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HELP! Ripping DVDs to RN104 then stream to Amazon Fire TV?

montybiggleswor
Aspirant

HELP! Ripping DVDs to RN104 then stream to Amazon Fire TV?

I would like to copy my 300 or so DVDs to my RN104 then be able to watch them on my Amazon Fire TV, both are connected via 100Mbps Ethernet.

I have a 104" screen and a Hi-Fi based 5 channel surround system so sound and video quality is most important, I am not fussed about file size as I have loads of storage on the RN104. I'm using a Cambridge Audio 551R as a pre-amplifier which can decode every current surround format so I'd like to keep the highest quality soundtrack available on the DVD, whether that be Dolby Digital or preferably DTS if it's there.

I will never want to play these on anything other than a big screen so not worried about making smaller "mobile" versions.

Story so far;

Take 1: I tried creating MKV files from DVDs using "makemkv", I then installed the Plex app on both the Amazon Fire TV and RN104. The Fire TV could see the files but when I tried to play them it said it couldn't - apparently the RN104 couldn't transcode the files for the Fire TV? It's a shame as Plex was able to get the cover for the DVD and the blurb about it which looked really neat - until I tried to play it!

The MKV technique was recommended from a website who said the Amazon Fire TV could play MKV files and everything would be just fine... I have since found out this was incorrect and there is no way this would work - grrr!

Take 2: I tried using Handbrake to make MP4 files, after installing the copy protection DLL thingy I now have MP4 files on my NAS that I can play on my laptop - one step forward! BUT I want to be able to play them via my Amazon Fire TV.

Now the Fire TV doesn't seem to be able to see the MP4 files on the RN104 BUT it can still see the old MKV files that I deleted? I have also tried a few other apps on the RN104 to play the movies but they just end up with similar issues.

I am starting to feel a bit lost here so can anyone recommend a) a way to copy my DVDs to the RN104, and b) a way to play them on the Amazon Fire TV.

I'm not an expert in this sort of thing and don't have time to become an expert so something that requires as little user input as possible is preferred!

I have only copied one DVD so far so happy to start from scratch and use a different format, or program if that will make life easier. I'm not really fussed how I do it so long as it works!

We have BluRays but I am not fussed about ripping them yet as we don't have enough to warrant it, I'd be happy just conquering the DVDs first 🙂

Many thanks in advance for anyone out there who can help!
Message 1 of 10
StephenB
Guru

Re: HELP! Ripping DVDs to RN104 then stream to Amazon Fire T

The RN104 is not capable of transcoding.

Specifications for Fire TV are here: https://developer.amazon.com/public/sol ... ifications. To some degree you are stuck in the common ground between what the player supports and what plex supports. Based on your posted goals, TS would be the best format for the player. It carries all the common surround sound audio (DTS, etc). But Plex doesn't support TS. I might possibly support m2ts (which is related) - the info I see on the plex forum is a bit inconclusive on whether that needs transcoding or not.

ReadyDLNA does support TS, so you could try that. If you still have the one of the MKVs, you can try remuxing it to TS using tsmuxer (found here: http://www.videohelp.com/tools/tsMuxeR). tsmuxer won't transcode the media again, it will only migrate the media into a ts container.

I suggesting converting just one file, and give the TS output a different name just for testing. Then add it to a plex library and see if it works. ReadyDLNA is the other package you can try.

MP4 will also play (and works with plex), though perhaps you need to get the library rescanned for plex to find the files. However, you will lose DTS audio for sure. Not sure if dolby digital (AC3) will play or not - you might be limited to stereo audio.

Your other option is to get a player that supports more formats. Dune, WDTV Live and PCH are popular choices (there are others). Many can access your media directly using SMB/CIFS and NFS - so there is no need for plex or ReadyDLNA at all.
Message 2 of 10
TeknoJnky
Hero

Re: HELP! Ripping DVDs to RN104 then stream to Amazon Fire T

or install xbmc/kodi on your fire tv.

http://kodi.wiki/view/Amazon_Fire_TV
Message 3 of 10
StephenB
Guru

Re: HELP! Ripping DVDs to RN104 then stream to Amazon Fire T

TeknoJnky wrote:
or install xbmc/kodi on your fire tv.

http://kodi.wiki/view/Amazon_Fire_TV
That looks reversible so it would be safe to try.
Message 4 of 10
montybiggleswor
Aspirant

Re: HELP! Ripping DVDs to RN104 then stream to Amazon Fire T

Thanks again for your help guys!

I have heard good things about the WDTV but don't think it supports Amazon Prime or Netflix?

We have got through a few "TV boxes" so far; We started with Apple TV purely for Netflix then bought the Amazon Fire TV to play Netflix and Amazon Prime and with the hope we could stream stuff from our old RN Duo. We then sold the Apple TV when we found out we could connect to the Amazon Fire with Airplay which means we only have one box again.

I am wondering if a more robust solution would be to get a WDTV for our DVDs and the Fire for Amazon Prime and Netflix and go back to having two boxes.

We have a big pile of five amplifiers for the speakers so one extra box wont make a difference, it's more ease of use having everything via one app but I think we'd get used to it.

It's a shame there's no player out there that supports everything, that would be a miracle!

In summary if I bought a WDTV would all my problems go away?

We just sold the Apple TV for £50 which would almost cover the cost of a WD TV and I feel this may be the path of least resistance.

The other software based solutions looks a bit like they may be quite vulnerable, I have read quite a few stories on here of services getting updates and then not being able to play anything anymore. My biggest fear is to spend ages putting the movies on the RN104 then be unable to play them because somethings updated.

Thanks again for the advice!
Message 5 of 10
StephenB
Guru

Re: HELP! Ripping DVDs to RN104 then stream to Amazon Fire T

I don't believe the WDTV Live supports Amazon Prime. At least I am not seeing this on their forum or their user manual.

You could certainly use the WDTV to play MKVs, and the Fire TV to play Amazon Prime and Netflix. It supports both SMB access and DLNA, so you have some options there. SMB access is what I'd suggest, but I'm not really into displaying the cover art - I'm perfectly ok with a list of file names.
Message 6 of 10
montybiggleswor
Aspirant

Re: HELP! Ripping DVDs to RN104 then stream to Amazon Fire T

Thanks for your help,

I have the WDTV now set up purely for streaming MKVs from the RN104 and it works a treat, I tried the MP4s which worked but I did notice they were a little glitchy. I also got the Dolby Digital tracks coming straight through to my pre-amp and even did a comparison between our BluRay machine and the WDTV and they played fine.

I can't get the album artwork like I could on Plex but I am not fussed - at least it works!

I have kept the Amazon Fire TV for Netflix and Amazon prime just to keep things simple.

I have also decided to upgrade the disks in the RN104 so I have four 3TB disks in RAID 5. I will put two of the old 1TB's in the old RN Duo as backup for data only and flog the last 1TB disk.

I went off to Amazon and bought three WD green disks (I already have one 3TB WD Green that I was going to use as backup in the RN Duo, then I found it wouldn't support it!).

My concern is that I see the WD Red disks are preferable for RAID 5. Apparently as the Green Disks can't be told to give up if they find a bad sector which can cause the RAID to write off a disk prematurely. I can imagine for an office situation this would be an issue but is this really going to be an issue for me as a home user when I will not be using the RN104 heavily all day?

I have the three WD Greens arriving today, if they are going to cause big issues I will send them back sealed and get four 3TB WD Reds. but if it's unlikely I will have any issues I'll stick with them.

What do you guys think?
Message 7 of 10
StephenB
Guru

Re: HELP! Ripping DVDs to RN104 then stream to Amazon Fire T

Personally I'd exchange them for the Reds if you can do that w/o a big restocking fee. The warranty is better, and WDC intends them for NAS.

Greens aren't on the HCL for the RN104 which also might create support issues with Netgear down the road. Both the Red and the Red Pro are on the HCL.
Message 8 of 10
hokieguy
Aspirant

Re: HELP! Ripping DVDs to RN104 then stream to Amazon Fire T

I'm late to this thread, but as someone above pointed out - you could have installed XBMC on the Fire TV. XBMC will play darn near anything you can throw at it. I've been using it on a jailbroken AppleTV2 for a while now to play my DVDs ripped to MKV or ISO. I am picking up a Fire TV to replace the AppleTV and it should perform as well or better with XBMC.
Message 9 of 10
montybiggleswor
Aspirant

Re: HELP! Ripping DVDs to RN104 then stream to Amazon Fire T

Cheers for your help guys, I changed the WD Green hard drives for Reds. There was no charge as I hadn't opened the greens.
Ironically one of the Reds failed after a couple of weeks, I am guessing I was very unlucky?
I sent it off to WD and credit to them, they sent a replacement through in about a week - I didn't even need proof of purchase, I just entered the serial number in their site and they told me I had something like 1100 days warranty left - I guess they take the manufactured date and add on a few months for good measure!
I will say I was impressed how easy it was to change the drive- I pulled the duff drive out while the RN was still powered with no hiccups at all, the RN still worked fine with no loss of functionality - as it should in RAID5! Once the new drive arrived I plugged it in expecting it to automatically detect it had a new drive and start formatting it. It didn't quite do that but once I re-booted it everything started moving and by the next evening it had re-built the RAID array and was happy 🙂
Message 10 of 10
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