DVD

Media Center supports playing back and ripping DVD-Video discs.

Requirements

MC supports DVD playback on Windows Systems (that can playback DVDs with Windows Media Player) and a DVD Drive set the the same Region as the DVD Disk to be played. To playback DVDs from other regions, you will need either a 3rd-party DVD decrypter or change the region of your drive. AnyDVD HD is a good option.

Playback

Insert a disc and the program will offer to play it. If you have a ripped copy of the DVD, you can Import it and Media Center will play them.

Media Center uses MS DVD Navigator that lets you use the DVD Menu for title selection, chapters, audio stream selection, subtitle selection, and a variety of other playback options. In addition you can access many of these by Right Clicking on video during Playback or using the OSD option to for many of these options.

Ripping

See also: Ripping

Media Center is able to rip any DVD. You can rip DVDs using Action Window > Rip Disc inside the program or MC will prompt you if you insert a new DVD in the drive after scanning the disc. There have been issues with playback where DVDs are ripped to Microsoft Storage Spaces.

Metadata and Managing Multi-Part Discs

Media Center will automatically look up cover art, descriptions, directors, actors, genres and other metadata using the Automatic Metadata Lookup system. As a default, DVDs will be imported with a Media Subtype of Movie. If you have a TV Series or Music Video disc you will want to change the [Media Sub Type] so that it appears in the correct view in MC.

If your disc consists of multiple titles, such as alternative endings, TV episodes, or music videos, you can manage this within Media Center using Particles.

Audio

Media Center is capable decoding the full range of audio codecs used on commercial DVD itself, while preserving their full bitrate and audio bit depth. This includes audio codecs such as AC3 and DTS.

We recommend that you use Media Center to decode audio because this gives you access to the full power of MC's audio engine, including VideoClock, DSPs, and MC's powerful Volume system.

Bitstreaming

If you prefer Media Center also supports bitstreaming. You can enable bitstreaming via HDMI or S/PDIF connection in:

• Tools > Options > Audio > Settings > Bitstreaming.

Bitstreaming bypasses the entire Media Center audio engine, including things like the Volume controls, and the decoder on the far end of the HDMI or S/PDIF cable is responsible for decoding the audio.

Menus

MC uses its both the MS supplied DVD Navigator and MC's own OSD to provide access the to the content on DVD discs such as:

• titles
• chapters
• audio, video, and subtitle stream selection

Pressing the Menu button on a Remote Control or Selecting "DVD Menu" from the right click (on playing video) or from MC's OSD will bring up a Traditional DVD Style menu (as you would see with a HW DVD Player).

More

• Refer to Audio Setup for information on configuring your sound output.
• Mojave on audio mixing for Blu-ray: "JRiver does anything AC3Filter does, but better. JRiver does everything in its 64-bit audio path and makes sure that the highest quality is maintained. I removed AC3Filter a long time ago."
• You can also Extract Audio from Video Files.
• DVD Library in Media Center