Making my DVD collection digital

[Legend83]

Have been thinking I should utilise a bit of the technology I currently possess to make my DVD collection digital and free up some shelf space (plus make the lounge a little more aesthetically pleasing).

Looking for a low cost option and my current thinking is either:

1) Rip all my DVDs and store on HD attached to laptop. Stream wirelessly from laptop to PS3 using PS3 Media Server.

2) Rip all my DVDs and store on HD attached to laptop. Buy a Chromecast and use Plex app on my android phone / laptop to stream to TV.

3) As above but send videos to a cloud.

1 and 2 are not very neat as I would have to have to attach the external HDD to my laptop every time I wanted to connect, although not a big deal.

Questions:

a) Best software to rip DVDs?
b) What is the best balance of format / size etc to rip to?
c) How much is cloud storage and which is best?
d) Are there any neater solutions without having to fork out on a NAS?

Given I have 500gb on PS3, 1TB Seagate Drive and another 500gb on laptop I would hope that would be sufficient.

Cheers

L83

[Legend83]

Rawwr said:

How many DVDs are you planning to rip?

About 120...

[Legend83]

Legend83 said:

About 120...

Although to be honest it will also involve a cull of ones that I am pretty sure I will never watch again, so slightly less than that number.

Don't mind if it takes a bit of time as I don't need it immediately - will start with those used most frequently.

[Legend83]

Scantily said:

Downloading your films is going to be so much less hassle and significantly faster, provided you have a fast connection that is.

And a large download allowance...

Just a bit frustrating to pay again for the same films I bought all those years ago.

[Legend83]

Thanks for al the comments guys. MakeMkv downloaded and ready to go!