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)

Over at the HomeServerShow, a very interesting story just popped up that I had to pass along.  “Do you need Anti-Virus on your Media Center PC’s?” is the title and it offers up some good reasons why you might want to think twice about whether a computer needs an AV solution or not.

Just a little snippet from the article may get you thinking

How did I come about such an exploit you may ask?  Downloading actor images, and meta data via the MetaBrowser utility!  I never imagined I would run across an exploit in such a way but there is also a good chance that it’s just a false positive.  I don’t blame MetaBrowser for it but should we be concerned?

about the need for an AV solution for your WHS.  You may not access the web through a browser on your WHS, but if a utility like My Movies for WHS looks for meta data, it might just grab more than it intended.

Food for thought…

Source Article:
Does WHS need AV? Here’s a Good YES Reason

Many Windows 7 Media Center enthusiasts have forgone the built-in Movie Library for something a little more sophisticated and feature packed. Plugins such as Media Browser and Open Media Library can provide a much more evolved move browsing experience than the native Movie Library. The problem is that, although these packages typically install a basic start menu strip of their own, they don’t include some of the default features of the native movie strip or allow you to customize the tiles appearing on the strip.

Luckily we can take our favorite movie plugin, Media Center studio and a simple plugin from Mikinhosoft we can recreate the original movie strip experience while using our custom movie plugins. To get start you’ll need to download and install your favorite Windows 7 Media Center movie plugin, Media Center Studio and the extra Mikinhosoft plugin to add some of the default functions to our new strip.

Once installed open up Media Center Studio and select the start menu tab to begin editing our start menu strips and tiles. You’ll also need to enable the start menu toolbar to allow us to add and edit new start menu strips.

Next press the Insert Menu Strip button and a new strip with the title Custom Strip will be added to the end of the menu strip listing just above the auto play handlers. Start by renaming your new strip, probably to something like “Movies” since we’ll be replacing the original “Movies” strip. Then, using the arrows to the left and right of the menu strip title rearrange the strip and place it just below the original movie strip.

Begin adding tiles to your new start menu strip by expanding the Entry points menu at the bottom of the Media Center Studio window. From here you can add any entry points available, with the exception of the default tiles. Some of the default tiles can be dragged from their original place on the native movie strip onto our new strip. Others, such as the copy disk tile may need to be added from the Entry points listings under the Mikinhosoft plugin. Don’t forget to add a tile linking to your favorite movie plugin to replace that default movie library as well.

Once you’ve finished dragging new tiles onto your custom start menu strip, disable the default strip by unchecking the box next to the title of the original strip. Then be sure to save your changes as well (Media Center must not be running to save these changes). Finally, relaunch Windows 7 Media Center and check out your new customized Media Center Movies start menu strip.

That’s all there is to it! This isn’t limited to movie strips either, build custom strips for your music, video and games and launch them all directly from the Windows 7 Media Center start menu.

Source:  Hack7MC.com