Network attached external DVD drives?

[stanger89]

Nothing supports Blu-ray structures but PowerDVD, Arcsoft TMT, WinDVD or Nero.

[electron]

Looks like there is a HD option for AnyDVD which adds supports for Blueray and HD DVD. Do these programs really allow you to play Blu-Ray movies @ high res on the HD100 extender?

Anyways, I tried this tonight, and it works great with my extenders. I realized tho that I can't play DVDs in placeshifter, but I am 'search' will help me figure out why.

[sleonard]

AnyDVD HD might allow a BD disc to be played over the network but Sage, whether client or extender does not understand the strucure of the disc so no it won't work.

S

[blade]

Has anyone gotten DVD43 to work? I tried it and haven't had any luck. Guess I'll give AnyDVD a try unless someone has DVD43 working.

[Wally]

Wow! I just tried this with DVD43 and it works great! I'm using an external USB laptop DVD drive which I have mounted to the back of a 47" LCD TV with a long USB cable going to my Sage server in a closet. You just need to load DVD43 and add the DVD's drive letter as a new Media import Directory in Sage setup. Now when I go into Media Center->Videos the first DVD shown in the list has no name and is the one in the DVD drive. Press play and go! Thanks for the tip!

[MavRic]

Gents,

I am following this method and with DVD43 on my server machine i can play DVD throught the extenders just fine.

The next step is now to play DVD through the extenders, but the DVD player is not located on the server but instead on a PC in the kitchen (i.e. no need to go into basement to pop in a DVD).

I share the DVD drive and i can see it from the server when browing the network. When i go to set up the import directory i use 'specify' and put in the path "\\Hptouch-pc\DVD-Drive" which is the exact path i copy and paste from the windows explorer when viewing the files on the DVD. Then then get 'Failed to Create directory'.

SageTV manual mentions accounts needing passwords, but i thought this was limited to the server machine and running sage as a service (which i am). Do i need to setup a user account with password on the kitchen PC to do this?? Would sagetv then ask for the username and password?

Kitchen machine is a 64 bit Vista Premium machine if that makes any different...server machine is 32bit XP Pro.

ANy guesses as to what i am doing wrong?

Also i figured out DVD43 works just fine and is free, but doesnt support 64bit OS. AnyDVD supports 64 bit and i'm in a trial period with them now.

[CollinR]

You need to setup a username/password on the server and have the SageTV service use those creditials. The system account (default user) cannot access network shares.

[gplasky]

Vista wants users ID to have passwords unless you turn that off in Network and Sharing Center. You would need to do Advanced sharing. By default it will suggest the drive letter. If you used DVD-Drive as the share name great. Mine is StudyDVD. In permissions give the group Everyone all permissions. In the properties file you should see the network path. Mine is \\VISTA-STUDY\StudyDVD. You should have the same user ID on your Kitchen PC as you do on your server.

Gerry

[MavRic]

If this turn this password thing on then any login woudl require as password?

It's a bit over the top to force the family to sign in.

Funny thing is that in the current configuration i can play the DVD via PowerDvD on my laptop with the DVD in the kitchen computer. This is all without password...

Is it Sage that requires this password business?

If i can setup a 2nd user with username and password equal to the one that runs the Sage Service on the server but still allow the family to not have to login that would be great.

Just got this vista machine...not very familiar yet with it...

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by MavRic

If this turn this password thing on then any login woudl require as password?

It's a bit over the top to force the family to sign in.

Funny thing is that in the current configuration i can play the DVD via PowerDvD on my laptop with the DVD in the kitchen computer. This is all without password...

Is it Sage that requires this password business?

It's Windows. Only services that are run under a user account can access network shares. The "Local System" account (which the service runs under by default) does not have the ability to access network paths.

Can't say for certain with vista, but in XP/2000 you can setup accounts with passwords and set them up to auto logon. So from the user at the keyboard perspective, it's no different than what you have now, but it's more secure and allows things like services to access network shares.

Under XP you just setup an account and then from Run you enter "control userpasswords2" select the account you want to auto logon, and then uncheck the "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" box.

[MavRic]

ok, i created the the exact same user (username and password) on the kitchen machine (the one with the DVD player). I shared the DVD drive with full access to these users.

Still no joy....what am i missing here...when i share with 'Everyone' i can browse via windows from the server machine just fine. When i restict it to certain users even when logged into the server under those same user's i can't browse the folders.

It's hard to imagine that just by using the same username and password the vista kitchen machine woudl grant access.

In any case, even when i can browse the folders through windows explorer sage still fails to create them.

Any suggestions?

[gplasky]

Vista, by default turns "Password Protected Sharing" on when you turn on file sharing. You can turn it off so that users won't require a password to get to shared folders. Look at the properties of your shared DVD drive on the Vista machine. Below the "Advanced Sharing" button it probably tells you it is Password Protected. That users need a user account and a password on this PC to access shared folders. Turn it off in the Network and Sharing Center. Don't restrict the shared DVD drive to users. Just give "Everyone" full control of the DVD share.

Gerry

[MavRic]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Vista wants users ID to have passwords unless you turn that off in Network and Sharing Center. You would need to do Advanced sharing. By default it will suggest the drive letter. If you used DVD-Drive as the share name great. Mine is StudyDVD. In permissions give the group Everyone all permissions. In the properties file you should see the network path. Mine is \\VISTA-STUDY\StudyDVD. You should have the same user ID on your Kitchen PC as you do on your server.

Gerry

Hi Gerry,

I still can't get this to work.

To recap the goal is to use the DVD player on the kitchen pc named 'Hptouch-pc' to play DVD's anywhere in the house through SageTV.

I have done:
- On the Hptouch-PC (Vista 64 bit machine)
- Enabled sharing of the DVD drive, the share name is \\Hptouch-pc\DVD
- Turned of password protected sharing in the sharing and security center
- Have given 'everyone' permission to access the share.
- Have ANyDVD6.4.6.2 trial version installed (have 8 days left)

Note that the Hptouch-pc currently does not require a password to login, there is only 1 user account and it simply skips the login and goes to windows desktop automatically. Is this the problem?

- On the SageTV server
- I can see the \\Hptouch-pc\DVD through windows explorer and browse the files. From my latop (which has powerDVD installed) i can actually play the DVD, so the AnyDVD portion seems to be working.
- SageTV runs as a service under an account with a password
- On the sagetv service i start the sagetv client and go to 'Setup>Detailed Setup>General>Media Center Import Directories'. There is select 'Add New Directory' and then select 'Specify'. I put in '\\Hptouch-pc\DVD', it tells me this folder does not exist, do i wish to create it, i say Yes, then it tells me 'Failed creating directory HPtouch-pc\DVD.

What am i missing here?

You mentioned the machines need the same user ID. On the media server SageTV runs as a service under account 'SageUser' with password 'xxx', on the kitchen PC do i need to create the exact same user name with the same password? Do i then need to enable the kitchen machine to go to a login screen rather than straight to desktop?

I am getting pretty frustrated, it seems like others have gotten this to work....why can't I?

EDIT:
When i mapped the DVD drive on the Hptouch-pc on the media server i can play the DVD locally on the media server through 'Play DVD', but it wont show up through the HD media extenders. Concurrently I have DVD43 installed on the media server, if i put the DVD in the media server i can play just fine via the media extenders where it shows up in the Videos folder under 'DVD'.

Rather than using 'specify' to add the DVD share i have also tried to browse to it using 'network' which is at the same level as the drive letters. When i do this and get to SMB:\\workgroup\Hptouch-pc\DVD\ and select 'User Current' it tells me no files were found.

[MavRic]

Hi ALL,

Anybody else having problems getting this to work?

I gave up on the Vista machine for the time being. DVD43 doesnt support 64bit and my free trial of AnyDVD 64 bit version ran out.

Here is the current situation:
- SageTV running as a service username and password (using Adminstrator login and xxxxxx password) on my Win2k3 server machine
- DVD drive share on a different machine running WinXP Pro (with full access rights)
- Tried to add the DVD drive location and am still first getting 'Directory Does not exist, do you wish to create' if i say yes then i get 'Failed to Create Directory'

The SageTv manual says to use the format '\\Servername\Sharename\Directoryname', but for a DVD there is no directory right?

Also if you browse in SageTV add a folder view and go to network it sais 'Current: smb:////' is this a different format?

What am i doing wrong here? Pulling my hair out.

The machine name for the Xp machine is 'HOMEDUAL', the shared DVD drive is called 'DVDDrive'.

To try and add the folder in sage i go to:
-Setup > Detailed Setup > General > Media Center Import Directories > Modify > Add new directory > Specify
-Then i add '\\HOMEDUAL\DVDDrive' (I have also tried '\\HOMEDUAL\DVDDrive'
- I get 'Directory Does not exist, woudl you like to create?', I say yes
- I get 'Failed to Create Directory'.


With DVD43 installed on the server itself a DVD in the server DVD drive plays just fine over the HD extenders.

The interesting thing is that i can see and open files on these shares when browsing the network through regular windows explorer, but i cannot create any new files (although i appear to be able to save existing files modified). I find this very strange since in the share i have given full permissions to everybody. I'm starting to think this is not a sage problem but a windows problem. If i can get full permission to read/write/add to a remote share then maybe sage will do it aswell.

Any suggestions?

[MavRic]

Update:

If i run Sage directly on the same machine and thus not as a service i can add the path just fine...

This is strange since i do have the service setup right ...or i thought so...

Does the SageService need a different username and password than the Adminstrator?

[stanger89]

Your DVD machine will need the Administrator account to have the same password as the 2k3 machine the service runs on or it won't be allowed to connect to the share.