The easiest way to do this is to use My DVD Settings, a program created by Gelano over at TheGreenButton forums. Unfortunately, Gelano and his program have both disappeared. Fortunately, this software is still available from an alternative location: my_dvd_settings.rar.

You’ll need to download, install, run My DVD Settings, put the DVD in your optical drive, and have My DVD Settings create the XML data. Finally, save the resulting xml file to the folder containing the movie backup. When you are finished creating/coping all of the files, your folder structure will look like this:

Minority Report (parent folder for movie)
Minority Reportfolder.jpg (not necessary, but I like to manually save a cover art picture to the directory)
Minority ReportMINORITY_REPORT.dvdid.xml (metadata file)
Minority ReportVIDEO_TS (*.ifo, *.bup, *.vob files are in this sub-directory, created using DVD Fab, Slysoft, etc.)

Using this xml file, Windows Media Center will connect to the AMG library and download all of the available details on the movie.

Note 1: If you use DVD Profiler to catalog your movie collection, My DVD Settings can the DVD Profiler data to create the dvdid.xml file. Alternatively, you can go to dvdxml.com and search for and download the XML file.

Note 2: You’ll need to enable DVD Library in Vista to access this feature. Once active, go to DVD Library and add the folder containing your backed-up movies. You can also install the MyMovies Media Center plug-in.

How is the DVDID.XML File Created?

I really wish the software I used to backup my movies would also create the DVDID.xml file. Unfortunately, there is very little documentation on how this file is generated. I did quite a bit of reading and some investigation using Process Monitor and have some preliminary details. The dvdid is a CRC64 number generated by scanning the *.IFO and *.BUP files in the VIDEO_TS folder, combining that with the VOLUME_ID from the DVD disk itself. The inclusion of the VOLUME_ID is what prevents Windows Media Center from being able to automatically generate this information for DVD that are backed-up to a media server; there is no VOLUME_ID for the individual folders.

Once this process is fully understood, it should be possible for programs like DVD Fab and Slysoft CloneDVD to create these files when the DVD is being backed-up. This would eliminate the need to use the additional program (My DVD Settings) all together. Here’s hoping for inclusion in an upcoming release!

Update: I now recommend using the MyMovies Collection Management client to generate all images and metadata. Just be sure to store each movie in it’s own folder. http://www.MyMovies.dk/

Update: The version 5 of DVDFab Decrypter supports the automatic creation of dvdid.xml files, although I still think MyMovies is a better option.

The flights have been uneventful so far with a quick changeover in Tokyo and some painful entertainment during the flight back to Minneapolis. I was shown the same episodes of Trading Spaces Family, some other shows, and a thinly disguised infomercial about teeth. Are you kidding me? The next movie was Mooseport. How horrible must a movie be for Northwest to play it on a flight?

I’m looking forward to getting back home because I miss my wife Nicole and it’s been much too long since I’ve seen her beautiful face. However, I am missing China as well. Not nearly as much, but the growth, excitement, and opportunity in the large cities in China is unlike anything in the US. Will I be back? I’m sure I will. Will I be working there? I’m not sure. It would be a major commitment and would require me to leave a lot behind. Not seeing friends and family would be very difficult. Leaving our pets behind would be sad. I’m sure Nicole and I will discuss it more over the next year. There is much to much to consider to discuss and consider in this forum.

In the Minneapolis airport, I met-up with six Cummins employees on their way back from a meeting. I’d been up for about 27 hours at that point, needed both a shave and a shower, and was starting to have trouble forming sentences. Not really an ideal situation for talking with director and executive director level co-workers, but I made the best of the situation and talked about interesting portions of my trip as much as possible.

We had meetings with the Indiana Department of Commerce, Bakers and Daniels, Pacific World Trade, Visa, and Alison Transmission. Baker and Daniels impressed me the most and Alison impressed me the least. Edward Williams of Daker and Daniels had a quote that impressed me the most. “I didn’t want to be a lawyer in the 1800s that saw all of the opportunities and growth in the West and still decided to stay in Philadelphia.” Jun went with us and drove half the team; they had some difficulties finding all of the destinations.

We met at the VIP lounge upon arriving to the hotel and exchanged pictures. We have about 750 MB worth! Dinner wasn’t necessary because of all of the snacks. Brian, Garrett, and I finally visited the Sauna for some heated relaxation therapy — highly recommended the day after the wall. We’d talked about “Sauna” so many times at 21stCentury; it was nice to finally indulge. Afterwards, we headed to the hotel bar and met up with new friend from Bakers and Daniels again; he bought us drinks and provided us with some very interesting conversations. We headed back to our rooms, looking forward to a day that would allow us to sleep late.

We napped during the ride back to Beijing and then saw Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City. The history and stories about past emperors were interesting. I was surprised by all of the homeless families in the tunnels under the road ways. <>

We headed back to the hotel afterwards and everyone took another nap before heading to Da Dong’s Peking Duck restaurant. It was great food; I wished we’d had that type of food in Dalian. Afterwards, in the hotel bar, we met a partner from Bakers and Daniels, the law firm in Indianapolis. We weren’t that far from home after all.

Brian was exhausted and it was nap time for him; the rest of us went shopping at a couple of the markets and I spent the whole day looking for gifts I thought my wife would like. I bargained everything to about 25% the original asking price. I’m not sure if I got the best deals possible, but I definitely paid much, much less than was possible in the US.

Everyone met with Daniel’s better half for dinner. It was quite an experience, with dancing women, martial arts demonstrations, a woman with a snake, and whole-restaurant dance party at the end of the meal. We were dancing on the tables on which we had just eaten but only pictures can do the experience justice. (The music was so loud that my right ear is intensely ringing.) Brian and Doug were both stars of the show, performing dance moves and push-ups on stage during the meal.

After dinner, everyone went to the Hard Rock Cafe. All of the students were ready to go back to the hotel but Professor Lyles suggested we go out after dinner and we weren’t going to let our professor show us up. The four marrieds danced in a circle while Doug scoped the women. We arrived back at the hotel at about 12:30, later than expected but we’ll still be able to get at least 7 hours before heading to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City tomorrow.

I took a nap during lunch because I didn’t get enough sleep the night before. The presentation went well; Li and I were well-prepared and it showed. The management met to vote on the best group and we were not surprised to be the first group called. A part of that is due to us being so well prepared and the rest is due to us traveling half way across the world. I felt embarrassed when all of the Hong Kong students were congratulating us because I had a clear advantage: I was speaking in my native tongue. True, Li translated perfectly into Mandarin, but I was receiving some of the praise as well and I had no language barrier to overcome.

Afterwards, we everyone met for dinner at the Korean Barbeque restaurant at the to of the Dalian International Hotel but we were quickly finished and the meal wasn’t exceptional. Still, I had a great time talking to Wilson, Sharat, and Samuel. Afterwards, a smaller group went out to the same Augustus bar that we visited earlier in the week. I learned the Chinese dice game, played it for a while, and then decided to talk with John for a while. We’d spoken several times but never really gotten to know one another. The music in the bar was much too loud and I was ready for an early departure. I could tell that Li, Profess Lyles, and Professor Yan were ready to depart as well and were receptive to the idea when I approached them.

On the way to dinner, Garrett spotted something we all hoped we’d never see. The crazy driving was scary to those in cars and we were always fearful that a pedestrians would be severally injured. We were pulling up to a stoplight and noticed that a van was pulled over to the right hand side of the road. As we stopped, we noticed a woman in front of the van on the ground. Her ~8 year old son was lifting her upper torso from the ground but she was not moving. Garrett started to get out the taxi driver started yelling at him so he got back in. The driver of the van was on his cell phone. We were all hoping that he was calling an ambulance and that the woman was merely unconscious. I closed my eyes and prayed that this was the case.

The presentation is basically complete at this point but we all basically wasted the morning creating slides that were suggested even though I knew we would not be within our time limit if they were included. We practice our presentation again but didn’t make any notable changes. It was basically Li and I practicing our coordinated swap between English and Mandarin with Brain advancing the slides as necessary.

The food at the hotel and the restaurants has been of very high quality. Unfortunately, we had experienced about every creature and flavor Chinese seafood had to offer several times over by this point. We wanted something different and Pizza Hut sounded like a perfect solution. Daniel and his son Harry were back in town and we met them for dinner there. Pizza Huts are nice in China! The restaurant was large and nicely appointed; the pizza was as expected (we skipped the trout pizza). The salad bar was one-serving-only and we were surprised how much food the Chinese customers piled onto their plates. One girl created a 8-inch round circle of cucumber slices and stacked them lego-style about 5-inches high, taking about 10 minutes to do so!

Garrett, Brian, and I were up late printing our presentation and I didn’t get to sleep until after 12:30. I felt nice to be almost finished.