CD/DVD changer emulation

[flic]

One thing that would be really great, especially for us with MCE computers, would be if Daemon could emulate a hardware CD/DVD-changer. Just imagine having a virtual 400-disc changer connected to a hard drive full of .isos.

[Underheaven]

Re: CD/DVD Changer

You can already do this via start menu links to scripts programmed in the DaemonScript or the awxDTools scripting languages.

Now if there is some CD/DVD changer that uses a certain TCP/IP protocol and you want to use the .exe program that came with your expensive changer hardware that's another scenario.

[flic]

Sounds good, except that I don't really have access to the start menu from inside the Media Center interface. I do however have built-in support for a DVD media changer, hence my suggestion.

...or did I musinderstand you? Is it possible to emulate a changer using daemonscript?

[Underheaven]

Media Center Edition 2005 DVD changer support

I forgot about the lack of a Start Menu in Windows Media Center Edition 2005. Well now I see what you are saying. Here's a post I found when googling:

http://mediacenter.mattgoyer.com/archives/2006/02/08/1068

Is there any way to connect a keyboard and run normal programs on this OS?

[flic]

Is there any way to connect a keyboard and run normal programs on this OS?

Interesting link, thanks!

Yep, it's basically a standard Windows XP Professional installation with the MCE interface running on top of it as an application. With a keyboard and a mouse connected to it it's a standard computer. The problem is of course that a lot of people (me included) don't care to have a keyboard and a mouse lying on the table by the sofa. I try to make sure that everything installed on it should be possible to control using the IR remore control.

[seslaprime]

Menu program over daemon tools

I think the key to a Virtual Media Changer using Daemon tools would be to Write a Complex Menu system over the top of Daemon tools .ISO mounting capability.

Basically a standalone program with Daemon tools imbedded in the foundation. when you select a DVD title from the Menu, the ISO is mounted and run. when Title is ejected, ISO is unmounted and menu is returned.

this would eliminate the need for mounting every ISO you have on HDD just to include in your menu. you would only use 1 virtual drive for ALL your media ISOs, and the menu would store and control an unlimited amount of ISOs. would only be limited by the amount of HDD space. program would allow use of as Many HDDs as allowed in your specific computer.

the menu would utilize the existing windows XP Video Software and the computer's Hardware to display Video in High Definition on any display i.e. HD 60" Plasma etc.

Basically Just like using your computer to control your 400 disc RS232 DVD changer except with Unlimited storage by virtue of unlimited 400GB and 500GB HDDs. By using Multiple HDD tower enclosures with firewire 800 interfaces, one could conceivably have Mega Terabytes of virual storage for HUGE DVD collections all saved on HDD in ISO format.

Unlimited expandability, I would Pay good Money for a nice menu system like this that would allow Cover Art, Meta tags, fast Title searching By several criteria - Actors, Director, producer, Genre, all movies with these people etc..

I put it to The Folks at Daemon tools, this would be the program to write, it would have incredible Marketability.

[AmphetaMarinE]

Now this puts a few ideas in my head....
I do believe it would be quite doable to write this.
My problem is understanding how to get it working as one of MCE's "Other Programs" (Those with MCE will understand what I mean there)
If anyone can point me in the direction of some documentation on coding for MCE, especially regarding Remote control input, I will take a crack at this...

[Underheaven]

Re: Media Center Edition 2005 DVD changer support

Regarding marketing, I feel that a "great" program that caught on really quickly would also have the feature of squeezing your movies down to a smaller size. i.e.: original movie -> transcoded to a smaller size -> added to menu in MCE located in the TV room of your house.

[Underheaven]

Re: Media Center Edition 2005 DVD changer support

Well that didn't take too long for the squeezing idea to make it into HTPC's (from CdrInfo). This is getting out of the realm of emulation but I see it as a requirement for a HTPC "killer app" with great marketability.

The NVIDIA DualTV tuner also offers the MediaSqueeze technology that allows users to store more of their favorite TV programs on their hard disk, DVD, or portable media player. Users can record live TV shows at a lower bit-rate than normal or "transrate" previously-recorded TV programs into a lower bit-rate to preserve disk space, without significant loss in picture quality. According to internal testing using a Tektronix PQA300 MPEG image quality measurement system, NVIDIA found its picture quality rating at medium bit-rates scored consistently better than competitive products recorded at a higher bit-rate.

[flic]

My problem is understanding how to get it working as one of MCE's "Other Programs" (Those with MCE will understand what I mean there)
If anyone can point me in the direction of some documentation on coding for MCE, especially regarding Remote control input, I will take a crack at this...

I just downloaded this myself and haven't had time to take a closer look, but I believe the Media Center 2005 SDK might be what you're looking for:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1D836C29-ABD5-4FDD-90C5-5C5ABAE97DB4&displaylang=en&Hash=DJHTJ6D

[Klintan]

Mount from inside MCE

I think it would be great to mount images directly inside Windows Media Center.
The settings can have an init dir to start from and then just show all the supported images.
To go one level up there could be an icon showing two (traditional) dots [ .. ]

[Zaphod AB]

DT MCE plug in

Have you any plans to make a plug-in for Windows MCE? It would be a lot easier if you could mount the image directly in MCE without having to mount it first then play it. Plus you could use the remote!

[obvious]

MyMovies 2 already has MCE support for DT

[converge]

MyMovies is annoying because you need to manually register all your movies in a database first before you can mount them via MCE. MediaPortal already supports one click mounting of ISOs using Daemon Tools, but I'd be thankful for a plug-in for MCE as well because I prefer MCE over MediaPortal.