DVD over LAN?

[buttpirate]

if i had a local area network, and a dvd player on one of the computers, how can i watch a dvd from another computer?

i just tried sharing the drive, but that didn't work too well. any ideas? software problems?

-dave

 

[Shanteli]

I don't think it can be done, but I tried with both WinDVD and PowerDVD with no results. I think it has something to do with encryption. I'm not sure though

 

[trend]

hmmmm
you might could do it, listen here. a dvd plays back at around 6-12mega bytes per second. a network (100mbps) can transfer files at the VERY most (theroretically) 12.5mega bytes per second. that is with switching, no data collision, perfect harmony. but in real life, most people get 1-8mega bytes per second (i get 1 on a 100mbps network, most my friends get 6-7). and a dvd mostly plays at 8 to 9 mbps with fighting sceens 12mbps (you get the idea).

so with that knowledge, you are going to be screwed with anything except the documentary of an inch worm. but lets go on

you could setup a computer to have a "trojan" so you can actually see the screen of the computer that is playing the dvd, which this idea is kinda stupid anyways because the playback would suck.

you could make your own software to send dvd playback in udp packets so you could get the needed speed (you have to turn full duplex off in your program)

i haven't played around with any of these ideas because i don't have dvd and they are not reasonable.
also, (tending to this subject), you cannot share a cdrom drive and play multiple games of that cd (that is being shared) over the network, so, that kinda shows that your sharing isn't going to work and encryption isn't a problem at this step.


sorry to bust your dreams hope i shed some light on the matter

 

[spidey07]

Run Windows 2000 media server and stream that puppy across the network. A 1.5-3.0 Mbs stream looks very good.

Your biggest problem will be some kind of encoder to capture the DVD movie.

 

[Eug]

Well, with a standard setup (Windows 2000 Pro for both "server" and for client) on a fast ethernet network I can't play either DVD or CD over the network. The DVD player and CD player software gets confused.

I can read data and run software off both drives over the network however. In fact, I installed Unreal Tournament (GOTY Edition) off my desktop DVD-ROM drive onto my laptop, because it seemed the DVD-ROM drive in my laptop was incompatible with copy protection on the install disc (which was the original disc). (Apparently, incompatibilities with some CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives is a well-known issue.)

 

[JackBurton]

OK man, I'm here to breathe life back into your dream. Some people over analyze things and miss the solution. Here is the best and easy way of doing it, although the components to set up such an envinoment might be costly if you don't already have them. OK here goes...On your server, rip the DVD to hard drive using a program such as smart ripper. This will decode the CSS (anti-copy code) and let you play it on your hard drive. Now all you do is share that folder and each client on you network that you give access to (the folder) can watch their DVD movie on their PC via PowerDVD and WinDVD 2000. Now here is the catch, you better have a BIG hard drive to rip that movie because an entire DVD will range from 4-7GB! Also, you better have NTFS setup on your server so you can merge all your *.VOB files (DVD files) into one BIG file. FAT32 will screw it up due to its file size limitation. Also, I recommend you do this on a 100Mbps network. Just playing a DVD will eat up 5-8Mbps! Now if you can do all that, you can successfully watch a DVD movie over a network with nice smooth frame rates. The advantage of doing it this way is that EVERYONE on the network can watch a DVD movie whenever they want. If you play a DVD (on your DVD drive) on your server and you stream the movie, everyone better start watching the movie at the same time. But, if it is a file, people can watch it whenever they want. I could be in the middle of the movie and you can start at the beginning of teh same movie and it won't interfere with either of our movie watching. I know this can be done because I do this at home. There is NO theory in my house, just proven results! If you can set this up it is AWESOME!

 

[Quickfingerz]

Terminator 2, Fight Club, The Green Mile, Gladiator are almost 8 gb in size... I had to get a new hard drive for these movies. Well, Now i have more movies on my FTP site because of the added space.

 

[JackBurton]

Hey Quick, were you able to merge all you *.VOB files into ONE big file? The most I can get is a little under 4GB otherwise I have a HUGE file (~7GB) and PowerDVD or any other DVD player I've tried can't play the movie! I have to break the movie up into 2 files. It is not bad really but I'd like to have just one file. The partition is NTFS so I'm assuming it is a player limitation issue.

 

[Norssak]

Well according to the marketing geniuses at 3com all you need is the 3Com Home Ethernet Gateway

 

[chuckieland]

i just try it,
not gonna work
maybe you should get X10 DVD anywhere