RIP and Play DVD

[localhost]

Ok, I have about 120 retail DVDs that I own and they take up so much shelf space. I am looking for a way i can make a copy of them on my hard drive and be able to just call up the movie I want to watch and have it play on the TV. Can BTV do this? Would I have to convert the movie into another format or can I keep it as an ISO or what?

Thanks for your help.

[gsinpei]

I think most of us would be doing the opposite, recording shows and putting them on dvd for permanent storage. It is possible to do what you want to
do with various programs but is it worth it? How many times are you going to
watch the same movie? IMHO you've already got the movies in the highest quality ready to insert into a player, if you want to spend lots of time for
the convenience later of selecting from a list on the computer it won't pay back for all the time spent doing all that work.

[localhost]

Thanks for your reply

I already have most of them ripped for backup purposes. Time is not an issue for me. Shelf space is. You mentioned there are various programs. What are they? I appreciate your opinion.

Please list some of the programs that will let me do this!

Thanks

[bits]

Sorry to sound like another wet blanket but I have to agree with 'gsinpei'. I also have around 175 Commercial DVDs and have on more than one occassion either started archiving them on HDD or seriously thought about it.

In my last movie archiving episode I actually put 15 or so movies to HDD. I quickly realized that it was very time consuming(and I was simply leaving it as mpeg2), consumed a lot of HDD space and that unless I made a backup HDD for each HDD of archived movies, that hours and hours of work could go down the drain in an instant should a HDD get corrupted or malfunction.

And finally as 'gsinpei' said; it is a heck of a lot work and expense for a tiny amount of convenience especially given that most of the movies you archive will never be watched since you have probably already watched them at least once.

Are you using BTV with an HTPC? a networked media player?

[localhost]

I'm not using any software for this yet. i am doing research. In case you are wondering, I have 5 Seagate 750 Gig HDDs in a raid 5 configuration on a server in my house with all of my DVD's backed up already.

My problem is I just bought a 42" LCD TV and I had to get rid of the entertainment center that held my 32" trinitron (obiously would hold the 42"). So I have a stand for my new TV which clearly cannot hold but a handful of DVD cases and even then it would look like crap. Sure I could by some DVD stands but they look horrible and my wife won't let them in the house (women...!).

So instead of trying to talk me out of it and telling me how long it would take to copy each movie; just help me out and give me some ideas or names of software that can do this.

Thanks for your help.

[gibbs]

Originally Posted by localhost

Ok, I have about 120 retail DVDs that I own and they take up so much shelf space. I am looking for a way i can make a copy of them on my hard drive and be able to just call up the movie I want to watch and have it play on the TV. Can BTV do this? Would I have to convert the movie into another format or can I keep it as an ISO or what?

Thanks for your help.

Ok, well, guess I'm in the minority, but I'm in the process of doing this for convenience -- and it's mostly for the kid movies anyway, which tend to get scattered around between various rooms in the house and the minivan (not exactly the most exciting excuse, I know, but it's true).

I use a little program called DVD Shrink, it's free, only takes a half a brain to use, and does exactly what you want. It takes half an hour or so to rip a DVD, but it goes in the background and you can walk away and do something else, so it's not like you're wasting time. Your average DVD is about 6GB on disk, so you do need a LOT of space. I just picked up two 750GB drives, which is more than I need for my collection (this *might* hold your collection of 120). I'm using them in a RAID 1 array, so that's my solution to the HDD failure problem (although it's not a perfect one).

Lots of ways to play them back (VLC works, so does WinDVD), but since you're posting here, you can use Beyond Media (not BeyondTV) with the DVD Library plugin. Very nice solution, very wife and kid friendly.

edit: files are kept in the native .vob format (which I think is mpeg2 for video, audio varies). There are some options for compression (hence the Shrink part of the name), but I've never looked too carefully at them. And your 750GB RAID 5 array will be more than up to the task

[nanook105]

I'll certainly disagree with the other two posters. I have almost 600 movies on my hard drives (about an even split between backed up DVDs and movies that I've recorded). I use Beyond Media with the DVD Libary plugin:

[plugin] DVD Library (Sept 7 Update)


While Beyond Media has a number of warts, and hasn't been updated for a couple of years, the combo of Beyond Media and the DVD libary plugin is a killer app to do what your are looking at

[gsinpei]

As hard drives become bigger and cheaper I can see how some will opt for this "convenience". I don't completely disagree with your disagreement....

[bits]

Originally Posted by nanook105

I'll certainly disagree with the other two posters. I have almost 600 movies on my hard drives (about an even split between backed up DVDs and movies that I've recorded). I use Beyond Media with the DVD Libary plugin:

[plugin] DVD Library (Sept 7 Update)


While Beyond Media has a number of warts, and hasn't been updated for a couple of years, the combo of Beyond Media and the DVD libary plugin is a killer app to do what your are looking at

To archive movies is of course a personal choice, however I shared my opion not so much to change a persons mind but to provide some additional information and perspective. All too often, choices like this particular one are not very well thought out. There is more too it than meets the eye!

[thundermax]

after my daughter threw a bunch of DVDs and CDs around my office, I converted all kids' movies to avi. Search for 'DVD to DivX" and there are many converters to test.

How many times am I going to watch a movie? not many. How many times are my kids going to watch Madagascar, Little Mermaid, Toy Story, Nemo, Monsters Inc., etc? about a gazillion times

I can also take those avi files and create my own DVDs of kid shows and movies for use with a portable DVD player on airplane trips.

[Bigbird999]

The zillion ways to do what you want are described in great tutorials over at videohelp.com.

If you only want to archive the movie and not all of the extra material (director's comments etc), my personal favorite is DVD Decryptor. Although out of production, it is still available if you search the web. It allows you to rip the vobs as a single mpeg 2 file that plays in any media player, BTV or hardware networked player.

BB

[localhost]

Ok I have been using DVD Decryptor, DVDShrink, Divx, etc for years now. The ripping and archiving are nothing new to me. I was just looking for something like BM with the DVD Library plugin.

In any case thanks for everyones opinions and assistance.

As for me **THIS TOPIC IS CLOSED**

[Rich A]

You were looking for suggestions. I'm currently doing what you want to do. Archiving all my DVDs to hard drive. As was mentioned this works great when using Beyond Media and the DVD Plugin. Especially if you have a full dedicated home theater and often invite friends and relatives for a night at the movies.

The wow factor you get using the above combination is worth it. Use the DVD Plug to browse the entire library .. showing cover art and synopsis, with actors etc. Then play it. Very cool.

Now for more pertinent info. I'm pretty impressed with 1-Click DVD ripper. The speed of the rip will of course depend on how fast your DVD-ROM can read as well as the compression you use. In my case I don't want any compression and do a 1 to 1 decrypted copy directly to the hard drive. I copy all the menus, features and of course the movie. The only thing not copied are the optional languages. I then save the entire Title Set to the hard drive. Of course the quality is identical to the original.

Using the 1-Click DVD ripper it only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to do the whole thing. If you are not compressing and doing a one to one direct decrypted copy, and not burning to a DVD disc, then it becomes less time intensive.

I imagine any other of the faster DVD-Rippers would give similar times if you are able to do a 1 to 1 copy without compression. By the way, I also sometimes make a backup DVD by burning the Title Set to a consumer dual layer DVD-/+ R disk. Generally the total size (one language) will be under the 8.4 GB limit of the dual layer or double layer disks. Another bit of information I "have" to impart if going the DVD burn route. Most of the dual layer (DVD-R) and double layer (DVD+R) are junk. I've had good luck with Fuji. Not so good luck with Memorex.

[localhost]

Thanks Rich A.

Can you PM me your email address in case I have any problems and maybe you could help me out?

[cmcquistion]

I'm another happy Beyond Media and DVD Library Plugin user. I've got my whole DVD collection ripped to hard drive, some in DVD ISO's and some in compressed AVI files. I bought more hard drives, after I started using DVD Libary, because I loved it so much. I've got 2 TB, now.