Advice on digital storage

richardjjd

Hi all

I want to put my modest DVD collection (c400 dvds) onto a hard disk in order to free up some physical space and I'd welcome some feedback / comment / suggestions.

Set up at the moment is Samsung LE40R88 (with PC in, s-video, 3 x HDMI connections, 2 x scart); Pioneer BDP 51FD DVD/BlueRay; Yamaha HTR 563O receiver; UPC for TVR and web. I use a MacBook Pro.

Wondering what I should do ... get a external HD for the mac and then view via iTunes and an AppleTV device (both of which I'd have to buy) or just a HD to attach to the TV and select movies to view via some on-screen menu? I'd have a modest budget - running to no more than 200e.

If this is the wrong forum, please feel free to move. Thanks a mill.



Richard

ZENER

There are plenty of hard drive based media players available in the shops and online. Iomega, Western Digital and many of the big drive makers all produce one. Go for one with HDMI for the best quality. Most cost under 200 quid so there will be plenty of choice in the 1TB range. Here are a few.

For ripping the DVDs you could try MacTheRipper which can convert to .mp4 now with the new version 4/plugins now released. There are a few dvd rippers available for the Mac, a quick google search or a search on MacUpdate should give you some useful results.

Personally I'd prefer something that didn't require assembly every time I wanted to watch a movie so I'd go with the standalone media player option.

Ken

richardjjd

Cheers Ken - lots of options for both hardware and software. I agree the stand alone approach is easier.

FYI for anyone else reading, Mac the Ripper won't work on Lion. Other sites are suggesting RipIt (Macupdate list of software here).

Homer

Not sure whether you'll fit all your (c400) DVD's onto a 1TB drive unless you apply compression of around 50% reducing the quality somewhat? Standard DVD is generally between 4.7-8.7gb depending whether its single layer/single side or more recently single layer/dual side. To get all 400 dvd's on you would need to be compressing them down to around 2.0-2.5gb per movie? Not sure whether that's something I would want to do but depends on your setup and preferences.

richardjjd

I'd prefer to minimize the loss in quality rather than squeeze everything onto a single machine and then regret it. Looking at the link posted by Ken, there's a 2tb HDD within budget which might be better.

Homer

Yeah ripping that quantity of DVD's is going to take a big investment of your time so better to do it right from the get go, rather than have to repeat the procedure at a later date.