Any interest in a plugin to support/control the Sony XL1B firewire DVD changer?

[TerryMathews]

I'm trying to gauge interest on whether anyone (besides myself) is interested in a plugin to support the Sony XL1B DVD changer, which is also sold as a PowerFile C200 and a Nievus IceVault.

I was also wondering, if there is some interest in it, if one of the old-hats would give me a hand with some of the coding - I've coded in Java and C++ before, but never anything for Sage.

First a small overview of the problem I've got: The XL1B is an awesome piece of kit, a 200 dvd carousel changer that also supports burning. Here's the problem: The only DVD playback software that supports it is built-in to Windows Media Center. That, and DVDLobby which is $200+. I can't actually use Media Center for two reasons:

1) You can't stream live TV to another computer. I use SageTV as a client/server setup. You can stream TV to an extender like a 360 but...

2) You can't stream DVDs to an extender.

So for my multizone environment I would need a 360 for TV and a standalone DVD player or a PC running Media Center for DVDs. Neither solution is optimal, obviouisly.

Now for the good news: The changer is really easy to control. It is mapped as a standard DVD drive (complete with drive letter in Windows) and a "media control device". There is a win32 CLI program to control the MCD, which actually controls which disc is mounted in the drive. The program accepts command line arguments, so it's extremely scriptable. It's also open-source so its code could be integrated into the plugin...

Overall I would like the plugin to do the following:

1) Maintain a current list of what's in the changer

2) On a scan/refresh library, query the drive to see which slots are occupied, and then mount each disc and get it's XML information from http://metaservices.windowsmedia.com/dvdwizard/?dvdid=

3) Upon selection of a title, the plugin should tell the changer to mount the proper disc and then call SageTV's internal DVD player

4) The plugin should also have the options to load and unload DVDs and adjust the current list as needed

Would anyone be interested in this and would anyone be interested in helping me with it?

[bcjenkins]

There is some interest..

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18967

B

[briands]

Wow... I started that thread...

So what are these selling for? Hard drives have only gotten cheaper, but HD will eat that as fast as you can add it.

Any chance of hacking a BR/HD-DVD combi drive in this thing That would be the s#!t.

[CollinR]

Ummmm YEAH! I just kinda don't see it happening commercially, I assume part of the deal is not streaming the DRM content. I also see Sony as the evil empire so for their product to be the one would surprise. I can also see an update causing troubles.

I do have a DVD player connected to Svideo and relay IR back to it from the clients. So yeah if I could get full quality I would be interested, right now I am looking at the larger megachangers. If the burning capabilities stayed it would be interesting.

[Thraxius]

Dude I would love to have it working.
I will not be able to assist you because I don't have the ability to.
I can learn but that would probably slow you down more than help you.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by TerryMathews

2) You can't stream DVDs to an extender.

AFAIK, you won't be able to stream DVDs from this thing to other PCs either.

3) Upon selection of a title, the plugin should tell the changer to mount the proper disc and then call SageTV's internal DVD player

That won't work for extenders or clients, only the PC to which the changer is attached.

Originally Posted by braids

Wow... I started that thread...

So what are these selling for? Hard drives have only gotten cheaper, but HD will eat that as fast as you can add it.

In my 30 second search, a 1TB HDD (which is roughly equivalent to this storage wise), is cheaper, $339 for the HDD vs $399 for the changer.

[TerryMathews]

The changers are $199.99, not $399.99. Not to mention no processing time vs. 15 minutes+ per DVD to rip to HD.

I know I didn't make my point very well. I don't mind that I can't stream into the bedroom using the DVDs (although if I use real PCs running Client I should be able to), what I mind with Media Center is that:
A) Extenders can't handle DVD streaming, nor can I connect a DVD player to them.
B) PCs can't receive live TV streams. At all.

I've been using a real PC running SageTV client and find it to be a more satisfying solution vs. using an extender. As I've been able to play DVDs via Windows file sharing before, I don't see any reason why SageTV couldn't play over the network assuming the DVD drive was mapped.

[briands]

Originally Posted by TerryMathews

The changers are $199.99...

Can you point to a source?

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by TerryMathews

The changers are $199.99, not $399.99.

The only place I could find one was Sony, and it was $399.

Not to mention no processing time vs. 15 minutes+ per DVD to rip to HD.

Don't know what you mean by processing time, but yes it does take a bit to rip a DVD, but you don't need to be there while it's doing it.

I know I didn't make my point very well. I don't mind that I can't stream into the bedroom using the DVDs (although if I use real PCs running Client I should be able to),

I've never seen a PC stream a DVD from the DVD ROM drive in another computer.

..what I mind with Media Center is that:
A) Extenders can't handle DVD streaming, nor can I connect a DVD player to them.

Agreed, but I don't see how this would change that, to stream DVDs to extenders, they need to be on a HDD.

B) PCs can't receive live TV streams. At all.

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I haven't given MCE any serious thought.

I've been using a real PC running SageTV client and find it to be a more satisfying solution vs. using an extender.

Agreed, the Sage extender is quite impressive too though

As I've been able to play DVDs via Windows file sharing before,

Hm, never seen that work. Was it a retail, CSS-protected DVD?

I don't see any reason why SageTV couldn't play over the network assuming the DVD drive was mapped.

That would be a PITA though (if it worked), you'd have to add that drive as a library import location, and then you'd have to refresh the media library every time you want to change a disc.

Plus you'd be stuck dealing with all the PUOPs and other BS that's on DVDs that ripping gets around.

[TerryMathews]

Search Amazon.com for XL1B3. Free shipping too.

[briands]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I've never seen a PC stream a DVD from the DVD ROM drive in another computer.

According to this post by Narflex, you can stream non css DVDs.

[CollinR]

Yeah but if I created it then it wouldn't be in DVD format anyway. Most all commercial DVDs have some kind of protection on them. Some of the remakes are getting them too.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by briands

According to this post by Narflex, you can stream non css DVDs.

To an extender, but extenders are weird since they run both on the server and remotely. PC clients work differently.

[bwallis]

I am very interested in adding control of the changer to Sage. I bought two of these last week. They work great in Vista MCE, but who wants to use that. Has any progress been made on this?

[Thraxius]

I have noticed that it always comes down to a debate when people say they want to program this dvd changer to be used with sage. Pretty much I will repeat myself here. I don't want to rip all my dvd's.

[CollinR]

I recently bought a Sony DVP-CX985V 400 disk DVD changer and a USB-UIRT, I just plan to use EventGhost and Dynamic Menus to run it over S Video. Nothing stellar but I'm not having to rip them either and you can view/control from MVP and placeshifter too.

One USB-UIRT will support up to 9 of these changers so you can have a crazy huge selection.

Once I have it actually working I may post something about it. One of the major problems is the guide programming, as your guide will just say "No Data" unless I can figure out how to get that to at least say DVD on Demand or whatever for the changer channels (#0 in my case). I don't own 400 DVDs so I won't be buying a second changer for my use.

[stanger89]

The other (potentially) major problem, is the significant degridation in quality running DVDs through an encoder.

[CollinR]

I would hardly call it significant, I have had a DVD player connected to an encoder for quite some time. 480p to 480i is something but all of my TVs are interlaced anyway, basically this is just for MVPs the difference is minimal.

However I can have family stop in and want to watch who know whos DVD instantly assuming it is from my region. No concerns over rootkits and whatnot. Not to mention I am a licensed security professional and technically decrypting DVDs to rip is illegal. I can't have that in my own home regaurdless of my personal opinions of "fair use" and current motion picture agencys.

[Thraxius]

If you are quick about it you can find a place that is selling them for less than $150 dollars.

[BRAINIAC88]

Originally Posted by Thraxius

If you are quick about it you can find a place that is selling them for less than $150 dollars.

On sale now...
http://www.abtelectronics.com/product/27903.html

$98 shipped. I just ordered one.

Other places including SonyStyle and Vanns have it for $99, but may charge tax and/or shipping. ABT did not charge me tax or shipping.