Hi John...

Many thanks for your reply.

I am sure the TV (Samsung 6800) does not support ISO files as I tried that and not recognised.

I am not sure if the TV would play the folder contents, whilst recognising the BD folder structure and suspect not.

I am also not sure how I would copy over the BD folder structure to a hard drive.

It looks as if getting MakeMKV may be the answer ...

However, the TV media player sounds a good idea BUT again, I am not sure what I would need to do to get the file(s) with the BD chapters etc to make something that would play in a media player.

I guess this is one of those times I really wish I had a better understanding of the options available...I am hopefully meeting someone from a local video production company on tuesday and they may be able to put me in the picture, hopefully with hands on assistance.....

I very much appreciate your help and advice in the meantime...going to read up about media players now.

Best wishes

Ray

Hi Ray

. . . . I am not sure if the TV would play the folder contents, whilst recognising the BD folder structure and suspect not. . . . 

I am also not sure how I would copy over the BD folder structure to a hard drive. . . . . 

When you burn a project to disc MEP creates a folder containing the complete structure of the disc in the Disc image location specified in the Programs settings, Folders and paths tab.

As a test you can create a short BD video and without inserting a BD disc, burn the project, when it gets to the stage where MEP asks for a disc cancel the dialog and close the burn dialog if still open.

The BD video will be in the above folder - here is an example of one

Copy the entire folder ( arrowed ) to a memory stick, insert the memory stick into the TV's USB socket and see if it can be played - the TV spes do not indicate if this is possible.

. . . . However, the TV media player sounds a good idea . . . . 

Unfortunately I do not have one to help more on this - I stream video from my PC direct to a Sony HD TV or from an external hard drive attached to my satellite receiver or from memory stick plugged into the TV.

HTH

John EB

Hi Ray

. . . . I am not sure if the TV would play the folder contents, whilst recognising the BD folder structure and suspect not. . . . 

I am also not sure how I would copy over the BD folder structure to a hard drive. . . . . 

When you burn a project to disc MEP creates a folder containing the complete structure of the disc in the Disc image location specified in the Programs settings, Folders and paths tab.

As a test you can create a short BD video and without inserting a BD disc, burn the project, when it gets to the stage where MEP asks for a disc cancel the dialog and close the burn dialog if still open.

The BD video will be in the above folder - here is an example of one

 

Copy the entire folder ( arrowed ) to a memory stick, insert the memory stick into the TV's USB socket and see if it can be played - the TV spes do not indicate if this is possible.

. . . . However, the TV media player sounds a good idea . . . . 

Unfortunately I do not have one to help more on this - I stream video from my PC direct to a Sony HD TV or from an external hard drive attached to my satellite receiver or from memory stick plugged into the TV.

HTH

John EB

Many thanks John...

I must give this a try...

I guess then I need to find a way of putting the DVD's back into Magix and re-burn using the process as above...

Very grateful for your help...

Best wishes

Ray

Hi

. . . . I guess then I need to find a way of putting the DVD's back into Magix and re-burn using the process as above... . . . .

There is no need - you can copy the folder structure direct from the disc using WIndows Explorer.

If play auto starts, close the player and in Windows Explorer right click the DVD/BD drive and select Copy.

Browse to the disc/folder where you want to place them and right click and Paste.

If you have multiple discs put each in its own folder.

You may also find that you already have the disc files/folders in the Disc Images folder if they were made on your current computer - the folder names will begin with DVD Image . . . .    .

HTH

John EB

Hi Ray,

Coming late to the discussion so maybe I've misunderstood. But wouldn't an alternative be to use a BD Player? What did you play your freshly created BD discs on  - just the PC?

Or perhaps you're investing in a 512GB or 1TB USB stick for her to include the whole lot?

Hi Terry

Am I correct in saying you have or had a WD TV HD Media Player ?

If so can you comment on its features etc for Ray - it is what I recommended to use for ease of transportation and playback if using more than one TV.

Cheers

John EB

Hi John,

Yes, I had a WD TV unit for several years, wirelessly streaming from my PC upstairs to my TV in the lounge. I've since retired it following purchase of a smart Panasonic CX40 40" TV from which I stream directly. (I'll post later about even more recent changes, following my upgrade to Windows 10 after 15 years of XP, but that's another issue.)

I used it connected to just the one TV, mainly streaming MP4s. It would be a rather expensive solution for multiple TVs. (That must be one of the points I missed; several TVs?)

Which would presumably rule out my BD player suggestion?

Another approach would be to use the method I eventually got working yesterday on my new Win 10 PC. Open Windows Media Player and click Streaming and go from there.

But it's been 5 days since we heard from Ray ...

Hi Terry

. . . . But it's been 5 days since we heard from Ray . . . .

True - Rays original idea was to use a hard drive for the video and he would like to retain the chapters in the video, however I suggested the WD TV Player as it is only little more expensive than an external HD and offers total portability, ie he is not restricted to playing back on the one TV.

. . . . Open Windows Media Player and click Streaming . . . 

There is a quicker way to send a video to a device - right click the video and select Cast to Device and select the TV

.

and all you see on the PC is this

Thanks for reminding me I had not connected my TV to my new router - now done.

John EB

Hi John,

Good to talk to someone about streaming - it remains largely  a black art to me!

That Cast to Device looked so promising. But how exactly do you use it please? Here on the PC I right clicked an MP4, chose Cast to Device and (once I'd realised I needed to go downstairs and switch on the TV  ) I selected the only device shown, 40CX800_Series and clicked the Play icon. Then what? Is that supposed to start it playing on the TV? Or more likely, waiting for me to get to it?  In what mode? I tried all of them. Nothing of relevance appeared on my Panasonic VIERA TX40CX680B, 40".

The supplier of the TV (bought last August and used succesfully with my old PC) has very limited PC skill and none about streaming ("We're TV and radio experts, not into the computer side of things..") so any help I can get would be much appreciated please.

--------------------

Oh, sorry, just realised I'm hi-jacking Ray's thread! Could you open a new one to reply John?

John, Ray,

I've connected up my WD Unit to check and can confirm that it does allow DVD files (VOBs) to be played. But not with user interaction. IOW, you can play a menu (and it will loop if you've set it that way in MEP) but you can't activate it. No big deal, but not quite as nice as a physical DVD or BD IMO. Particularly if you have a menu of chapters.

As mentioned, I typically played the separate MP4 (HD) I'd exported, not the DVD folder.

Dear John and Terry,

Sincere apol;ogies for my absence but events with work and other things overtook me and I lost track of things a bit...I have a pretty hectic business and also provide support for a 91 year old lady who has been failing a lot so spending time to help her as much as possible....as well as trying to keep up with my 16 year old daughter and her showjumping etc....I need some more hours in the day....

so coming back to this post and delighted to see some morer suggestions.

Someone elsewhere suggested a media player etc as a possible solution etc...

Interestingly my friend put some stuff on to a hard drive, plugged it into his Panasonic TV (mine is a Samsung) and he managed to navigate around with the tv remote and play as necessary etc.

However, he did not try chapters and menus etc...

I am thinking that whilst they would be great to retain, if lost it would NOT be the end of the world as my main concern is having tyhat back-up all on disk as well as disks in the blu ray player etc...

I would like to be able to give my daughter 1-2 hard drives on her 18th birthday and say...."this is your life" ...It will have literally 1000's of photos and about 50 vidoe sby then....would be a lovelt memento for her...

I need to revist the advice so kindy given before and see where I go from here...

Juist one thing...I suppose that with a WD media player, I can put mu chosen hard drive into that, plug into the TV and then play etc....

I hoppe that sounds logical....never had to go down this avenue before...

Just to reiterate, I am so grateful for the kind help and apologise for the delay in getting back to you both...

Very best wishes

Ray

I went through this a while back, not wanting to buy a disc based player, but wanting to play hi-def with menus, similar to BluRay.  So what I ended up doing was create the BluRay ISO from Encore, and just copy the ISO to the hard drive of a Dune Media Player, which was the only media player I could find that would play BluRay ISO's, with menu support.  Many players would play the ISO, but without the menus.

The Dune players are a bit expensive, but work perfectly.  Maybe you could find a used one on Ebay, but make sure it supports BluRay menus, because not all models do.  My model is a bit older, not sure if it is still available.
Dune HD Smart D1 Network Media Player HDSmartD1

See this link.
https://www.duneplayer.com/4k-series.html

Hi Joe,

Admittedly interesting and informative - but is there some MAGIX or MEP relevance I've missed please?

P.S: I'm curious about that player. Do those two antennae rule out locating it in the sort of low height enclosures frequently used by conventional DVD and BD players?

Hi Terry,

No Magix or MEP relevance in my post.  Whatever program is used to create the BR ISO shouldn't matter.  The Dune player plays BR ISO's with full menu support.

I don't have that particular model with the antennas in the link I provided.  I have an older version that is wired only, and doesn't have any antennas.  My model is the "Dune HD Smart D1 Network Media Player HDSmartD1".

I love the Dune player.  All my BR and DVD ISO's are on the internal drive, hooked via hdmi directly to my TV.  All my created content available at my fingertips, with no optical disks to worry about.  Menu support is the big plus.  As I said, most other media players I looked at, did not support BR menus.

but is there some MAGIX or MEP relevance I've missed please?

Yes Terry, the original poster Ray was looking for a way to play his MEP created movies from USB drive maintaining his interactive disc menu's.

I tried with my WD TV HD Media player and found the same as you that it will play the menu VOB's but with no selection possible. It may be possible that there is now a firmware update available for this unit that may have activated the menus, but as I do not use the player any more I have not looked.

I use the Media server option on my Panasonic Viera TV over it's inbuilt wireless LAN to play all my files from my PC's Hard drive, or the "Cast to Device" available from a Win7 (or later) PC.

Ray - most media players have a USB port that you can plug an HDD or a stick into and play the files on TV. They are a good option if you have an older OS which does not work as a Media Server to your TV as above. I have also used it to take to a friend or relly's place to play large files or unsupported formats like 1080 50P from an HDD, or where they do not have a Smart / modern TV. 

Peter

Hi Peter,

"I use the Media server option on my Panasonic Viera TV over it's inbuilt wireless LAN to play all my files from my PC's Hard drive,"

Me too, on my Panasonic TX-40CX800 40" LCD, but erratically! (See my PM, as I don't want to over-complicate the thread.) I cannot get 'Cast to Device' working; can you step through it in your PM or email reply please?

I confirm that there seems no recent WD firmware update that introduces menu interaction, a desirable feature. I get the impression WD have lost interest in this product.

Hi John and Terry,

Have moved on a little since the questions below and have reached the following position.

I am going to back up my movies as suggested by John and have just got a new 4TB HD to do so.

In the meantime, I also bought a JVC HM 170E 4K camcorder and have just shot my first video....viewed images via camcorder on TV and really excellent.

Just edited and made a video which I would then like to view on TV as the edited version WITH chapters and menus if possible...

SO....any advice as the best means of saving it to hard drive in a way that would also incorporate the menus and chapters etc.

Much appreciate your help...

Best wishes

Ray

Hi ray

. . . . any advice as the best means of saving it to hard drive in a way that would also incorporate the menus and chapters etc. . . . .

My previous answers still hold, except for using the WD TV Media player - as Terry has indicated this will not play menus.

To have both menus and chapters you either, need a player that can play ISO images as Joe Klein suggested, or burn to disc and play on a BD player.

Chapters you can preserve if you convert to MKV format and use a program that will insert the chapters for you.

John EB