[aklug] Re: [OT] Need pointers so I can avoid killing one of my kids

From: Royce Williams <royce@tycho.org>
Date: Wed May 07 2014 - 06:33:45 AKDT

Jim makes a fair point - very low barrier to entry if you go Pi+drive, and
you can scale up to a NAS later if you need/want to.

Eventually, a former Cow Orker had five or six external drives hanging off
of a USB hub, and realized that he might need a NAS. :-)

Royce

On Wed, May 7, 2014 at 5:38 AM, Jim MacDonald <jim@macdonald.org> wrote:

> Better yet, XBMC on a Raspberry Pi with an external Drive
>
>
> www.raspbmc.org
> Jim MacDonald
> jim@macdonald.org
>
>
>
>
>
> On May 7, 2014, at 5:34 AM, Royce Williams <royce@tycho.org> wrote:
>
> Just passing on what I've heard, but haven't done it myself (yet) ...
>
> Sounds like you want an XBMC server:
>
> http://xbmc.org/
>
> It's very well baked, and designed for exactly what you're doing, There
> are distros (even live CDs) built around it. I know multiple people who
> have tens of terabytes of movies that they can watch in an instant, and
> stream different movies to different places in the house simultaneously.
> There are forums that are chock full of very helpful folks doing it,
> including helping folks select hardware, etc.
>
> The size of each movie depends on how you rip it. Preserving the original
> quality will probably take roughly as much space as the original raw data -
> couple of gigs minimum for a full-length film. But you can step it down.
> Considering how folks tend to grow into using it more and more, though, I
> recommend preserving the original quality; you'll thank yourself down the
> road.
>
> Some transcoding software takes advantage of the GPU these days, speeding
> things up quite a bit. But XBMC doesn't care where there stuff is, as long
> as it can be mounted in some way and reached - CIFS, Samba, sshfs, you name
> it. So the XBMC server and the file storage don't have to be the same box
> -- in fact, it's probably better if they're not. You could build a generic
> fileserver (I recommend FreeNAS), and hook up an XBMC streaming box (even a
> Raspberry Pi!):
>
> http://www.raspbmc.com/
>
> ... to the TV, point the Pi at the fileserver, and go to town. You may
> want to do the transcoding on something more hefty than the Pi, I would
> think, but its video chipset is actually not bad. So you can transcode
> wherever it makes the most sense, put the files on the fileserver, and
> stream them from the XBMC box. It's all pretty flexible and fun.
>
> Let us know how it goes!
>
> Royce
>
>
> On Tue, May 6, 2014 at 11:07 PM, Kurt Brendgard <brendgard@yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>> You would think that when your kids have reached 31 years old, they would
>> have learned by then that you take care of DVDs so as not to scratch them,
>> or they might become unusable. I think I actually hear DVDs scream in
>> terror when she enters a room. I can't say as it's different because it was
>> daddy's money involved, because she does it to her own DVDs, paid for with
>> her own hard earned money. Lol.
>>
>> We have some pawn shops here(WA state), where I can pick up used DVDs and
>> so my collection has been growing. I check them out before I buy, because
>> many of them are scratched, some very badly. Buuuuuutttt.... Even though I
>> clearly dictate that my DVDs will get treated good, somehow they get
>> scratches on them when borrowed by my kids, especially one in particular.
>> Love them, but sometimes.....
>>
>> I have been thinking about how to put an end to this. Please feel free to
>> poke very large holes in my thinking, and offer better suggestions. But
>> this is what has been growing in the back of my head. I would like to
>> convert my DVDs into MP4 format. I'm thinking MP4s are compatable with
>> almost anything, even the Android tablet I've been drooling over. I'm not
>> really wanting to make them into Divx, because I'd have to instal codecs on
>> most things, and don't want to do that, especially not to the Windowz
>> laptop I have to keep around. I try not to instal anything on it so that I
>> don't run the risk of crashing it. Same thing for Apple's favorite format.
>> So unless there is a compelling reason otherwise, I'm thinking MP4 format.
>>
>> I would like to put them on a small server stuffed into a closet or on a
>> shelf out of the way, so that I can watch them from whatever I happen to be
>> on at the moment(I finally managed to get a Linux laptop sorta going and
>> have been drooling over an older model Android I can put on layaway at K
>> Mart real cheap.)
>>
>> For the server, I'm kinda leaning towards a small server apliance I came
>> across in Wally World that has no hard drive of its own, but you plug in
>> external USB drives.(Haven't seen it in a while though, and forget the
>> name, making it harder to google it.) That would allow me to add more drive
>> space as needed. Another alternative is to get one of the NAS servers off
>> the shelf at Staples. Smaller footprint, fewer wires, but probably not as
>> easy to add drive space, or replace ones that are dieing. I never did get
>> that little netbook to work with Linux, and finally traded it away anyway,
>> which is why I'm looking at a network appliance now.
>>
>> If I could do such a thing, I could then lock my DVDs in a closet, where
>> nobody but me can get to them. Thus preventing people from scratching them.
>>
>> Now I do understand that this is a touchy subject with many people,
>> because many would just rip the DVD and share it with people. Not what I
>> intend to do. Having published some books myself, I respect IP rights, and
>> understand the concept of it causing royalty money loss. Not what I want to
>> do or cause.
>>
>> But if somebody could give me a pointer in the right direction, I would
>> sure appreciate it.
>>
>> I also understand that US copyright law provides for the making of 1
>> backup copy of what you buy. It must be destroyed if the DVD changes hands,
>> or go with it. So what I hope to do is legal. (Last I checked anyway.)
>>
>> That's what I'm looking to do. But I have no idea of what software to use
>> to convert a DVD as I have never done it before. Never had this be a big
>> problem before. I'm looking for both Linux and Windowz solutions, but most
>> would be done on a Windowz box for now. I would like to avoid software that
>> has a bad rep for being buggy, crashing, or including malware, and anything
>> that requires a high end machine to work. Does anybody have any idea of how
>> much room each will take up, so that I can figure out how many will fit on
>> a hard drive? Or even if it's feasable? Any experience with such network
>> appliances, especially the kind that you plug external drives into? Or know
>> a brand name/model so I can research it? I'm especially interested in one
>> where I can manually set the TCP/IP address and/or block specific addresses.
>>
>> Any and all input welcome, even flames.
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>> Kurt
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Received on Wed May 7 06:34:30 2014

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