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

From: Sean <bdk@thirdmason.com>
Date: Wed May 07 2014 - 12:49:53 AKDT

A long time ago we decided to go all digital with movies, tv-shows, and
music. We had the same issue with discs getting scratched and wanted to
fix it once and for all. We also wanted a theatre experience where we
could decide via the TV what to watch vs. flipping through a CD/DVD binder.

Using Win7 in a virtual machine, I would mount the physical DVD with
AnyDVD which disabled DRM/encryption and then with CloneDVD I created an
ISO. CloneDVD gives you an option to include specific video and audio
tracks. Lets say you didn't want all the special features, games,
foreign language tracks, etc.. It would remove them and save you some
space. The ISO was identical to the original DVD short of the CSS and
any other DRM they put on the disc. If I was ok with loosing some
quality, I would then use an app called video.NET
(http://www.clonead.co.uk/) to then create a video file from the ISO.
Within video.NET you can choose from the various output formats, which
video/audio tracks, etc... I ended up going with MKVs because I wanted
to include the subtitles in the file itself (not hard-coded but optional
since mkv is a container, you can put virtually anything in there) and
not externally like you need to with an MP4. I don't know if video.NET
has the ability to create the separate SRT subtitle files or not, it
wasn't something I ever looked into.

If you've got the file space, I would HIGHLY suggest keeping the
original ISOs as you get full menu functionality and experience of the
original disc. You would be looking at 4GB - 8GB for file size depending
on how many layers are on the disc and what you decided to keep. Once
the movies are compressed/ripped they shrink down to about 2GB each. If
you've got an HDTV you will notice some quality loss as compared to the
original ISO.

On the HTPC side of things I built a low power i3 and then even
under-clocked it along with a $50 nVidia video card that had HDMI. For
software we are using XBMC (started using XBMC back on the old XBOX)
which is running off of a small SSD to make the experience really
snappy. All of our digital media is stored on a NAS so it is available
to us regardless if we're sitting in front of the HTPC or on our
laptops, etc... XBMC won't transcode your video files for mobile
viewing, so if watching them on a phone/tablet is very important to you,
you may want to use the MP4 route vs. the MKV.

There are several ways to install XBMC, we choose to install Ubuntu
first and then a user for XBMC that automatically logs in and set that
user's window manager to XBMC so when the HTPC boots, it goes straight
into XBMC. If you don't get the TV on fast enough to see the POST/BIOS
messages, you would never know it was a computer doing all the work.
Given that you've named your files appropriately, XBMC will pull down
metadata for your movies (imdb, themoviedb.com) and TV shows
(thetvdb.com), album art, actor bios, etc... In XBMC you can select a
movie/tv show, see the actors in it, select one of them and then it'll
show you what other videos you have that have that person in it. It is
great for those moments of "I know I've seen him/her in something that
we have...". There are even phone/tablet apps that give you total
access to your digital media catalog; sort of like having a TV/Movie
guide on your phone for everything you own.

I did experience with the Raspberry Pi for a bit and it wasn't a great
experience, very slow and jerky. It may of been the size of my
collection or just the limited memory of the Pi, but it wasn't good. It
also won't stream HD content, it barely handled ISOs. There are other
set-top boxes out there that play video but are severely limited in what
kind of formats, where the videos are stored, the format of that
storage, etc..

In the end, was best entertainment investments (money & time) that we've
ever done. It took some time in the beginning to get everything ripped
but in he end it was well worth it.

I spent some time on the XBMC forums trying to figure out what kind of
hardware to get for the HTPC, here are some links that I used:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=94199
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=94268

Hope that helps.

-Sean

On 05/06/2014 11:07 PM, Kurt Brendgard 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 12:50:19 2014

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