Moving DVD collection to a home server?

[Steve in Stoke]

I'm going to be moving house in the coming months and my collection of 300ish DVDs will need dealing with. Ideally I'd like to put them onto a hard drive of some sorts to then be able to stream through the house via wifi or suchlike, but at this stage I'm not sure of the best way to implement all of this, also as there will be two kids in the house so I need some way of restricting the 15 & 18 rated films.

What is the best storage and playback medium for this, and is there any way or system that can categorise films. What I have in mind is something like Sky anytime with parental controls, but comprising of my own library of films.

Any advice, or useful websites that offer a beginners guide to this sort of thing?

Thanks.

[TomOSmith]

I presume you've started with MyMovies.dk?

[probedb]

Depends if you want to keep the entire DVD structure as well. If you just want the main movie, MakeMKV is so easy to use and you just pick the languages/subtitles you actually need. Otherwise you need something to rip ISOs.

[Dave211]

For ripping your DVD's have a look to see if this freeware works for you http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/

[Salesy]

Steve,

I build servers that rip dvd and blu-ray and store them on internal HDDs. They can serve out to any DNLA device, sonos and it even runs logitech squeezebox server.

The server also has a built in torrent program if thats your thing and a web streaming service that lets you view your content from anywhere in the world.

Typical costs are around £1200 for an 8tb blu-ray system.

The dvd rip process takes about 20 mins per disc for a bit perfect copy.

[Steve in Stoke]

Ok, the software side of things seems quite straightforward, thanks for the links!

Besides a HDD, what other hardware would needed connect my existing amp & tv, either just watch on that, or to stream around the house? The £1200 server sounds awesome, but with the house move and associated costs, even with advanced man maths, I doubt I get away with that!

[Bullett]

A HP micro server would do you. Or a good sized NAS if you only want it for storage, many have DLNA clients on them.
300 discs at about 5gb a pop is less than 2TB. Mine is running 2x2TB in RAID with room for another pair of drive when I get close to using that space up. You don't even need to have an optical drive on you server as you could rip locally on a PC and transfer the output to the server/NAS.

For playback you have a few choices.
1. DLNA. Lot's of DLNA clients out there (PS3 and Xbox for example). It works but it's a bit clunky in my opinion.
2. Plex. Client server architecture, very good interface and flexibility. Needs a server rather than a NAS as a backend as it will do transcoding and all sorts of clever bits and bobs. Can use various clients like a Roku box or an ipad.
3. XBMC. A small client that will run on a variety of hardware (I use a Raspberry Pi) and connect back to your server/nas. Very flexible and configurable but a little fiddly to get working properly as it's all free/open source software.

In all cases the real driver is what formats the player/client will play natively. Decide what you want to use and find a client that will support it or rip to a format supported by your client. This will be a hardware/license issue not normally a software one. Plex and some DLNA servers will transcode on the fly but you will need a much more powerful server to support that than using the native format.

I don't know how segmentation works on Plex or DLNA but you can have different profiles with age restrictions on xbmc.

[Steve in Stoke]

Ok, as a short term solution, could I rip the discs onto a hdd, then connect it to the laptop and set up a dnla to my ps3? I'm thinking this is a quick hit to enable the discs to be stored/sold, but also gives me access to the films and then transfer them to something more dedicated when funds allow?

I already use the ps3 for on demand services and it plays through the amp and 5.1, so makes sense to keep it simple for now.
Or could I even connect an external hdd direct to the ps3?

[h0b0]

Plex can now be on certain NAS with out the need for a PC. Also, I'm going to recommend Chromecast again. Chromecast with Plex and any iOS device works perfectly. I've been using media servers for years and they are mostly crap. The PS3 is a miserable interface. Plex on ipad is fantastic. I have 2 chromecast a being fed by 4 iOS devices seamlessly.

The only (major) draw back at present is that Plex can't play music through chromecast yet.

I know I have recommended chromecast and Plex hundreds of times but it's only $30 here in the US. A bargain when you consider I've only used my PS3 for media for 2 years.

[Salesy]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

If you own the DVDs and still have them in your possession I cannot see a problem.. It's like ripping CDs into iTunes.
The kaleidoscope system gets away with this by locking the discs in the carousel thus preventing unauthorised sharing.

[Salesy]

Bullett said:

A HP micro server would do you. Or a good sized NAS if you only want it for storage, many have DLNA clients on them.
300 discs at about 5gb a pop is less than 2TB. Mine is running 2x2TB in RAID with room for another pair of drive when I get close to using that space up. You don't even need to have an optical drive on you server as you could rip locally on a PC and transfer the output to the server/NAS.

For playback you have a few choices.
1. DLNA. Lot's of DLNA clients out there (PS3 and Xbox for example). It works but it's a bit clunky in my opinion.
2. Plex. Client server architecture, very good interface and flexibility. Needs a server rather than a NAS as a backend as it will do transcoding and all sorts of clever bits and bobs. Can use various clients like a Roku box or an ipad.
3. XBMC. A small client that will run on a variety of hardware (I use a Raspberry Pi) and connect back to your server/nas. Very flexible and configurable but a little fiddly to get working properly as it's all free/open source software.

In all cases the real driver is what formats the player/client will play natively. Decide what you want to use and find a client that will support it or rip to a format supported by your client. This will be a hardware/license issue not normally a software one. Plex and some DLNA servers will transcode on the fly but you will need a much more powerful server to support that than using the native format.

I don't know how segmentation works on Plex or DLNA but you can have different profiles with age restrictions on xbmc.

A cheaper solution yes but why bother ripping on PC then transferring to server, that takes time. Whereas the servers I build are automated. Disc in, ripping starts gets metadata from net, 20 mins or so disc ejects and you pop another in.

Forgot to add my servers have plex on them and also a daap server too (iTunes )

For end clients I use a jail broken AtV 2 and a couple of raspberry pi's and use xbmc on them.

Absolutely faultless
Yes the server is expensive but don't forget it can rip audio cd's, DVD and bluray. Options as to encoding can be set in the user interface.

The system also runs headless and is managed by web page.

[Salesy]

Bullett said:

A HP micro server would do you. Or a good sized NAS if you only want it for storage, many have DLNA clients on them.
300 discs at about 5gb a pop is less than 2TB. Mine is running 2x2TB in RAID with room for another pair of drive when I get close to using that space up. You don't even need to have an optical drive on you server as you could rip locally on a PC and transfer the output to the server/NAS.

For playback you have a few choices.
1. DLNA. Lot's of DLNA clients out there (PS3 and Xbox for example). It works but it's a bit clunky in my opinion.
2. Plex. Client server architecture, very good interface and flexibility. Needs a server rather than a NAS as a backend as it will do transcoding and all sorts of clever bits and bobs. Can use various clients like a Roku box or an ipad.
3. XBMC. A small client that will run on a variety of hardware (I use a Raspberry Pi) and connect back to your server/nas. Very flexible and configurable but a little fiddly to get working properly as it's all free/open source software.

In all cases the real driver is what formats the player/client will play natively. Decide what you want to use and find a client that will support it or rip to a format supported by your client. This will be a hardware/license issue not normally a software one. Plex and some DLNA servers will transcode on the fly but you will need a much more powerful server to support that than using the native format.

I don't know how segmentation works on Plex or DLNA but you can have different profiles with age restrictions on xbmc.

A cheaper solution yes but why bother ripping on PC then transferring to server, that takes time. Whereas the servers I build are automated. Disc in, ripping starts gets metadata from net, 20 mins or so disc ejects and you pop another in.

Forgot to add my servers have plex on them and also a daap server too (iTunes )

For end clients I use a jail broken AtV 2 and a couple of raspberry pi's and use xbmc on them.

Absolutely faultless
Yes the server is expensive but don't forget it can rip audio cd's, DVD and bluray. Options as to encoding can be set in the user interface.

The system also runs headless and is managed by web page.

[tim2100]

I have been doing similar lately. I have been using Handbrake on the PC to rip the film, or the TV episodes. This goes onto my little HP microserver which then is running Plex to distribute them to various devices.

[Salesy]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

You learn something every day... whilst i build these servers its primary function is to work with sonos but it has the dvd ripping capability.

As you have said i don't think anyone is going to come knocking!!!! Now on another hand if i was selling the servers loaded up with the films and music then yes thats illegal, But i don't so its not.

[Bullett]

The recent copyright changes in the uk do mean we can legally keep a copy for backup purposes. However it is still illegal to circumvent copy protection measures. So for most CD's you are fine but any DVD's you are actually breaking the law if you do copy them.

It takes me 20 minutes to rip a DVD. My PC is more powerful than my server so that's why I use it. The meta/art gets pulled when I start xbmc, it takes seconds for new stuff.

[tim2100]

Bullett said:

The recent copyright changes in the uk do mean we can legally keep a copy for backup purposes. However it is still illegal to circumvent copy protection measures. So for most CD's you are fine but any DVD's you are actually breaking the law if you do copy them.

It takes me 20 minutes to rip a DVD. My PC is more powerful than my server so that's why I use it. The meta/art gets pulled when I start xbmc, it takes seconds for new stuff.

It makes it easier for XBMC etc to pull in the meta data if the titles are as per themoviedb.org

Edited by tim2100 on Saturday 1st February 16:52

[talkssense]

Salesy said:

You learn something every day... whilst i build these servers its primary function is to work with sonos but it has the dvd ripping capability.

As you have said i don't think anyone is going to come knocking!!!! Now on another hand if i was selling the servers loaded up with the films and music then yes thats illegal, But i don't so its not.

Selling kit that does what yours does is illegal, which is probably why there is a gap in the market.

If it was legal sony, panasonic etc would all be selling devices that do it for a lot less than £1200.

One of my businesses is involved in selling cinema rooms. We had a line on our website stating that the demo room had a bluray player and we had a phone call from someone one (mrsp?.) stating we need to pay a licences fee for public viewing which would suggest they trawl the Internet.

I would be very careful advertising the devices you seek (tbh, I would stop selling them but some people would say I worry too much)

[NewNameNeeded]

probedb said:

Depends if you want to keep the entire DVD structure as well. If you just want the main movie, MakeMKV is so easy to use and you just pick the languages/subtitles you actually need. Otherwise you need something to rip ISOs.

Having just done the same myself, and 200+ DVDs ripped later I'd also recommend MakeMV. I tried a few solutions, but this was my favourite and ripped everything trouble free. It does seem to make very large files though. I ran some MakeMV through Handbrake to create mp4 files which seem to be the same quality but much smaller.

I put mine on to a Synology NAS and have been very very impressed.

[tim2100]

You can do something like that for around £200 IMO.

Use an existing or old PC, and add a Sata card.
Then you can add in the Sata drives you wish to.
Add a Graphics card with HDMI output (optional)
Add a DVD drive if it hasn't already got one.

Most of the software required for this is free. Certainly not £1200

[Bullett]

NewNameNeeded said:

It does seem to make very large files though. I ran some MakeMV through Handbrake to create mp4 files which seem to be the same quality but much smaller.

It doesn't do any compression, it effectively just rips the content in the original format so you get DVD/BD quality. MKV is a container not a codec. So it's quick not small.
I keep the 'adult' movies in full size but drop the kids cartoons through Handbrake to save a bit of size although to be honest storage is so cheap these days it's not really worth the effort.