DVD launch menu on Emby?

[Dac10 2]

I have VLC and Kodi. Maybe one of those supports DVD? However, neither will connect to my Windows server since I cloned the hard drive. I get the SMB operation not permitted error and have tried everything to fix but no success. Emby and Plex still work but no DVD support. 

[Luke 42078]

Why not just convert to mkv? Then your choices of software will broaden substantially.

[Dac10 2]

As I said, I want to keep the DVD launch menu, thanks.

[ebr 16176]

20 hours ago, Dac10 said:

As I said, I want to keep the DVD launch menu, thanks.

But weren't those same launch points available as chapters in the mkv?

[Ronstang 293]

If you don't care about space taken on the hard drive the easiest way to preserve the entire DVD structure is just rip them as ISOs but can emby play those?  

21 hours ago, Luke said:

Why not just convert to mkv? Then your choices of software will broaden substantially.

Because I already posted this....it is a painful and horribly slow process trying to figure out which mkv file is which extra and then properly naming them.  I have thousands of discs and I am not going to spend the time doing this for each one as it can take an hour or more just to sort out the files.  If MakeMKV had all the files named already this wouldn't be an issue but it doesn't because the individual files are not labeled on the disc because they are accessed by the menu.  

To make matters worse the order of the extras on the disc does not match that of the menu many times.   Even using MakeMKV to rip TV show discs can be a pain because the order of the files does not always match the order of the episodes so you are still forced to watch the disc in a standalone to properly name the episodes.  I do it because I want my episodes correct....but I am not doing this for thousands of extras.  

The only extras I really care about are original trailers but that is a waste too since the trailer button launches the internet and online trailers if available and also locks up emby sometimes trying to exit when I hit it by accident.

It's easiest to just deal without the extras. 

Edited June 30, 2023 by Ronstang

[Dac10 2]

The chapters are numbered but no labels and it's awkward to try and find what I want to play. Still want the DVD launch menu which has icons with pictures and labels, so much easier to get where you want to go.

[Dac10 2]

It seems Emby doesn't support ISO.

[ebr 16176]

5 minutes ago, Dac10 said:

The chapters are numbered but no labels and it's awkward to try and find what I want to play. Still want the DVD launch menu which has icons with pictures and labels, so much easier to get where you want to go.

If you enable chapter image extraction,  you will get pictures and you can edit the chapter names to be whatever you like using the metadata editor.

[Dac10 2]

Is chapter image extraction enabled in Emby or makemkv? And is the only way to make one mkv from a DVD, rather than the default multiples by combining the files with another program? I wound up with 1 huge mkv and 3 smaller ones, using the default makemkv settings. Thanks.

[Ronstang 293]

3 hours ago, Dac10 said:

Is chapter image extraction enabled in Emby or makemkv? And is the only way to make one mkv from a DVD, rather than the default multiples by combining the files with another program? I wound up with 1 huge mkv and 3 smaller ones, using the default makemkv settings. Thanks.

Chapter image extraction is enabled in emby but I'm not seeing the connection with this discussion because it applies to chapters in a movie or feature with multiple chapters, which has nothing to do with individual extras from the disc.

You can make only one mkv file from MakeMKV by using the check boxes....deselect all and then choose the one you want, usually the main movie only which is my default.  But, there is no way to have MakeMKV make a giant mkv file from all the files on a disc, you would have to do that manually with an appropriate editor after creating all the individual mkvs from the disc.

Your huge file was the main movie and the smaller files were the extras.  That is the default because all the checkboxes are selected by default in MakeMKV and you have to deselect all the boxes and choose those you want if you want it different.

[ebr 16176]

Just now, Ronstang said:

but I'm not seeing the connection with this discussion

The OP has a music concert DVD with different scenes for the performances.  What he actually needs in this instance is chapters.

[Ronstang 293]

5 minutes ago, ebr said:

The OP has a music concert DVD with different scenes for the performances.  What he actually needs in this instance is chapters.

Oh, OK....missed that.  Sorry.  That is just far different than a DVD menu.  Yes, DVDs usually have chapter selection, but so does emby.  If that is the only reason for using the menu then emby does the same.  But I don't think that is the only reason people ask about the DVD menu.

[Dac10 2]

Not seeing where you can label chapters in Emby and the only way it seems you can get to chapters is to start playing the video, which would make accessing different chapters awkward anyway. I wish I could get VLC for Firestick to find my media on my pc server because I seem to remember it allows you to play DVDs, with the launch menu.

[Ronstang 293]

8 minutes ago, Dac10 said:

Not seeing where you can label chapters in Emby and the only way it seems you can get to chapters is to start playing the video, which would make accessing different chapters awkward anyway.

You can't label the chapters that I know of but you can skip to them directly from the once you select the movie and go to it's option page instead of directly playing it and then the chapters are available with pictures to select individually.....this of course only works if you choose to have emby extract the chapter images and let them build which takes a while.

[Dac10 2]

How do you extract the images from the chapters?

[crusher11 1101]

53 minutes ago, Dac10 said:

Not seeing where you can label chapters in Emby and the only way it seems you can get to chapters is to start playing the video, which would make accessing different chapters awkward anyway. I wish I could get VLC for Firestick to find my media on my pc server because I seem to remember it allows you to play DVDs, with the launch menu.

You can't name the chapters in Emby itself, but you can use MKVToolnix to name the chapters and Emby will use those chapter names. 

8 hours ago, Ronstang said:

If you don't care about space taken on the hard drive the easiest way to preserve the entire DVD structure is just rip them as ISOs but can emby play those?  

Because I already posted this....it is a painful and horribly slow process trying to figure out which mkv file is which extra and then properly naming them.  I have thousands of discs and I am not going to spend the time doing this for each one as it can take an hour or more just to sort out the files.  If MakeMKV had all the files named already this wouldn't be an issue but it doesn't because the individual files are not labeled on the disc because they are accessed by the menu.  

To make matters worse the order of the extras on the disc does not match that of the menu many times.   Even using MakeMKV to rip TV show discs can be a pain because the order of the files does not always match the order of the episodes so you are still forced to watch the disc in a standalone to properly name the episodes.  I do it because I want my episodes correct....but I am not doing this for thousands of extras.  

The only extras I really care about are original trailers but that is a waste too since the trailer button launches the internet and online trailers if available and also locks up emby sometimes trying to exit when I hit it by accident.

It's easiest to just deal without the extras. 

Look up the disc on DVD Compare, which will have the runtime for each extra. Easy to then pick out what you want. If it's not listed on there you still don't need a standalone player, you can use MakeMKV's VLC integration to play the disc in VLC while you have it open in MakeMKV, and again once you have runtimes it's easy to pick out what you want. 

[Dac10 2]

The chapters idea seems to be a lot of work. I know this is not an Emby question, but..."You can use MakeMKV's VLC integration to play the disc in VLC while you have it open in MakeMKV". Are you familiar with VLC for Firestick? I seem to remember that VLC plays DVDs with the menu. Here is my post on Amazon Fire TV Stick forum:

Can't get VLC to access my media library on my pc

I get error msg: "No media files found, please transfer some files to your device or adjust your preferences." Although, I set up a media directory with music video on VLC on my pc. This was working fine before cloning my hard drive. I have reinstalled the latest versions of VLC on my pc and Firestick but no help. Same problem with Kodi. BTW, Emby and Plex work OK playing media from my pc on my Firestick. Any ideas would be appeciated. Thanks.

[Ronstang 293]

33 minutes ago, crusher11 said:

You can't name the chapters in Emby itself, but you can use MKVToolnix to name the chapters and Emby will use those chapter names. 

 

33 minutes ago, crusher11 said:

Look up the disc on DVD Compare, which will have the runtime for each extra. Easy to then pick out what you want. If it's not listed on there you still don't need a standalone player, you can use MakeMKV's VLC integration to play the disc in VLC while you have it open in MakeMKV, and again once you have runtimes it's easy to pick out what you want. 

Love this place....learn something ever day !!  Thanks.  This will help a lot...

[Dac10 2]

From what I'm looking at, it seems like chapters don't correspond exactly with scenes and with the additional step of naming with another software, it doesn't seem like this process is worth the effort. I still wish I could get VLC to work with my pc again. I think you can use DVD menus on VLC and you don't have to covert to mkv. Not 100% sure but I wish I could give it a try.

[Dac10 2]

Just check and VLC 100% plays DVD menus on my pc. If I could get my Firestick VLC to find my media on my pc again, I would be set.

[Dac10 2]

Here's my DVD solution, not Emby, sorry. Bought an OTG adapter for my Firestick, loaded a DVD onto a flash drive and play with Kodi. Thanks.

[emby_infuse 3]

On 6/28/2023 at 1:05 AM, Ronstang said:

it is IMPOSSIBLE to identify those extras to properly name them UNTIL you ripped them to MKV.....watched at least the intro...and then have the original DVD or Blu-Ray in a standalone player to play the extras from the menu....to TRY and identify them so you can name them properly.  This takes so long because it's a crap shoot every time you play the disc because you might have to play 4 extras or more to identify the one in question....

I feel you. However, something I find helps with this process is DVD Compare. They list the extras with run times. So, it still requires to play a file but as soon as you see the duration you’re done. Before I found the site, I would have to do all your steps. It’s such a ball ache.