Software and Hardware for my DVD collection.

FearoftheNight

Diamond Member
Feb 19, 2003
5,101
0
71
Hey guys. I have a massive DVD collection. How much space would I need if I needed to rip 200 DVDs? Can anyone recommend a software with a slick interface to manage and view all my movies? Thanks!
 

rudeguy

Lifer
Dec 27, 2001
47,351
14
61
200*9=1800 gigs (standard not blu ray)
Mymovies

Now post in the right forum.
 

EvilYoda

Lifer
Apr 1, 2001
21,198
9
81
Should I compress it? Would there be a noticeable loss in quality?

Considering that a 2TB drive will run you ~$70, I wouldn't bother. There will be a drop in quality, but that'll be dependent on the rest of your gear and how picky you are.
 

keyed

Senior member
Feb 21, 2001
478
0
71
Don't forget to double the cost of the hard drive as you'll need to buy a second one for backup. The last thing you want to do is lose the drive and be forced to do it all over again.
 

Gintaras

Golden Member
Dec 28, 2000
1,892
1
71
I compress them to h264 so I can also watch them on my phone.

Ymmv

posting while doing 85 with underinflated tires

1) What's the reason to compress to H264 if to watch on the phone?
I'm amazed, that most people, especially americans like to watch videos either on very small screen or on giant one, middle sized screen just "don't do it"....

2)Few would cry for you: "posting while doing 85 with underinflated tires", even if you hit a tree...Make sure others around you won't suffer because of your stupidity/retardness....
 

rudeguy

Lifer
Dec 27, 2001
47,351
14
61
1) What's the reason to compress to H264 if to watch on the phone?
I'm amazed, that most people, especially americans like to watch videos either on very small screen or on giant one, middle sized screen just "don't do it"....

2)Few would cry for you: "posting while doing 85 with underinflated tires", even if you hit a tree...Make sure others around you won't suffer because of your stupidity/retardness....

I'm a phone nerd. I have yet to watch a whole movie on my phone but if I ever get the urge, damn it I want the option. That and H264 is pretty universal, so I can play it on other devices. I also change phones a lot so that's pretty much the sweet spot for a file type.

It also makes for easier sharing via Home Group. ISO's didn't work hardly at all. Pairing up the H264 with DLNA gives me plenty of options for viewing.

In short: I have too much time on my hands.
 

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
12,089
45
91
I compress them to h264 so I can also watch them on my phone.

Ymmv

posting while doing 85 with underinflated tires

You need to inflate them to sidewall.

OP, as others have said, space is cheap, get a couple of 2TB drives, and start ripping ISOs of those things.

Then you can take the ISOs and make smaller rips of the movies for mobile playback.
 

Dirigible

Diamond Member
Apr 26, 2006
5,961
32
91
I rip to ISO and put on a hard drive on my main computer. Play back from various HTPCs/laptops anywhere in the house using XBMC.

There are multiple easy and good ways to do this sort of thing.
 

TheVrolok

Lifer
Dec 11, 2000
24,254
4,092
136
I use Invelos' DVD Profiler to "manage" my collection of DVDs (somewhere around 1k). If I were going to rip them, I'd rip them uncompressed and just bit a few HDDs for a storage server; but I won't do that, because I'm lazy.
 

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0
Just get a NAS and rip them with Handbreak to MP4.

I am 350 or so through my 1000+ DVD collection and it comes in under 750GB and can play on any device. If you get the right settings you won't be able to tell a quality difference in H.264.

Use Metabrowers to get thumbs/meta data and I am set.
 
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smitbret

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2006
3,382
17
81
Just get a NAS and rip them with Handbreak to MP4.

I am 350 or so through my 1000+ DVD collection and it comes in under 750GB and can play on any device. If you get the right settings you won't be able to tell a quality difference in H.264.

Use Metabrowers to get thumbs/meta data and I am set.

I was just gonna say this (minus the NAS part). It'll be about 3x as fast as an .h264 encode and if you keep it around 1800mb/s you won't see the difference. That should put you under 500GB, so just get 2 1TB drives and mirror them.

You mentioned DLNA media streamers, so keep in mind the audio requirements for your system. What are you using for your home network to stream movies?
 
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FearoftheNight

Diamond Member
Feb 19, 2003
5,101
0
71
I was just gonna say this (minus the NAS part). It'll be about 3x as fast as an .h264 encode and if you keep it around 1800mb/s you won't see the difference. That should put you under 500GB, so just get 2 1TB drives and mirror them.

You mentioned DLNA media streamers, so keep in mind the audio requirements for your system. What are you using for your home network to stream movies?

Can you rephrase please? I'm not quite following. What is NAS btw?
 

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0
is that what you do?

Yes.

You can find one with DLNA and built in web servers that allow you to access content via DLNA or web. This gives you the ability to watch the MP4 on ANY device and the vast majority of mainstream devices support it.

Thinking about switching it up once I get to my Blu-Ray collection and I decide I want to get ride of the TiVo.
 

rudeguy

Lifer
Dec 27, 2001
47,351
14
61
Yes.

You can find one with DLNA and built in web servers that allow you to access content via DLNA or web. This gives you the ability to watch the MP4 on ANY device and the vast majority of mainstream devices support it.

Thinking about switching it up once I get to my Blu-Ray collection and I decide I want to get ride of the TiVo.

odd

You posted that you had filled up your NAS by ripping them to ISO and were using 3 or 4 computers to do it.

If you must lie, be consistent.
 

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0
Can you rephrase please? I'm not quite following. What is NAS btw?

Network Attached Storage

Like this guy
http://www.promise.com/storage/raid_series.aspx?region=en-US&m=584&sub_m=sub_m_4&rsn1=3&rsn3=7
(You can probably find a cheaper option)

A lot of people go over the top just to go over the top in terms of media storage.
I suggest people just keep it simple (stupid)

You can accomplish the same thing off of the computer you are consuming the media from if you want.
 
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0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
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20 minutes a rip minimum x 200 =66 hours.

1TB possible, backing up 66 hours work is required, so 2 1TB drives. All for what? Now you are missing bonus features if you ripped only the film, and you could have watched 30 films in that time alone. Backing up/ripping dvd is like backing up your vhs collection at this point.
 

smitbret

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2006
3,382
17
81
If you rip your DVDs and compress with Handbrake you have the option of compressing the video using 'h264' or 'MP4'. They are both part of the same family and any device that will play h264 will also play MP4. MP4 is just less efficient but still very good if you keep a decent bitrate. It will also take about a third as much time to encode. A DVD movie that might take an hour or two can be done in thirty to forty-five minutes and still give DVD quality at about 1800mb/s in a file that is around 2GB.

NAS is short for Network Assisted Storage. It's basically just another computer that is always on and always connected to the network. Mostly, it's just used as a big closet for files. They are used to backup or store files that are needed by computers at different locations on the network. If you put your DVD collection on it, then it takes the strain of serving up the video files off of your own PC and keeps them accessible to everyone on the network, regardless of what you are doing with your PC. If you have many other computers or media streamers around the house that will need to be tapping into the DVD collection, then a NAS is the way to go. If you just have a computer tower and a media streamer or two, then using the tower will probably be fine.

When I said mirror, I meant get two 1TB hard drives and set them up in a software RAID with Windows (Google it, it's easy to do). You'll want to choose "mirroring" (RAID 1). Basically, you'll have two hard drives with the exact same information on them. That way, if one hard drive dies, you don't lose the 200-300 hours you spent ripping and compressing the DVDs. The other benefit that no one really mentions is that it will make playback more efficient because the computer can read the info off both drives simultaneously. If you end up with a situation where multiple locations are trying to read multiple files off the same PC, there won't be as much of a bottleneck in how fast the HDD can serve up the info. You can do this whether it's in your tower or as part of a NAS. Just about everyone that goes the NAS route does this, because "Hey, if I'm gonna invest in the project, I might as well do it right while I'm here." For an extra $75 you'd be crazy not to.

I was just curious about what boxes you were using as DLNA devices. Xboxes are tough if you don't get them just right. PS3s are a lot more versatile, but not without their quirks. Western Digital Live will take almost anything, etc., etc. If you are using a gaming system, then you'll want to adjust how you encode the movies ahead of time so you can avoid problems and/or on-the-fly transcoding later.
 

Patranus

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2007
9,280
0
0
odd

You posted that you had filled up your NAS by ripping them to ISO and were using 3 or 4 computers to do it.

If you must lie, be consistent.



You caught me...
photo.jpg


Screen&


That is why I am re ripping them as MP4.

And I only do it when I have time to do it.
Haven't had any free time to get around to blocking out time to rip more movies.
 
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