[teaguecl]

I have a small ION box as a XBMC frontend in my living room, without a optical drive. I don't store any media on the htpc, it plays everything over SMB from my Ubuntu machine in the office. If I need to play a DVD I typically put it into the Ubuntu machine in the office, rip it to .iso, and then walk back to the living room to play it over SMB. It's a great system.
However, my girlfriend occasionally brings her own DVD's over (or gets one from Netflix) and teaching her to rip them seems like a bad plan. Does anyone have any suggestions for a setup that would let her place the DVD in the office machines optical drive, but play it back from the XBMC machine?
I was thinking of setting up /media/cdrom to be shared via Samba. But then, it just exposes the DVD file structure (.vob, .ifo, .bup files) and selecting the "right" one is tough even for me.
I also debated just automatically ripping any DVD's that are inserted, but that seemed like overkill. Maybe not? Any suggestions?

[Tight_wad]

You could attach an external DVD player to you small ION box. Thats what I did. Cost me like 34 dollars.

[teaguecl]

You could attach an external DVD player to you small ION box. Thats what I did. Cost me like 34 dollars.

That's certainly a possibility, but something I'd like to avoid. My setup right now is very clean - no wires and no TV stand full of electronics. I have the HTPC mounted on the back of my television via a VESA mount, and the TV mounted on the wall. Power and ethernet are run through the wall, so nothing is showing. I suppose I could mount the DVD drive to the wall behind the TV, but I'd rather not.
How does the XBMC "Play DVD" option on the main screen (Confluence) work? I've never clicked it since I don't have a DVD drive - can I change the location it's looking for the DVD at?

[schneidz]

i do this at home sometimes if i dont want to wait to rip a dvd using mencoder

i have two acer revos one in my living room (wifi); one in my office upstairs (ethernet).

i use sshfs to connect the xbmc revo to my fedora revo and i just browse to the movie using the remote and it would play the menu. i usually get better bandwidth if i use dd to create an iso of the dvd.

[poofyhairguy]

I also debated just automatically ripping any DVD's that are inserted, but that seemed like overkill. Maybe not? Any suggestions?

It depends.

Do you want the ability for your girlfriend to play a disc, or do you just want to technically play the discs however?

If she doesn't need to do it just add a optical drive to either your box or your server and use XBMC's non library mode to play whatever. Use the commandline directions in the post above mine.

If it has to be girlfriend simple the only decent options are automatic ripping ("just stick the disc in here, wait 20 mins, and it magically pops up on my system!") or just break down and buy a stand alone $30 DVD player.

I know that last option destroys the immaculateness of your current setup, but if you maroon that DVD player away from the rest of your equipment hopefully she will get the message that you have evolved past optical media and that her discs are literally a bunch of 20th century antiques. Unless they are cute decorative items women usually hate antiques (ask my wife about our refrigerator) and you will be able to throw that cheapo DVD player in a closet in less than a month (return it?).