How do you play movies on GameEX

[emmasdad1977]

Hello,

I was in the process of downloading all 300 movies I have to hard drives, so I can play them on my arcade when it is finished. I downloaded a few, but when I checked to see if they was going to play through the video section, it played, but no sound. I have looked around for DVD rippers and all thinking I may need a different one. As of right now, I am playing my movies through Windows media center. I stopped downloading them until I know for 100% that am downloading them in the right format and I have everything set up.

Any help with this will be a huge help. As of right now I am still using the free version of GameEX. Once I am through with my arcade build and have everything in working order, I am going to donate the money and upgrade to the paid version.

If this has already been answered, I would like to say I am sorry and just please point me in the correct direction.

Thanks,

james

[nullPointer]

Hi James, and welcome to the forums!

Before we dive in, let's address an issue of semantics. It sounds like what you're doing is ripping movies from DVDs (that you own) to your harddrive. If you were asking questions about playing downloaded movies, well that would be rather frowned upon in most forums (whether you owned the movies or not). Downloading copyrighted movies is illegal, and highly frowned upon by the starched collar crowd over at the MPAA. Love 'em or hate 'em they've got lawyers out the wazoo, and could shut this forum down in a heartbeat if they took a notion. So before we may safely assist you, we need to verify that you're backing up movies you already own to your harddrive. Does that sound about right?

The other possibility is that you are attempting to get downloaded game preview videos to work within the frontend (possibly from a source like EmuMovies). That is perfectly legal and we are also able to assist you in that endeavor.

Does one of the above circumstances describe your situation? Please let us know, and we can dive right into some full-fledged troubleshooting. Thanks for your patience and understanding!

[AlphaUMi]

When a very savvy friend of mine says "I'm downloading something", you have to interpret: "there is a progress bar like that I see while downloading, so every time I see a progress bar there is a download".

Jokes apart, OP says:

I was in the process of downloading all 300 movies I have to hard drives

so he\she (allegedly he) should be OK.

But please clarify nullPointer's question, since he's all right, this forum doesn't condone piracy.

[emmasdad1977]

Hello and thanks for the fast replys. First I wanted to say that I do own these movies and I am uploading a photo of one of one of my boxes that I have stored to make room for the new movies. I have been buying movies and started my collection back in 2007. I started out going to Block Busters and getting the 4 for $20 and that had me hooked for a while, till I wanted some of the new releases. Then I started buying them from Walmart and other stores. http://

I just wanted to store these on hard drives for easy access and so I don't ever have to work about them ever getting broken or anything. I am going to back these up no matter what, I just wanted to make it so that they were able to play on my arcade when it is finished.

I am building one of those 0-60 arcades if anyone knows what they look like. It will be a all in one cabinet, but there will be a set of these built sitting side by side. This is a picture of theirs looks like. Mine will have other decals on it though.http://www.coolthing...abinet-for-500/

Thanks for your help

[nullPointer]

James, you rock man. The proof is certainly in the pudding so to speak. So let’s get to some real troubleshooting, shall we?

The first question I have for you is how are you ripping your DVDs? There are a few right ways to do this and several wrong ways. A good DVD ripping guide may be valuable in this process.

The next question I have for you is whether or not you have any non-default codecs (or codec packs) installed on your machine? A codec pack is like a library of media decoding algorithms that helps your computer to figure out how to play a particular media format. Several of us around here are fans of the Shark007 codec pack. The instructions are fairly straight forward, but you’ll want to follow them carefully for the best results. I would imagine that the default settings should be fine for your use.

Either of the above factors will have an impact on how your video files play back on your machine. I would first verify that your ripping process is correct, and if the videos still give you issues take a look at using the Shark007 codecs.

[AlphaUMi]

You can use GameEx itself to rip your giant collection in mp4, provided that handbrakecli.exe (see http://handbrake.fr/) is in GameEx folder. Then open Setup Wizard and check "HTPC / Multimedia Settings". There are the DVD Ripping Settings. Configure them and you should find "Rip DVD" in video menu...

@OP:

By the way, how many GB do you have on your HD?

[emmasdad1977]

Thanks nullPointer for the information. I downloaded all the programs to get started. I couldn't wait, I went and got my Scareface movie and got started. Took 30 mins on the DVDFAB and 3 hours for the Handbreak to convert it. It does take a long time to convert a movie all the way over, but I guess it will be worth it in the long run. Windows Media Player plays the file great. When I tried to get GameEX to play the MP4 file, it doesn't play it. It was playing the movies at first. That was before I went crazy with all the settings though. I guess now I have to get all the settings where they should be. Is there a place where I can go to see where all the settings should be at?

Thanks for the information AlphaUMi. I seen a video Tom placed on youtube that showed him ripping a movie, but it doesn't show how to set everything up there. I sent him a message, but he might be too busy to respond to the message though. As of right now I have 2 250 GB hard drivers. I am going to go this weekend and pick a 1 TB hard drive to start my media and music on. With the new 1 TB hard drive it should hold most of everything.

[nullPointer]

Alright, so far this is sounding good, but we haven’t made a huge amount of progress from the original issue (maybe slightly less! ). At least we can be relatively certain that your DVD rips are valid at this point. Don't worry though we're on the right track.

First, a couple of questions. Did you also install the Shark007 codec pack? This has been a boon to several GameEx users, as it tends to enable flawless playback of MP4 files in GameEx. Having said that, you must be sure that you get the version of the codec pack that is correct for your operating system. It sounds like MP4 files are playing natively in Windows Media Player, which leads me to believe that you’re using Windows 7 (or possibly Vista). Does that sound right? My next question is whether you’re using a 32bit (x86) or a 64bit (x64) operating system? All of the above factors will play a role in which Shark007 codecs you select. Make sure you’re grabbing the right ones for your system. If you’re using a 64bit OS, you’ll need to install the 32 bit codecs, followed by the x64 components in that order. Report back if you have any questions about this, and if something appears to have gone wrong uninstall the 64bit components followed by the 32bit codecs (in that order) and start over.

I’m not sure if there’s a way to revert GameEx back to default video settings (I’d love to hear about it if there is). I’m away from my GameEx machine, but I can post a copy of my GameEx config tonight if that would be helpful (I’ve never modified any of my GameEx video settings to my knowledge).

Finally, if you believe that you have followed the above steps closely, but are still experiencing problems, please post a copy of your GameEx log. This is pretty easy to do, but in order to be most effective in troubleshooting please follow these steps:

• Start GameEx
  
• Navigate to your video section and attempt to play a problematic video (i.e. recreate the error)
  
• Exit GameEx
  
• Navigate to Start Menu > GameEx > Log File and open that file
  
• Post the contents of that file right here.
  

Good luck, and I’m fairly confident we’ll get this sorted out.

[emmasdad1977]

Thanks for the information. That was the problem I was having. I am using Windows 7 on my laptop. I just needed the codec packs. I downloaded them in the order like you said and it plays the movies just great. I tried to change another movie and it was at 2 FPS and was going to take way too long, so i turned it off. I have to look around to see if there is a better setting on handbreak to speed it up, but keep the movies in great condition.

The only thing that I can't do now is rip through GameEX like Tom shows on youtube. It would be nice to have that set up, but It isn't really a problem though. This aracde will look just like the 0-60 aracde like the link I posted. It will be all modified though. It will have a PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and a PC. The XBOX 360 drive, PS3 drive and Wii drive will be moved and flushed mounted to a panel for easy access to change out games. There will be a drive flushed mounted for the PC for easy access also. All the systems will be tucked away inside the cabinet.

I have never seen a arcade like I am building. I have 2 arcades I have to get rid of now to make room for the new ones. I am going to run them in a local paper here or auction them off on a site. My wife would kill me if I keep them and add 2 more. There is a guy that lives not too far from me that might buy them. He buys and sell them and I bought one of them off of him. I don't have much in either one of them and could get by with parting them out and breaking even too.