Microsoft Surface Video Converter

This tutorial shows you an easy way to convert DVD movies on Surface 2 in multi-track MP4 format so you can switch to the desired language during playback.

I'm about to take a long plane trip with a toddler, and I think converting some of the DVDs I have to some type of digital format we can watch on the Surface 2 would be helpful. The problem is I'm not totally sure what I'm doing. From what I can tell there is basically 2 steps:

1) Convert to digital file (I'm using a Win7 PC for this).
2) View video file on Surface 2

What do I need for each of the steps? I know there are various programs for transferring DVDs to digital formats, but I'm not sure what format I should be choosing (if I can pick one that will allow the video file to play on both my Surface 2 and my wife's iPad that would be great). Also not sure what is a good program.

To get your favorite DVD movies into Surface 2 for amusement, you need to convert DVD to Surface 2 supported video format first and then transfer the result videos to the Windows 8.1 RT tablet. Here Pavtube DVDAid (30% off now) is an easy-to-use program for editing and conversion and makes great quality copies of my DVDs. It works well in putting DVD movies onto Surface 2.

Generally, a DVD movie will contain multiple tracks and subtitles, that will give us wonderful audio enjoyment and allows us the select the language we need. Then how to keep multi-tracks and subtitles when converting? This tutorial is about how to convert DVD to Surface 2 in multitracks MP4 format easily and fast so that you can watch DVD movies on Microsoft Surface 2 with any language by switching to the desired one.

At first Pavtube ByteCopy is your great choice to rip DVD disc to Surface 2 compatible MP4 format as well as multiple audio tracks saved for Surface 2 playback.

How to Rip DVD to Multi-track MP4 for watching on Surface 2?

Part One. Convert DVD to Multi-track MP4 for Surface 2

Step 1. Free download the Multi-track DVD Converter (Mac users can download here), install and launch it. Click the “Load files” button to import source DVD disc.

Step 2. Choose “Multi-track Video > Multi-track MP4 (*.mp4)” from the “Format” drop-down list as output format.

Tip: This profile extracts more than one audio track from source DVD movies in saved MP4 files. And you are allowed to remove unwanted audio track by unchecking the “Check” box in front of each audio source.

Step 3. Hit the “Convert” button on Pavtube ByteCopy main UI to start ripping DVD to Multi-track MP4 for Surface 2. Once the conversion process finishes, open output folder and locate the created multi-track MP4 movie.

How to transfer media files to Surface 2?

You can pick using one of the following methods to transfer video to Surface 2

-Connect to a networked computer
-Use a USB flash drive or a memory card -- microSD, microSDHC, or micro SDXC cards all work with Surface.

Connect to a network computer

Surface 2 can access music, pictures, videos, and documents on computers that are part of your home network. To see the files and folders that have been shared on your network, go to the Start screen and open File Explorer. Shared items appear under HomeGroup or Network.

Use a USB flash drive or memory card

You can also move files to Surface 2, by copying them to a USB flash drive or memory card (microSD, microSDHC, or micro SDXC cards all work with Surface 2) and then adding the files to Surface 2. Here’s how:

1. Copy files onto a USB flash drive or memory card on your other computer.
2. Insert the USB flash drive or memory card into Surface 2.
3. Tap or click the notification that appears in the upper-right corner of the screen.
4. Tap or click Open folder to view files. File Explorer opens.
5. Select the files or folders you want to add to Surface, tap or click Home, and then tap or click Copy to.
6. Select a location. For example, choose Documents if the flash drive or memory card contains documents.

Part Two. Stream and watch Multi-track MP4 movies on Surface 2

Step 1. Install multi-track player on Surface 2. When typing in the keyword “multitrack player” in Windows Store, many free or charged apps would show up, choose one and install on your Surface 2.

Step 2. Then add created multi-track MP4 movie to this multi-track player.

Step 3. Open this multi-track player, open the source multi-track MP4, and choose wanted language during movie playback.

Ever tried to play DVDs or CD discs on a Surface Pro? Obviously, you need attached hardware or turn to some software for help. This article will provide two method for you to get DVD/CD playback on your Surface Pro.

Since the Windows 8 and 8.1 released, Microsoft has made its decision to remove the ability of playing DVD and CD discs. Without the function built into it, you have to ask for the third party software and additional hardware to accomplish it.

Obviously, the Surface Pro does not have the specific hardware needed to insert DVDs or CD discs, and this is reportedly one of the reasons why Microsoft didn’t include software to play physical media discs in Windows 8.

Below I will show you the way to enjoy DVD/CD on Surface Pro with Win 8.1 Pro OS.

The Hardware

The Surface Pro only has a single USB port. So, if you want to utilize more than one USB device you’ll need a good USB hub. Here we choose the Satechi 4-port USB 3.0 hub. The Satechi includes enough port access to provide multiple options for additional devices attached to the Surface Pro. With it, you can easily plug the external USE DVD/CD drives, mouse, etc. as you like.

For DVD/CD playback, you also need a good external DVD drive. Portable USB ones are recommended due to their easy to transport. The 6X read speed is necessary for DVD playback and the higher the better. You can choose from amazon.com like LG, Samsung, Pioneer, etc. You can also do your own research on the proper DVD/CD device to fit your lifestyle, or you can take my word for it and grab it from Amazon.com. Below is an example for you.

Surface tablets are really convenient and you can download or install 99% of what you need right from the network. However there are times where you might need to access data or install software from DVD/CD to your Surface tablet.

The most obvious way to do this is with a Portable DVD/RW External Drive. You can just plug it into the handy USB port and as long as it’s on the supported hardware list, you will see it pop up in Explorer on the desktop as a drive. This will work for Surface RT/2 or Surface Pro/Pro2 tablets just like from any other Windows computer. Though, you will only be able to actually install software if you have a Surface Pro/Pro2.

On Surface RT/2, you can not install software without going through the Windows Store.

What if you don’t have a Portable DVD/RW External Drive? No problem, we have a method to get the data to your Surface tablet without a USB DVD/CD drive.

This method does require access to a computer with a DVD/CD drive (I’m good but not so good I can teach you how to magic the data off of the disc without a drive). I’m assuming that it will be a Windows machine but even if it’s not, the ideas will carry over, although the steps will be different.Access data or install from DVD/CD to Surface

This method involves using software on a desktop or laptop with a DVD/CD drive to create an ISO file. An ISO file is essentially a copy of a whole CD or DVD without the disc. Your Surface can then mount the ISO file as if it were reading a real disc.

On a Surface RT/2 this means you can read files or play MP3s and on a Surface Pro/Pro2 you can also install programs. I’ve been using this technique to install some of my old games on my Surface Pro 2 (Evil Genius, for example) that I can’t get on Steam.

To do this, you will need to download some ISO creation software. I’m using ISO Toolkit from www.AskVG.com in this post for a few reasons…

It’s free.
It’s pretty simple to use.
It’s portable (doesn’t need to be installed on a machine, just run the .exe)
It doesn’t try to trick you into installing extras like toolbars.

OK, let’s get started…

Create an ISO File

From the desktop/laptop computer with a DVD/CD drive, download ISO Toolkit.
Open the zipfile and copy the ISOToolkit.exe file to the desktop.
Make sure the DVD/CD you want to copy is in the drive.
Run it. You may get some security alerts as the program needs to access the DVD/CD drive.

Select the Copy Image tab.
Make sure the DVD/CD drive is selected.
Tap or click the Select button to pick the location where the ISO file will be created as well as it’s name.
Tap or click the Copy Image button to start the ISO creation process.
Wait until the copy is complete. It can take a while (especially for a DVD) so be patient.

That’s it. You’ve created your ISO file. Now you can get the file to your Surface tablet with SkyDrive or a USB stick, then do the procedure below to access it. Be aware that you can’t use SkyDrive to transfer the ISO file if it’s over 2GB in size.

For the next part, I’m going to assume you used a USB stick to copy the file over to your Surface.

Mount an ISO on your Surface

Go to desktop mode.
Plug in the USB key with the ISO file on it.
From Explorer, browse to and then tap and hold on the ISO file (right click).
When the right-click menu appears, tap Mount.

Your Surface will mount the ISO file as if it were a DVD/CD in a drive. In fact, if you look at the screen shot below, you’ll see it even labels it “DVD Drive”

That’s pretty much it, at this point, you can treat it as if it were a real DVD/CD drive. When you’re ready to eject the ISO, just tap and hold on the drive in explorer and you’ll get a menu like the one to the right. Just tap on Eject and the drive will vanish.

I hope you found this post helpful.

I know it’s kind of an esoteric thing but, I had someone ask me how to get data from old discs to be accessible from their Surface and I thought others might appreciate it as well. Oh, and in case you’re wondering if I was able to get Evil Genius to work this way…

The Software

The last piece of getting your Surface Pro to actually play DVD/CD discs is to install software that will actually perform the function that Microsoft left out of Windows 8.1. In this case, there's only one thing you need - a DVD to Surface Pro Ripper to remove disc encryption, to transcode DVD to Surface Pro friendly format. Pavtube DVD Ripper is just such kind of easy-to-use program to help you do the conversion in a few clicks.

Why we choose Pavtube DVD Ripper? Pavtube DVD Ripper is a professional Blu-ray/DVD ripping, converting and backing up tool that works on Windows. it can rip and convert latest DVD movies to iPad Air supported MP4/M4V/MOV and other popular video formats like AVI, WMV, MKV, FLV, SWF, 3GP, etc. for playback anywhere. Also, it comes with a built-in editor that allow you to edit your Blu-ray movies by trimming, cropping, adjusting video effects, adding srt/ass/ssa subtitles etc. What’s more, its high conversion speed and easy-to-use features have won much Windows users praise. (See Top 5 DVD Ripper Reviews)

Good news: just found it’s on 30% OFF Summer Holiday promotion sales; don’t miss it!

No need to set the specs manually, no need to figure out which bitrate/framerate/resolution is best for Surface Pro. DVD to Surface Pro Converter integrates the best presets for Surface Pro for you. All you need to do is:

Import
Choose preset
Click and go! It’s just as simple as that.

Tips:

Reach the Mac version of Surface Pro Converter;
Pavtube offers an excellent BDMagic for dealing with lastest Blu-ray and DVD discs.
If you have any requirements of keeping multiple audio tracks/subtitles, you are suggested to try this Blu-ray/DVD to Surface Pro Converter Pro.

Here is a tutorial to rip & convert Blu-ray to Surface Pro 2, just take it as reference.

Related Articles:

Microsoft Surface Videos and Movies Playback Tips
Transfer MKV, AVI, VOB, Tivo, WMV, MPG, MTS, FLV/F4V videos to Surface 2
MKV to Surface- Play MKV files on Surface Pro 3
Enjoy Blu-ray to Surface 2 for watching
Convert/Rip and Play Blu-ray movies on Surface Pro 3

Microsoft Surface Video Converter

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Transfer DVD to Surface 2 in multitracks MP4 format

How to get DVD/CD disc to Surface Pro for playback