more help needed. want to get rid of my dvds, best option?

[03ozwhip]

ok, so im trying to clear up space and im getting rid of all my cd's and dvd's. before i do this, i want to have a place for all of them to be stored, im assuming on a hard drive.

now, what i want to do is be able to access them from this hard drive so i can watch them on my tv. what is the best way of going about this?

is there anything i should know about doing this before i do it and is it worth doing?

[Skidro]

You can always buy an external hard drive and then burn them onto it.. You can use itunes/ windows media player to burn music and you can use dvd shrink to backup movies.

Burning dvds is technically illegal so this program "reauthors" movies
http://www.dvdshrink.org/

[Zorac]

If your going to a hard drive, I'd look at going to flac for the CDs, and for the DVDs, either direct stream copy to mkv with something like makemkv or just rip the full structure, again with makemkv or dvdcryptor

[eblend]

Most streamers nowadays can play ISO files directly, so just make an ISO of your DVDs and watch them directly, with the whole menu and extra features just like a real dvd.

for music just backup with iTunes, wmp, whatever, all the same result

[03ozwhip]

You guys, talk to me like an idiot, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Tell me IN LAMANS TERMS what I need as far as hardware and software and where to go from there.

I don't know waht ISO or MKV or any of that shit is or what I do with it. I'm not a computer geek, I just want to rip my dvd's, I won't worry about the cd's.

Thanks for your help guys but I'm a dummy when it comes to this shit.

[CanmoreOrLess]

I'd make a copy of the external HD as well, ALL HDs die eventually and with it all of your collection. So you need two external HDs. One for using everyday and another as a back up.

Do you have a Windows or Apple computer? The software could be different for copying the CDs and DVDs.

[eblend]

Go get imgburn (free software), in there, there is an option to make Disk Image out of DVD, select that, and it will save an ISO file. There you go, you got an ISO file, which is just a disk image of the DVD.

Save the images on your computer. Then go and buy a WDTV Live Plus or equivalent media streamer, and then connect it to your network. Then you can use a network share to access your computer hard drive over the network, select the ISO file, and it will start playing on your media streamer (which is connected to your tv) like a real dvd. You can also just dedicate an external hard drive for your media and have it hooked up to the media streamer at all times if the networking thing is too complex for you. Could take the drive and copy new content on it when needed.

For music...put the disk in, and there may be a popup asking you what you want to do, select RIP or whatever, and use windows media player. I would go into settings and change the rip options to MP3 192kbps, because by default it will be WMA files, which are great, just aren't as universally accepted in media players. Windows Media Player will automatically grab all the media information for that CD online and will name your folders and music files correctly.

[SKR]

Originally posted by eblend
Go get imgburn (free software), in there, there is an option to make Disk Image out of DVD, select that, and it will save an ISO file. There you go, you got an ISO file, which is just a disk image of the DVD.

What are you supposed to do when it says it can't do protected disks?

[eblend]

Originally posted by SKR


What are you supposed to do when it says it can't do protected disks?

Find another program haha. I haven't had to do images of video DVDs before so didn't know it didn't like protected disks. I made images before just don't remember what program I used.

[ipeefreely]

Originally posted by SKR


What are you supposed to do when it says it can't do protected disks?


AnyDVD...

[gamman]

thank you 03z, this is exactly what I was going to ask, but never got around to. I am half way ahead of you though. I have a system and it works, but I need to uh, get the movies, which I have only been able to download or borrow. Never did it myself.

I have some of my collection on a HD hooked up to the Mybook HD ($100). I can watch them using a home network (need a faster router - $100), and a thing called a WD Live TV, mentioned above. It was 100. I too want to clean up around the house, and get all the crap lying around electronically on a server. Some of the new hardrives are raided (2 harddrives, 1 acting as a backup), cool stuff.

Summary:
Hardware:
Hard drive on a network of some type 100
good router 100
Media server - 100 (my case is WD Live) - this thing hooks up to the TV with HDMI Cable and has its own remote that you "play" your dvd's with.

network setup:
it is a bit of work to set it up, but if I can do it, so can you. But advice above works well too (directly hook it up - takes traffic off).

Software/files = problem:
my dillema is I have a lot of DVD's I want to put on the HD (cause people in house destroy theirs, etc). Some movies aren't even 4 months old. I have tried 2 programs, now onto handbrake, and still can't burn them into an image that works because of encryption. I will give the names above a shot and let you know what works well. Dsidney seems to be the worst. So far, I can make something, it takes an hour to convert, and all I can do is hear it. Argh.

will try the following:
anydvd
dvdcryptor
dvdshrink
makemkv

[EK69]

If u want mostly foolproof redundancy (so u don't lose ur entire collection when ur hard drive dies) look into network attached storage systems (NAS) that provide raid support. Google raid if u wanna know specifics but basically it combines multiple hard drives into one system. If one hard drive dies, u just replace it and it rebuilds the files. But this starts adding up cost wise fast as u need at least two hard drives but only see the space of one (if u get a couple 2tb hard drives u don't end up with 4tb, it ends up with 2tb usable since it mirrors every thing over)

DVD decryptor was used back in the day but looks like anydvd and imgburn is what to use nowadays.

NAS stuff
http://f.redflagdeals.com/showthread.php?t=1132685

[revelations]

OP th cheapest way about this is using an old PC to act as a media server, with dual HDD (redundancy).

Getting a NAS device (smaller) will run around 400$.

A good router will also run around 120$ - must have.

[rage2]

Not sure if this is available in Canada yet...

http://www.vudu.com/disc_to_digital.html

$2 to get DVD quality stream from DVD
$5 to upgrade your DVD to HD quality stream
$2 to get HD quality stream from BD

No service fees, can watch off Xbox 360 or PS3 (or other devices with VUDU streaming app). It doesn't actually rip/convert your DVD's which is a huge waste of time, you just go to Walmart with the discs, they confirm u actually own it, and give you access to stream the movie whenever off their service.

I've already got my entire music collection on the cloud (via iTunes Match) for $25/year. Waiting for them to start doing the same thing for movies.

[Inzane]

Originally posted by 03ozwhip
You guys, talk to me like an idiot, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Tell me IN LAMANS TERMS what I need

It's laYman's terms, you fucking idiot!

[03ozwhip]

^ was typing on my playbook, fuck you. :) thanks for the help guys

[Inzane]

Originally posted by 03ozwhip
^ was typing on my playbook, fuck you. :) thanks for the help guys

^ Hope you caught the humor. It was meant tongue in cheek. :thumbsup:

[03ozwhip]

LOL oh ya, i got it, hence the smiley. all good!