MyMovies is an excellent movie collection program for Windows Media Center (See my earlier review). The author has now turned his attention to a Windows Home Server version, cunningly called MyMovies for Windows Home Server.
So what functions does this new version bring? In a nutshell it has automated disc copy, automatic monitoring of shared WHS folders and now functions as a meta data provider for other video collection programs. The last function is especially interesting, which I’ll cover later.
Automatic Disc Copy
This new feature is a strange one. One of the ‘features’ of Windows Home Server is that it is intended to be run as a headless unit without a DVD drive. Designing an add-in that specifically requires a DVD drive seems to be a bit odd. Anyhow for those of you who want to be able to rip your entire DVD collection to your home server this is the one for you! Basically all you do is pop the disc into your DVD drive (I used a USB drive attached to my MediaSmart server to test this) and MyMovies will copy it to your shared video folder. If you want to copy commercial DVD’s (which is illegal in some countries) then you will also have to install a second application, AnyDVD, on the home server itself. If you don’t/can’t have a DVD drive in your home server, you can still copy to it using the MyMovies client running on any desktop PC with a DVD drive.
Folder Monitor
This part of the add-in will keep an eye on your video share and add any new video files to your database. This part is a little clunky at the moment as it will find any video file in the Videos folder. I have all the Quintin family videos in there, and of course MyMovies has no idea what they are and cannot provide data for it. You currently cannot set a sub folder of a share as a ‘rip’ folder, which will hopefully be fixed in the next version.
Meta Server
This part of the add-in is very interesting. The regular MyMovies Collection program has great metadata for DVD’s but the actual Media Center plug-in user interface is not quite as good as the inbuilt Microsoft DVD library (which is available with a small registry hack). Now you can run a small program to change the DVD library to use your home server to provide the metadata. I’ve tried it and I like what I see. Originally I couldn’t get the Microsoft DVD Library to work quite right, but now it looks great with MyMovies DVD artwork and Metadata. The only let down is that it won’t grab artwork for any movies recorded by your Media Center. Media Center users outside of the US don’t get any cover art for recorded movies, so hopefully MyMovies can fill this gap in the future.
So is MyMovies for WHS the plug-in for you? I will certainly be uninstalling MyMovies from my Media Center PC, and running the Microsoft DVD Library full time as I feel it has a better user interface. I know I will lose the copy feature directly on the MC box, so I will use the copy functions of the MyMovies Client running on my desktop PC and rip to the WHS.
Overall a solid step in the right direction.
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15. October 2008 at 11:33 pm
I use and like My Movies 2, but I’m not crazy about the add-in. As you mentioned there are a few quirks and I would have liked to see the list as dvd covers.
The DVD copier software requires that I buy AnyDVD and $50 US for the copying feature to work, that could add up to $100. It would have been nice if it came with a free 21 day trail as does AnyDVD. Now my AnyDVD count down has started and I can’t make any copies. Since it a pre-release and still being debuged it’s still too costly for what is not a finshed product.
16. October 2008 at 12:36 pm
But I guess you can create a share for DVD on the WHS as a subfolder in the Movies share. Check the wiki for how to make a subfolder a share.
I guess MyMovies for WHS is great if you have several MediaCenter clients around the house and want to have the movies on a central server.
17. October 2008 at 2:33 am
Both of the above thumbnails point to the same image “mm4.jpg”
17. October 2008 at 8:14 am
John: It of cause makes perfect sense that you are able to try the features that require points for a limited period.
We have created a page where you can log on to your account, and request a 21 day addition of 2,500 points to your account:
http://www.mymovies.dk/request-trial.aspx
17. October 2008 at 1:48 pm
I really like the idea of ripping directly to the WHS and then use the regular MS DVD Library feature – good work!
I have seen a response on myMovies forum indicating that it is slow using the DVD Library – but it was not a clear response. The review above does not mention it being slow – can anybody comment on this please?
Question 2 – Do you still need the same username/password on the server and client like in the previous release of myMovies? Specifically if using the DVD Library feature?
Question 3 – can folder monitor be turned off? Or a different folder instead of the video share folder be specified?
17. October 2008 at 1:53 pm
1) The DVD library can take a bit of time to load the meta-data – that is a general problem it has – it off cause gets a bit slower when having to load the data over network, but this is very little data we are talking about, so it should not slow it down much.
2) The user you are using on the Media Center machine must exist on the Home Server, or the Guest account must be enabled on the home server, yes. Otherwise you cannot access the movies.
3) It can be turned on and off, yes. It is currently created to monitor a whole share, which can be configured, but after inputs from users, it will be changed to be able to monitor a sub area of a share.
Regards,
Brian
17. October 2008 at 2:11 pm
Thanks for the quick response.
If I can drill down more on the answer – will it be slow every time the DVD Library is opened, or only the first time after opening the MCE interface after it was closed or the first time after a reboot. In other words does it “remember” the library after it was loaded once (if I open the library it loads, then go back to main menu and enter library again will it be slow again?)
17. October 2008 at 2:38 pm
I think it’s a combination – first load will be slowest, but re-entering will still not be super fast.
It’s no different from what the DVD library handles this today though.
5. November 2008 at 1:37 am
I downloaded the addin, bought anydvd, contributed 50 bucks before I realized I could try it. I’m logged in but I don’t get a response when I insert a dvd. Is my external dvd drive not recognized and how do I tell or is something else wrong. Very frustrating!
5. November 2008 at 6:12 am
Rex: Please seek support on our forums, and I will try to help you.
It sounds as though your drive is not correctly added in Windows.
If there is an issue with your particular machine that we cannot fix, you can of cause get a refund.
15. June 2009 at 12:37 am
I don't know why people like my movie so much, i don't see anything special about this add-in, the client my movie edit thing never work for me always give me the handshake error and i just got tired and uninstall the thing, not only that, i am willing to pay whatever to get the program and its mine i don't want to join the forum and have to earn point. other than that the program is still very buggy wouldn't recommend it to anyone i know.
J
13. July 2009 at 2:10 am
I'm using MYMovies to rip Blu_ray DVDs to my hard disk drive. But I can't play them back in VMC or with Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra. Both reurn my request with an unknown file type. I have ripped as a iso. file and as the other type. Neither works. I already owned ANYDVD HD and CloneDVD. I paid $100 dollars to be able to rip my personal collection to my computer drives, and now I'm stuck. Please advise me, Brian.
5. October 2009 at 7:43 pm
I have been running it for 6-month with no problems, but now the database has crashed… and it is stuck! I cannot recommend it – the basic idea is fine, but the product is not robust enough – and too frustrating to work with