newbie to homenetworks

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

I am looking for some help/guidance as I try and understand what it is I need to do, to do what I want.. if that makes sense..

What I'm hoping to do is put all my CD's & DVD's /Blu Ray's onto a hard drive and then be able to transmit them around the house to 2/3 different tv's. some of the Tv's are upstairs.

I have an exisiting home wifi network for my laptop and ipad etc, but that's about as far as my IT skills/understanding goes. I dont really know how/what I need to get to the next stage. is it even possible to copy the DVDs to a hard drive type device ?

hope some of you out there can talk me through this..... please talk slowly and use small words tho !

Many thanks

Ian

 

[Chisy1]

The first point is that getting around the copyright protection is against the law in the UK. My view is that ripping for home use and back up purposes only is morally acceptable, so assuming you won't be going into the world of sharing the following might help

You need to decide whether you want just a copy of the film or the whole DVD, including menus etc. I am going with the film rip only. I'm an apple user so am ripping everything to mp4 and then streaming it via an apple tv from a NAS.

I'm using handbrake to rip my DVDs, it doesn't always work on the most recent DVDs as the encryption is becoming more advanced. I've heard software like RipIt which extracts the entire DVD content is a way round this and then you would use handbrake to convert to mp4.

If you want the full DVD etc then something like RipIt does this. Not sure if that is mac only or not.

If you're going to rip bluray it might be better to get a wired network sorted...although that might equally apply to DVD over wifi...I've not had any problems. If you can't run Ethernet cables from your router to the media player then you can use homeplugs aka network plugs to extend the wired network.

Hope this helps as a start.

 

[AnotherJoe]

You need a NAS which you plug into your router - if you're going to store dvd/bds on it then I suggest a 2 or even 4-bay NAS. Something like a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+4000, and populate it with 2TB drives. You can start with 1 drive and expand, so you dont to fully populate it to start with.

Then you need software to rip your dvds/bds onto it. If you have a windows PC then AnyDVD HD is still probably the best software, and you rip the dvd/bds to the NAS in ISO format for BDs, and ISO/VOB format for DVDs.

Once you have all these films you need something to play them. A full mediaplayer like a "ACRyan playon!hd2 mini" attached to your network and plugged into your AV receiver/tv will give you the best possible homecinema experience.

You could also rip dvds in .VOB format, in which case some modern tvs with DLNA can play them direct off the NAS. This might be a good option for your 2nd/3rd room where you dont have av receiver.

For example, I rip dvds/BDs onto my NAS in ISO format. I then have a playon!hd mini2 in each room connected via homeplugs, and these plays the movies through my reciever onto the TV.

 

[Anonymous]

Guys,

Many thanks for the replies and suggestions, I'm much clearer now as to what I need to do.

Rgds
Ian