Plex does this separately, so the art & metadata are duplicates, but it keeps my options open - my methods work with Plex, Boxee, kodi, Windows media, etc. MCM is free to just organize, you have to buy a license if you want it to act as a downloader as well - I use it for TV torrents & it is excellent.

My process:
1. Rip with MakeMKV (semi-auto renames folder to disk_volumeID, video file is title1.mkv)
2. Fetch Metadata with MCM - for non-common movies, it's 1 click, others I have to select the correct IMDB entry. Folder & video become Movie (Year).mkv
3. compress to x265 via handbrake (just for size, not necessary but DVDs go from ~5GB to ~1GB without loss of quality that I can notice)
4. during all of this, plex is watching the folder. It usually has the movie ID'd before MCM does it's thing, but sometimes it gets it wrong & that's a pain in the butt if you don't catch it right away. Once MCM renames, Plex re-evaluates & uses MCM's data.

I would suggest picking another container format sooner rather than trying to fit the media program to what you are doing now. Video_ts is outdated & even if you find one you like now, it's probably not going to get improvements. Changing now might be a pain in the ass, but it will be worse once you have more rips. IME, video collections don't shrink. I say this as someone that recently ran ~1450 DVD rips through handbrake to compress to x265 in order to migrate to a different server. It took 2 hours each. I used 4pcs & got it done is a little less than 8 weeks......

Plex is wonderful once you get it set up. Wife even likes it.... Even when we had satellite w/DVR, we used Plex to TV shows just because it's more user-friendly to find & start. I also have a network tuner, so Plex can show live TV from my antenna & act as a DVR. I live in a rural area, so I don't have that many stations, but it's still nice to have.

I also use the makemkv and handbrake solution.

Unfortunately, I do not have or will have the computing horsepower to run all the work that needs to be done. Where I live, way south of the border, you must think twice the price for 1 1/4 of the income. Way too expensive and, to me, unaffordable.

While you guys think of blu ray as present tense here is still something to happen. Still waiting for a decent number of releases. The full available catalogue has under 100 titles and I own none.
When it comes to rips I am forced to think subtitles and dual audio doundtracks to please my crowd. Too complicated.

0-0

quote:

Originally posted by 0-0:
Unfortunately, I do not have or will have the computing horsepower to run all the work that needs to be done. Where I live, way south of the border, you must think twice the price for 1 1/4 of the income. Way too expensive and, to me, unaffordable.

While you guys think of blu ray as present tense here is still something to happen. Still waiting for a decent number of releases. The full available catalogue has under 100 titles and I own none.
When it comes to rips I am forced to think subtitles and dual audio doundtracks to please my crowd. Too complicated.

0-0

~1400 of my 1500 movies are DVD rips & I also have Subtitle/2nd language audio considerations for mi esposa.
Try MakeMKV on one of your file structures. I think you'll find it acceptable vs what you are doing now (AnyDVD, I assume?). It's free, not CPU intensive (biggest roadblock is DVD read speed, which you won't have on a folder structure) & gives you a full control of audio/subtitles. I strip the ones I don't need, but it doesn't save much space, just fewer choices when you need to switch.

Damn near anything will serve DVD rips (mkv) to damn near any client with Plex. The DVD video format (MPEG2) is all done in hardware decoding, so you need very little CPU power. It's not even tough to transcode. I have an old athlon x3 that didn't break a sweat serving rips & could transcode 1 stream acceptably. 2 streams would work most of the time, but got dicey if one was bluray.
jRiver is OK, but I don't like the interface.
Kodi has better interface on a TV/remote, but again, I just don't like it compared to plex.

Plex is good about selecting the audio language & subtitles you want as default. MCM can also automatically download subtitles, but I've found you often get ones that are out of timing with the movie. That causes more ass-chewing than not having subtitles... She's fluent, she cusses in english in her sleep, but I think she's just used to having subtitles. They drive me nuts, ENG or ESP.

Actually, didn't I read you were coming to the US soonish? If we can make it work, I have a 2TB drive I decommissioned from my array, I'll fill it with DVD rips & see if it can catch up to you.
Shoot me an email.

Both Handbrake and MakeMKV are free programs. The only real currency involved here is time. Obviously a faster PC will process discs faster, but they can run in the background and don't need to be babysat.
Make MKV detects what audio streams and subtitles are on the disc and you check or uncheck which ones you want.