Developers: Is a DVD / VIDEO_TS / VOB player really out of the question?

I've wanted this for so long. I'm not a programmer. I simply don't have enough interest in learning the process and language. But I have to ask…

Is it absolutely not in the realm of possibility to create an app for iOS that could play a DVD's file structure?

There are apps that [seem to] play every other file type that you could store directly on your iOS device.

There are apps like AirVideo that allow you to play/stream any file type that's stored on your computer.

Could there not be an app that does just what AirVideo does, but with a VIDEO_TS file that's stored on your computer's hard drive? An app that would read the file structure like any DVD player program on your computer might?

I use AirVideo a lot. I mirror to my Apple TV very often. The ability to do this with DVDs that I have ripped to my hard drive, complete with menu structure and that, would be tremendous. I know that AirVideo can play the individual VOB files inside of the DVD's folder, but you have to select each part individually and there is no menu option. It's almost there, but just not quite good enough.

I've wondered about this off and on too often. I just had to finally come out and ask in a community of people who would actually know, or maybe even perhaps be able to create such a thing.

Yes…? Useful app idea? Worthwhile opportunity for profit making?

 

Thank you for the replies. I'm sorry that it's taken me a little while to come back to my own thread (I know it's not very polite when that happens).

Licensing issues for a DVD playing codec was one thing that came to mind, but I wasn't sure if that was an actual thing that would need addressing, or if that sort of thing is up to the makers of the hardware, or the responsibility of software providers.

I can understand that storage space is an issue, so that's why I was leaning more toward an AirVideo type of app.

And yes, I do convert titles to m4v as well, but it would just be equally nice to be able to mirror the entire DVD, as I have so many in this form collected on external hard drives. I like the menus and extra features. And, I'm otherwise going just fine and happily without a set top DVD/BluRay player.

It's good to know that there doesn't seem to be any immediately obvious issues in the way of this being able to get done. Just a minor inconvenience that it hasn't yet, as it's like the only thing that feels missing from my simple set up of a flat screen, a computer with plenty of content, and iOS devices for mirroring.

I should probably also acknowledge that this issue is a little more moot now that Airplay is available on newer Macs with Mountain Lion. Even though I haven't seen for myself if DVD and video playback through Mountain Lion's mirroring works flawlessly enough (though I can confirm that AirParrot is a dreadful solution for video), it could just very well be time for me to upgrade my 2009 MBPro.