Do you back up DVDs to another DVD or to HDD?

archcommus

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And if you're setting up a file server and an HTPC, would HDD be the way to go? If so, how, .avi files?
 

overst33r

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Oct 3, 2004
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well, first you take the DVD put it into the drive...jk i guess you could just rip them
 

archcommus

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Well I have about 20 of my girlfriend's DVDs here and her father is thinking about building an HTPC for the living room. Wouldn't it make sense to get a very large HDD and have them all on there, uncompressed, accessible all the time?
 

MustISO

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
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It would make sense to at least have the movie uncompressed. 20 discs (movie only) would be ~80-120GB.
 

archcommus

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Well he has no problem at all with even buying a 400 gig drive if it'd make things easier. I'm asking, for all you HTPC owners, do you copy your movies onto a drive? Or just load the actual DVD every time you want to watch it?
 

archcommus

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So the HDD seems to be the way to go.

But don't DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter make .vob files which can be turned into an .iso? Is that how they'd have to be stored on the HDD, and loaded with some sort of virtual drive program, or can they be converted to some sort of playable video file like .avi? Of course without killing your quality...
 

ElFenix

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Originally posted by: MustISO
It would make sense to at least have the movie uncompressed. 20 discs (movie only) would be ~80-120GB.

20 uncompressed movies would be way more than 120 GB
 

ElFenix

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Originally posted by: archcommus
So the HDD seems to be the way to go.

But don't DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter make .vob files which can be turned into an .iso? Is that how they'd have to be stored on the HDD, and loaded with some sort of virtual drive program, or can they be converted to some sort of playable video file like .avi? Of course without killing your quality...

vob is playable, it's just not so convenient. vlc is the program though.
 

tami

Lifer
Nov 14, 2004
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i don't back up dvds. it's a lot more effort to back up the dvd than to buy a new one for like $5.
 

archcommus

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Yes, .vob is playable, but inconvenient because it's multiple files.

So what kind of video format do I want to convert them to?
 

ElFenix

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Originally posted by: archcommus
Yes, .vob is playable, but inconvenient because it's multiple files.

So what kind of video format do I want to convert them to?

h.264
 

archcommus

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Originally posted by: ElFenix
Originally posted by: archcommus
Yes, .vob is playable, but inconvenient because it's multiple files.

So what kind of video format do I want to convert them to?

h.264
Searched it on Wikipedia. Way to make myself feel dumb...

 

archcommus

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Well I used DVD Decrypter to rip the first DVD, and then Shrink to get it down to 4.35 GB. Now I need to know what to do with these .vobs.

What would anyone else do who simply wanted to store this movie as a playable file on their HTPC?
 

nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
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if I wasn't such a n00b and knew how, I probably would.

it'd be cool to toss a second hard drive into my dvr and have all my dvd's a click away.
 

Goosemaster

Lifer
Apr 10, 2001
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Originally posted by: archcommus
Do others concur that H.264 is how I want to encode the .vob files?

Not really..unless he has a SCREAMING machine it will play very slowly and/or will skip frequently.

Check out my threads with clips.


Don't underestimate its usefulness if you have hte right machien though. I 've seen it run absolutely flawlessly on a dual 3.2 and it was orgasmic. If anything, the 1080p upconvert of some 1080i material looked somewhat better
 

archcommus

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I've been reading so many threads where people are discussing copying DVDs to DVD-Rs, or ripping them to an HDD for an HTPC, etc., but I still haven't seen discussion about in what format they're stored on the actual HTPC HDD.
 

archcommus

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Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Originally posted by: archcommus
Do others concur that H.264 is how I want to encode the .vob files?

Not really..unless he has a SCREAMING machine it will play very slowly and/or will skip frequently.

Check out my threads with clips.


Don't underestimate its usefulness if you have hte right machien though. I 've seen it run absolutely flawlessly on a dual 3.2 and it was orgasmic. If anything, the 1080p upconvert of some 1080i material looked somewhat better
Okay, thanks, that rules that out.
 

Trogdor91

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Sep 22, 2004
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I downloaded this program the other day RatDVD and it seems to work pretty well. Supposedly will take any dvd, including dvd9 and can compress it down to 1.5 gigs. From the couple of movies I have tried, the quality of the rips are very good.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
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I don't do either, and probably wouldn't if I put together an HTPC either. too much work. (I own several hundred DVDs, and I don't have the time to rip/encode etc them all. I did that with my Music collection, and that took long enough.)