Despite Windows 7 Media Center’s inclusion of a native movie library no function to actually rip the DVDs to the library was included. Certainly an attempt to avoid this legal grey area of copying purchased media to a secondary source, this also leaves out an important feature from the Media Center platform. This of course leaves an area open for third party developers to come up with a solution, however, up until this point very few options were available such as My Movies’ Media Center plugin. Fortunately, eMpTy3000 of The Green Button forums has taken up the initiative to create another option for Media Center users though not quite as developed as the My Movies option.

To get started with Auto Rip n Compress we’ll need to download a few programs. First, we’ll need to get a copy of DVDFab which includes the command line interface such as the latest version. Once installed you’ll need to run the program once to select the Free edition of the program as well. Also required is a copy of the latest version of the Handbrake CLI available from the Handbrake site as a separate download. Finally, install the Auto Rip n Convert program  check the TGB thread for the latest version.

After installing the program we need to setup the options. The main options dialog will appear once setup completes allowing you to set the basic options and define the locations of the programs we’ve downloaded as well as the DVD drive.

Be certain that the locations are correct as well as setting the final location to an area available to the Windows 7 Media Center Movie Library. On this screen there is also an option available to rip just the main movie or the entire disk. The Compress Settings allows you to establish the Handbrake CLI settings to be used by Auto Rip n Convert. Be certain to set the correct location of the Handbrake CLI, the file type extension to be used as well as the preset and subtitles options on this window. If you’d prefer to not compress the disk and leave the Video_TS as it is simply change the Compress option to No.

Once all the settings have been established correctly most Media Center users will want to create a start menu strip entry for the program as well to enable launching the program from inside Media Center. Unfortunately the program doesn’t offer this option and we’ll need to use Media Center Studio to do that at the moment. Also, the program doesn’t include a Media Center interface for naming the titles and instead minimizes Media Center to require manual title entry which will certainly be a turn-off to many Media Center users.

For those unfamiliar with Media Center Studio check out our previous articles on using the program as well as creating custom start menu strips. In order to add Auto Rip n Convert to a strip we’ll need to take the extra step of creating an entry point for the program inside Media Center Studio. From the Start Menu options pages press the Application creation button on the top actions strip to create a new entry. Then enter the location of the Auto Rip n Compress program and give the entry point a title then save the changes.

Now we can return to the main Start Menu tab and drag the new entry point from the listing to any strip we’d like to have it listed in. Once again save the changes and you can now close the program and launch Windows 7 Media Center.

As mentioned earlier the current version of Auto Rip n Convert doesn’t include a method for setting the DVD title from inside Media Center and will minimize the program to request the title entry. This is a serious downside and hopefully something that will be addressed in the future as there are many people who would prefer a complete Media Center experience.

From there the program will send the relevant options to DVDFab and Handbrake to automate the ripping and conversion process. The launching of these various windows may also interfere with the display of Windows 7 Media Center but this isn’t necessarily something that the author will be able to rectify. Also, DVDFab presents a number of additional options that will need to be answered before processing the first disk. Be certain to select the Do Not Ask Again option on each of these windows so as to not be prompted each time. That’s all there is to it! Auto Rip n Convert is certainly a decent new project and we’re sure the future will bring some updates that will improve the user experience though as always we’d love to see the project go open source.

Source Article:
Auto Rip n Compress adds DVD Ripping to Media Center (Almost)

As many former Vista Media Center users know, Windows 7 brought a new format to the Media Center in the form of the .WTV file. This new format is the new standard for recorded TV in Windows 7 Media Center, meaning all recorded TV will now be saved as WTV instead of the former standard DVR-MS. Unfortunately, this also means that programs with a long history of use by Media Center enthusiasts may no longer work with this new format. Luckily, however, Microsoft has been gracious enough to include a utility to convert WTV to DVR-MS through the right-click menu interface but doing all that conversion by hand can be tedious. That’s where WTVWatcher can take some work off your hands.

Sure there are other programs that have done this for a while now such as DVRMSToolbox but for the novice those solutions can be difficult to impossible to setup. For those looking for a simple solution to automatically convert WTV files to DVR-MS, it doesn’t get much simpler than WTVWatcher. To get started visit the WTVWatcher download site which will take you through the user agreement and required software and allow you to download the setup file.

Once installed, WTVWatcher operates as a system tray application with a small notification window to display progress. Upon running the program for the first time the display window will present you the option to set the folder to monitor for new WTV files, just press the button and select the location of your Recorded TV folder.

WTVWatcher also provides a handful of options by selecting the wrench icon at the top of the display window. In the preferences dialog you can set the time to wait before files are processed after completion, icon and display options and whether or not the progress window should be displayed.

Showing the progress window seemed to require the restart of the program, although not mentioned, but once restarted we were able to monitor the progress of the conversions. Taking around 3 minutes on average to convert an hour long HD file with the progress displayed as a simple Windows dialog.

The display window also displays a simple list of actions taken by the program notifying you of the beginning and end of conversions and the current folder being monitored. It’s safe to say that once the program has been setup most users will be setting it to simply minimize to the tray and run in the background however. It’s also important to note that once your files have been converted the original WTV file will be deleted, which is likely the preferred behavior in most cases but there is no option to disable the behavior.

Aside from that small caveat, WTVWatcher performed flawlessly as expected. The program uses the built-in conversion tool to do the conversion from WTV to DVR-MS and simply takes the task of manually selecting and converting each file by hand saving you time. It doesn’t get much more utilitarian than this, WTVWatcher does what it was designed to do well and without any fuss or muss. For those looking to continue using Lifextender in Windows 7 this handy little tool is a godsend.

Source Article:
WTVWatcher Automates WTV to DVRMS Conversion