I have written about this previously, but I am getting more adept at it as I progress. I thought you might like to hear the instructions that I have to offer.
You can do this easily with FileZilla or MaZEdit 3.0.
Let's look at using FileZilla as most everyone can access and run this application.
Assuming that you have your AZBox set up and cooperating/communicating with FileZilla, we will take off from that point.
Open your FileZilla application program and connect to your AZBox.
The upper right panel named "REMOTE SITE" is your AZBox. Locate the first folder shown with the "?/" and left click on that folder. It will open the main directories. Search for the folder named "DATA" and left click on it. It will open the directories within that folder. Locate the "MOVIES" folder and and right click on it. In the sub-menu that opens, click on "CREATE NEW DIRECTORY". You will see the path and filename with the "NEW DIRECTORY" highlighted. Here you may edit the name of the directory.
Type in any name you wish to call this new directory. For example: WESTERNS, SCI-FI, DRAMA, COMEDY, etc. Press enter and the new directory will be created.
If you do not create sub-directories in this way, all of your DVD titles will appear individually in the one huge directory called MOVIES and will make it harder to navigate when you start filling it up with hundreds of movies.
Creating these sub-directories will allow you to organize your movies into categories so that they are easier to navigate and locate. I have not found a way to organize the movies after the fact (you cannot move them around once they are in place like using drag and drop or cut and paste on your PC).
Let's say you want to transfer a comedy DVD to your AZBox HDD. Click on the COMEDY directory so that that folder's contents opens in the "FILENAME" box just below the "REMOTE SITE" box on FileZillas panel.
Insert your DVD and allow your PC to scan it. If it automatically opens a DVD player application, close that or at least minimize it. Then, on the FileZilla panel to the left, where it shows "LOCAL SITE" which is your PC's drive listings, click on the DVD drive of your PC to open the contents of the DVD and view them.
Locate the file folder "VIDEO_TS" and right click on it. You will have a menu that allows "ADD FILES TO QUEUE". Select that option and the files of the folder will be added to the queue list at the very bottom of the FileZilla screen.
In the tool bar at the top of the screen, click on TRANSFER and select PROCESS QUEUE. FileZilla will start transferring the DVD's "VIDEO_TS" folder to the directory that is open on the AZBox HDD.
The transfer process will take almost as long as the movie is in length. It seems to transfer the movie bit by bit as if you were watching it play. So be prepared to wait until it is complete before viewing it.
You may go back to your AZBox and use the remote to access other movie titles in the MOVIE directory and watch them or watch your satellite TV programs or You Tube while the transfer process is underway. It doesn't seem to like it if you try to watch the file you are transferring (it slows it down considerably), but you can do nearly anything else that you please.
When the file is done transferring to the AZBox's HDD, you need to rename the file as it will be listed as "VIDEO_TS". Click on the filename and rename it as the movie title the way you want it to be shown. If you do not do so, the next movie title that you transfer will simply overwrite the previous one with the name "VIDEO_TS". It will not create a new title automatically for you, it simply overwrites what is in the "VIDEO_TS" folder without prompting you if you want to do so.
If you have any troubles with copy protection codes, try installing SlySoft ANYDVD on your PC. It will run in the background. Not a very expensive program and it will allow your system to ignore these codes.
When you wish to watch your DVD titles, simply click on the AZBox's remote HOME button, scroll to MOVIE and select the MOVIE folder. Find the sub-directory for the movie category you want (i.e. WESTERNS) and press OK. Highlight the movie you wish to watch, press the CHECK button on the remote to select the movie nd then press OK. A store-bought DVD will be presented identically as if you were playing the DVD in a DVD player. So all the start menu features will be in tact as it will be a bit for bit copy of the original DVD.
I have been trying to delete and omit some of the extraeneous files, like subtitles and scene selections, blooper files, director cuts, actor interviews and language options so that it just plays the movie and the movie alone (trying to save space on my HDD) but everything seems to be interconnected somehow and dependant upon the other files being present. The best I have been able to do so far is cut out most everything down to the basic movie itself, but then it doesn't play quite right. The movie has several "divisions" and the transistion between each division causes the screen to go blank during a scene for about 1-2-3 seconds and then restart where it left off. It just isn't quite right, if you know what I mean. So I leave most of the files in tact to avoid this quirk. Maybe I will get it down pat someday so that I can reduce the space the DVD takes up on the HDD.
I can delete quite a few files, like the alternate language copies of the movie, and save a good amount space, but the rest of the files I must leave in tact or else the movie doesn't play correctly.
Well, that is pretty much all there is to the whole thing. Hope you enjoy playing with it all.
RADAR
You can do this easily with FileZilla or MaZEdit 3.0.
Let's look at using FileZilla as most everyone can access and run this application.
Assuming that you have your AZBox set up and cooperating/communicating with FileZilla, we will take off from that point.
Open your FileZilla application program and connect to your AZBox.
The upper right panel named "REMOTE SITE" is your AZBox. Locate the first folder shown with the "?/" and left click on that folder. It will open the main directories. Search for the folder named "DATA" and left click on it. It will open the directories within that folder. Locate the "MOVIES" folder and and right click on it. In the sub-menu that opens, click on "CREATE NEW DIRECTORY". You will see the path and filename with the "NEW DIRECTORY" highlighted. Here you may edit the name of the directory.
Type in any name you wish to call this new directory. For example: WESTERNS, SCI-FI, DRAMA, COMEDY, etc. Press enter and the new directory will be created.
If you do not create sub-directories in this way, all of your DVD titles will appear individually in the one huge directory called MOVIES and will make it harder to navigate when you start filling it up with hundreds of movies.
Creating these sub-directories will allow you to organize your movies into categories so that they are easier to navigate and locate. I have not found a way to organize the movies after the fact (you cannot move them around once they are in place like using drag and drop or cut and paste on your PC).
Let's say you want to transfer a comedy DVD to your AZBox HDD. Click on the COMEDY directory so that that folder's contents opens in the "FILENAME" box just below the "REMOTE SITE" box on FileZillas panel.
Insert your DVD and allow your PC to scan it. If it automatically opens a DVD player application, close that or at least minimize it. Then, on the FileZilla panel to the left, where it shows "LOCAL SITE" which is your PC's drive listings, click on the DVD drive of your PC to open the contents of the DVD and view them.
Locate the file folder "VIDEO_TS" and right click on it. You will have a menu that allows "ADD FILES TO QUEUE". Select that option and the files of the folder will be added to the queue list at the very bottom of the FileZilla screen.
In the tool bar at the top of the screen, click on TRANSFER and select PROCESS QUEUE. FileZilla will start transferring the DVD's "VIDEO_TS" folder to the directory that is open on the AZBox HDD.
The transfer process will take almost as long as the movie is in length. It seems to transfer the movie bit by bit as if you were watching it play. So be prepared to wait until it is complete before viewing it.
You may go back to your AZBox and use the remote to access other movie titles in the MOVIE directory and watch them or watch your satellite TV programs or You Tube while the transfer process is underway. It doesn't seem to like it if you try to watch the file you are transferring (it slows it down considerably), but you can do nearly anything else that you please.
When the file is done transferring to the AZBox's HDD, you need to rename the file as it will be listed as "VIDEO_TS". Click on the filename and rename it as the movie title the way you want it to be shown. If you do not do so, the next movie title that you transfer will simply overwrite the previous one with the name "VIDEO_TS". It will not create a new title automatically for you, it simply overwrites what is in the "VIDEO_TS" folder without prompting you if you want to do so.
If you have any troubles with copy protection codes, try installing SlySoft ANYDVD on your PC. It will run in the background. Not a very expensive program and it will allow your system to ignore these codes.
When you wish to watch your DVD titles, simply click on the AZBox's remote HOME button, scroll to MOVIE and select the MOVIE folder. Find the sub-directory for the movie category you want (i.e. WESTERNS) and press OK. Highlight the movie you wish to watch, press the CHECK button on the remote to select the movie nd then press OK. A store-bought DVD will be presented identically as if you were playing the DVD in a DVD player. So all the start menu features will be in tact as it will be a bit for bit copy of the original DVD.
I have been trying to delete and omit some of the extraeneous files, like subtitles and scene selections, blooper files, director cuts, actor interviews and language options so that it just plays the movie and the movie alone (trying to save space on my HDD) but everything seems to be interconnected somehow and dependant upon the other files being present. The best I have been able to do so far is cut out most everything down to the basic movie itself, but then it doesn't play quite right. The movie has several "divisions" and the transistion between each division causes the screen to go blank during a scene for about 1-2-3 seconds and then restart where it left off. It just isn't quite right, if you know what I mean. So I leave most of the files in tact to avoid this quirk. Maybe I will get it down pat someday so that I can reduce the space the DVD takes up on the HDD.
I can delete quite a few files, like the alternate language copies of the movie, and save a good amount space, but the rest of the files I must leave in tact or else the movie doesn't play correctly.
Well, that is pretty much all there is to the whole thing. Hope you enjoy playing with it all.
RADAR
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