HOW TO - Using Samba for a Home DVD/HD Media Server
Why is this useful?
I saw that my wife had piles of kid's DVD's stacked around her computer, and was having to shuffle through them to find the particular one that the kids wanted to watch, and then get it out of the pile, take the disc out of the case and insert it into the DVD drive. This was rather annoying for her, and doubly so if there was already a movie in the drive. It also carried with it a much higher chance of scratching the DVD discs - which quite annoys me. (I am convinced that one of the first levels of Hell involves watching movies on badly scratched discs... for eternity. The very thought makes me shudder.) Since I had just setup a Linux machine for my experimentation and gotten Samba up and running on it to share the printer, and also the family photos storage directory, and other such useful things, I thought that it would be quite useful to use it as a DVD media server as well. After some research and experimentation, the method detailed in this guide appears to work best. (Leave me a note if you have a method that you prefer better). Now, my wife has the kid's (and her's as well) most frequently watched DVD movies at her fingertips and can switch between movies quickly and easily, without the possibility of scratching the discs.
Preliminary setup
The setup and configuration of Samba is beyond this guide (as is the setup and configuration of a Linux machine). But I do have a couple of tips and suggestions. First, it's very worthwhile to get the generally recommended user-level security working properly, instead of turning to share or server security because you don't think that user-level security will do what you want, (in all likelihood it will). I went through that with regards to sharing the printer using a guest account, so no need to login in order to print. (Perhaps with sufficient interest, I can write a how-to for that, as it took me a while to find and experiment with the correct combination of settings to get that to work properly.) Two, Samba has a large number of config options available, so it behooves you to read much documentation and many internet searches in order to get the results you want.
What you'll need:
- DVD player software that can play from a folder. Intervideo WinDVD version 5 and higher has this capability and that is what I use. I haven't bothered to see what other DVD player software works for this. Though I know that my Cyberlink PowerDVD version 4 does not. If you do this with different software, shoot me an email and let me know what software and version you're using.
- A DVD or HD drive on the ripping computer only. You will not need DVD/HD drives on other computers in your local network that wish to access the movies.
- DVD or HD movie discs to rip.
- The freeware DVDfab HD Decrypter software.
Instructions
Install the DVDfab HD Decrypter software. Insert into the appropriate drive the movie disc that you wish to rip. The software will detect and open the disc. You should choose a location where you want to store the ripped movie. You can also rip directly to your networked samba shares. Ensure that the location you choose has sufficient disk space to store the entire movie, usually 6-8 GB per DVD disc for full length movies. Click 'Start' and the movie will be decrypted and copied to your chosen location. This will take between 20 to 40 minutes for DVDs, depending on the size (compression) of the movie, the speed of your hard drive, and the speed of your DVD drive. The transfer rate will gradually speed up as it progresses because the outer edge of the disc spins faster than the center does.
When the rip is completed, click 'Ok', and then 'Finish'. You may now exit the DVDfab Decrypter software, and start up your preferred player program. Then choose the option in your player to 'Play from Folder'. In WinDVD 5, you can right click on the movie window and select 'Source', and then the first option which is 'DVD from Folder...'. Find and select the location where you put your ripped movie. Hint, it will be in the 'FullDisc' directory below the directory you chose. You may certainly move the movie folders anywhere you like, which might simply be up one directory from the 'FullDisc' folder, and you may also rename them to something that makes more sense to you - as some movie discs are named rather oddly or obscurely.
Play and enjoy your movie as usual. You might notice that the DVD menu is far faster and more responsive now than it is on a disc. I certainly like that little perk.
Now you can rip your most frequently viewed movies, such as the kid's favorite movies, the wife's most emotional chick flicks, and your copy of Die Hard. You can even rip all of your movies, subject to your available disk storage space. (Better get that 4 terabyte RAID array up and running!) You can put the physical discs safely away and rest assured that they will remain pristine and not acquire any further scratches.
Additional ideas
If you put your ripped DVD movies into a Samba share, you can share the movie collection with all the computers on your local network. (Those other computers don't need DVD drives to watch them, of course.) The data will be streamed over your local network, for instantaneous movie watching goodness.
This method is excellent for already scratched discs too, such as the ones you borrow from that guy that has stacks of bare discs laying around and never puts them back into their cases. Yeah, I see that you know him too. If the disc is too scratched to play and watch the movie properly, because the data read (and reread, and re-reread) speed from the disc can't keep up with the playing movie speed, then simply rip the disc to a temporary folder and enjoy the movie skip and stutter-free. Delete the movie folder when you're done to free up disk space. By ripping the movie to disc first, you can eliminate all or most of the problems caused by a badly scratched disc. But one time it didn't work for me, as there were sections that couldn't be read from the disc at all and so there were about 45 seconds here and there that just couldn't be played. However, it was far easier to deal with the skips in the ripped movie. It played far smoother through the bad areas and didn't cause the player software to freeze up and stutter, which playing the scratched disc itself would. It's far less frustrating.
NOTE
Following this guide may be illegal in the U.S. The DMCA seems to prohibit ripping DVDs in this manner (or possibly even thinking about doing such). However, U.S. copyright law is generally recognized as providing consumers with the right to make a backup copy for their own use. However, IANAL. Such legal contradictions should be resolved by the legislature, preferably on the side of more rights for the users. In any case, you shouldn't find a SWAT team breaking down your door because you have ripped your own DVDs and keep them on your own internal network. (However, SWAT attacks seem to be occurring with much more frequency in the U.S., so do not take this to mean that you will never be attacked by a SWAT team).
UPDATE
For a purer approach, using Linux tools only, see this guide.
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