Watching DVD's on iPad

[scooters]

Ok, so here’s one for all you folk out there.
Our previous car had rear DVDs for the children – which, for us is great when travelling long distances as it keeps the mini RSV’s entertained on the journey.
The new car doesn’t have this and I can’t be bothered to get everything retrofitted. What I do want to do however is to allow them to stream stuff, from a WIFI enabled portable HDD, to their ipads.

Has anyone done this and if so;
Recommendations for a portable HDD(with WIFI)
What is the best method to get their DVDs onto the HDD?
What is the best software to watch this from the ipad?

Don’t want to go Netflix as they don’t know you can do that and I like it that way!

Any help etc. appreciated
Mods – if I’ve posted in the wrong forum please move

[Adrian E]

scooters said:

What is the best method to get their DVDs onto the HDD?
What is the best software to watch this from the ipad?

Can't help with the other queries, but your methods for ripping DVDs depend on the copy protection on them and what you might have already in terms of software.

MakeMKV is good for Bluray (more or less essential) and allows you to rip just the film, but creates a very large file (think 30+GB for a 2 hr film)

For DVD with less rigourous copy protection, and also to shrink a MakeMKV generated rip, Nero Recode will shrink that 30+GB film down to about 8-9GB with no noticable drop in quality. What's also handy is the recoding software gives you options to convert for specific devices, including ipads/tablets, so defaults to recognised audio and video codecs and keeps the quality appropriate for the content and viewing choice.

There's a number of other software choices out there but the majority of free ones are cack

Be warned that whatever you choose to do the biggest drag is doing the file conversions - it can take forever! Recoding a Bluray down to <10GB takes about 4 hours on my relatively decent desktop.

Not heard of linking an external HDD via wifi to an Apple product - is that defo feasible?

[nadger]

Handbrake is what you need! I e ripped all my DVDs and linked them into my iTunes account. Works perfectly

[scooters]

thanks both, does handbrake deal with encryption on DVDs by any chance?

[Zod]

Yes, Handbrake will decrypt the DVDs.

As for streaming, if you get a wifi-HD, you can use an app called FileBrowser to stream video in most formats.

[Adrian E]

Doesn't Handbrake require 3rd party app like VLC media player to decrypt? Sure I read that on their wiki page, but it can defo handle files generated by MakeMKV if it hits a tricky protected disc

[nadger]

Adrian E said:

Doesn't Handbrake require 3rd party app like VLC media player to decrypt? Sure I read that on their wiki page, but it can defo handle files generated by MakeMKV if it hits a tricky protected disc

It does need some sort of third party programme to work, but when installed it works perfectly!

[scooters]

Many thanks for all your comments. Vlc seems to work well for playback. In terms of purchasing a wireless hdd does anyone have recommendations on devices which will do the job.
Thanks again