200+ DVD collection in 4" x 2" x 1" package

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by gruss01

Wierd, I never had an issue except with some Disney movies, and it didn't seem to matter what I tried anyway to rip it. But where there is a will there is a way

One was definitely a Disney DVD. It wouldn't rip until after I installed AnyDVD. The other one was something weird- Blades of Glory, I think. (Caveat before the judgement continues: Blades of Glory was in a party prize basket and was still in its original plastic packaging. )

[gruss01]

Blades of Glory was AWESOME! There now they can judge me instead of you.

[Kaadk]

Originally Posted by ependydad

I didn't realize DVD43 was free. Sounds like they accomplish the same thing. I know that I used one on our old PC and it wouldn't work when we upgraded to a 64-bit install of Windows. I don't recall what it was.

It might have been DVD43, I've got mine running on an old laptop where the wireless died. It now sits on a side table with nothing on it but Windows Vista (Yeah, I know, but I hate it too), Handbrake, DVD43 and Avast antivirus. When throw in a movie to rip I then use a 8GB thumb drive to transfer it over to the PC I have set up as my itunes master (technically my entire itunes library is stored on a 4TB drive handing off my router and a couple of PCs share the library) and add it to itunes. I then IMDB the movie, get the artwork and update it in itunes. That's about all I usually need to worry about before transferring to the iPad. It would be nice to fill in the Metadata, but I just don't bother. As long as the artwork and movie name are correct I can find it to play it.

Originally Posted by gruss01

Unless something has changed recently (and I'll admit it may have since my last round of ripping) if you have the 64bit version of handbrake all it takes is to copy a .dll file to the right folder and you don't have to mess with DVD43 or AnyDVD. Just FYI. I have a laptop I pieced together from 3 broken ones, we call it frankenputer and it lives in the popup now with some music and movies copied to it just in case. Our phones are still on a grandfathered unlimited data plan so if there is cell service we can just netflix or whatever on a rainy day.

That's the approach I did with DVD43. Handbrake doesn't ship the .dll (to ensure legality in all countries) but it's obtainable from DVD43. By default it runs like E-Dad described for AnyDVD, but with this I was able to shut down a background process and just let Handbrake load the .dll on demand.

[gasman6674]

ependydad

I think it is a Roko or something similar with a laptop solid state drive running win 7.
son in law is also playing with a rasberry Pi that he wants to hook up to either bedroom or basement tv wirelessly. Still playing with that

[CLT]

I am a tech freak (Got SSD??? - my first was in 2008) but still just on hard copy DVDs and Blu-rays only. I refuse to put all of that time into ripping the 100s of DVDs around here. However, my daughter is getting older and I might have to outsource the work. HA!

Of course your scenario is a bit different from mine, although I do work from home I don't generally travel except for vacations...so if I was in the same boat as you I would probably have a similar setup.

[gruss01]

Originally Posted by CLT

However, my daughter is getting older and I might have to outsource the work. HA!

HA I did that with my CDs, I showed my kids how to use EAC and gave them a quarter per. Got expensive but money well spent. Miss the slight loss in quality sometimes but more than makes up for it in the quantity of what I can take with me.

[ependydad]

I'll be honest- I just setup my personal laptop up beside me while I work. For movies, it's pop the DVD in, change the file name and click "Start". I save the TV show DVDs for my own time when I have to type each individual episode name and queue it up.

[AquaMan]

I have a 16TB media server at home and have Cat5e run to every room in the house. All 7 TV's have wired media players. I have over 3000 (physical) DVD's in our collection and all are ripped to server. I keep original DVD/BD format when ripping. In the camper I've run cat5e to each of the 3 inside TV's and an outlet in the basement. I have 12TB of drive space on the server, and about 8 of that is filled. I've tried the wifi route, but just can't get enough through put to run HD or multiple locations without stuttering.

[CLT]

Originally Posted by ependydad

I'll be honest- I just setup my personal laptop up beside me while I work. For movies, it's pop the DVD in, change the file name and click "Start". I save the TV show DVDs for my own time when I have to type each individual episode name and queue it up.

True, but then you have to deal with read errors due to scratched discs etc. Much rather have the daughter learn a lesson from it. Don't take care of your things and see what happens years later? NO MOVIE FOR YOU!!! lol Seinfeld.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by CLT

True, but then you have to deal with read errors due to scratched discs etc. Much rather have the daughter learn a lesson from it. Don't take care of your things and see what happens years later? NO MOVIE FOR YOU!!! lol Seinfeld.

LOL! That's one of the biggest benefits to this exercise- no more scratched discs!

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by AquaMan

I have a 16TB media server at home and have Cat5e run to every room in the house. All 7 TV's have wired media players. I have over 3000 (physical) DVD's in our collection and all are ripped to server. I keep original DVD/BD format when ripping. In the camper I've run cat5e to each of the 3 inside TV's and an outlet in the basement. I have 12TB of drive space on the server, and about 8 of that is filled. I've tried the wifi route, but just can't get enough through put to run HD or multiple locations without stuttering.

What are you using for media players at the TVs?

You're definitely going for higher quality than I am. I'm happy if it plays. Heck, my home TVs are dinosaurs at 14 and 15 years old. They won't die, so I won't replace them.

[gruss01]

Originally Posted by ependydad

LOL! That's one of the biggest benefits to this exercise- no more scratched discs!

Bah scratches don't phase me anymore.

SkipDr

I did make my son go without his games for about 6 months before I fixed them. They are always in the case now.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by gruss01

Bah scratches don't phase me anymore.

SkipDr

I did make my son go without his games for about 6 months before I fixed them. They are always in the case now.

Snazzy, I'll keep that in mind if I get a disc that is damaged.

[billt01]

There is no need for physical media storage at all anymore...

Its all in the cloud..

If you have a few hours of downtime search the following:

For TV and Movies
Playon

Playon Scripts

Netgear EVA or a MK809III

For music and playlists

Bluetooth

Soundcloud

Pandora

I heart Radio

Youtube

The only caveat is you are limited to your own bandwidth restrictions...

[ependydad]

Bandwidth is key. While I have a 10gb plan, it is shared between our devices. I carry the music we listen to and am setting myself up for the TV watching that we do.

[thestrangebrew]

I have an 8tb home server that works as a backup solution as well as media server for music, pics & movies. I have it hard wired much like Aquaman throughout the house because I've been backing up mainly blu ray discs now and wireless stutters pretty badly in my house when trying to play a movie. I use Plex Media Server to play videos off of my network, when I'm away from home at my parents house, or I can play it on my phone (via Plex app)

For ripping, I use MakeMKV or Anydvd and then transcode in Handbrake. Sometimes I have to use the antiquated Ripbot software, but usually Handbrake does the job.

@ Aquaman - Do you have a dedicated pc in your trailer? Files are duplicated from your home server to the pc? I'm curious how you have this set up. If you have pics I'd def. be interested in seeing your setup! My wife would think I'm crazy, but it would come in handy when trying to get the kids to calm down and relax before bed where I don't have cell/wifi signal!!

Edit: I should add, I have 6 HTPCs for each room in the house, mostly built from junked pc's I've built in the past to fulfill my pc gaming addiction lol. They're all running xbmc if I remember right.

[billt01]

For those who want to keep physical media. My solution from a few years ago...

1 tower running WIN7

1 Andriod TV

2 (X) TB USB drives

1st plug in the USB drives into the tower and configure those devices in a RAID setup. Now you have a backup of your media and it is removable.

2nd rip all of your media to the virtual RAID drive that was created.

3rd remove drive and take on your trip.

Once in camp install your Android TV to a TV in the TT and connect your USB (X) TB drive to the USB connection on the Andriod TV.

Couple of things..when you remove the drive WIN7 will throw a warning stating you are about to remove a drive in a RAID configuration..this is not a big deal as long as you don't try to plug in another storage drive while your (X) TB drive is unplugged. It may try to assign the same drive letter which will cause a conversation much longer than this one...

But it will allow you to create a backup of all that media you are ripping...If you dont maintain a good backup...you could get

[Orion]

Hmm, never thought to use my Roku. I use AnyDVD HD with MyMovies and stream over my Xbox...

[Herk7769]

So, the camper's latest hardware configuration is as follows:

The heart of the system is an Amped Wireless SR300N Smart Repeater that creates a wireless network in the camper. It can also log into a campground's wireless network and then "re-share" the connection with iPhones and iPad, and everything else. It also has 4 wired connections available. That way if they sell passwords I only need to buy one for all our devices.

I have an HP laptop with HDMI output and 2 USB 3.0 ports that I plug my home external (backup) 3T hard drives into.

The HDMI from the laptop goes to a HDMI Autoswitcher (Genesis 3.0 is the other input) and then to the TV. Audio output from the TV goes to the Genesis 3.0 for surround sound.

Watching movies on the camper TV is straight forward. Bring up the movie on the PC; and play it with either media player (or as I prefer VLC media player). Pause and such handled with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard remotely.

To watch outside (same or different movie at the same time), I use my Microsoft Surface RT. It is on the same network and can spool movies concurrently with the laptop. That way I can watch movies anywhere around the camper and the DW can watch a different one inside.

I also have a Visionari Projector that has an HDMI input. The output from the Surface can be sent to the projector and played on the side of the camper. Audio is sent to a PC style sound system (much better than the Visionari speaker.)

[ependydad]

Thanks, Lou.