DVD Blu Ray Storage and playback on an external drive

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veryshort

81 posts

Master Geek

#115268 19-Mar-2013 21:59

Hi Guys ,
Im wanting to get rid of all the DVD / Blu Ray Discs and move all my movies etc to a discless system onto an external device and then be able to view it on any monitor in the house granted my two Sony TVS do NOT have internet/network access and Im not too keen to run a home media centre as the pc has to be on all the time to access the content .Im keen to be able to use both my tvs to surf the net etc as well but my main reasoning behind this is I want to limit the amount of disc handling my wee 4 yr girl has to do with removing the disc from the case and installing it into the player etc .

So I guess Im looking for an external device that will output full HD {1920x1080i } picture quality while storing all of my content that can be accessed at the drop of a hat ,and give me access to the net via my tv ..... Im open to all ideas here team .....I have found this on trade me but am a little concerned its now out of date ....

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=573653275

before anyone asks Im not going to upload any of my movies to the net nor will I download any movies from the net either I just want to free up space on my house by storing all the discs I have out of sight etc .I hope this makes sense to everyone ... if I have to build a media centre pc then I might have to I have a small 2nd pc now that could do this .

cheers
Andrew W

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#784150 19-Mar-2013 22:49

Very easily done. You need:

1. A NAS with a DLNA server to hold the files - start at around $250 for a 2TB single drive model. Cost significantly more if you need more than 3TB of storage or RAID etc. I use a 3TB MyBook Live that I got for just over $300 retail. Upgrade to a multi-bay model with more storage is planned.

2. Media players, one for each TV (I use WD Lives - circa $189 retail for the new model with inbult wireless, $100 for the older non-wireless model)

3. A wireless or (preferably) wired network to hold it all together.

Assuming you have a wireless router or wired network already, cost circa $700-750. Of course, you also need a computer to rip the disks and transfer them to the NAS (and compress the video files if you wish). If your budget is really tight, you can store the video on your computer and share it that way, but that isn't what I would do.

veryshort

81 posts

Master Geek

#784161 19-Mar-2013 23:35

JimmyH: Very easily done. You need:

1. A NAS with a DLNA server to hold the files - start at around $250 for a 2TB single drive model. Cost significantly more if you need more than 3TB of storage or RAID etc. I use a 3TB MyBook Live that I got for just over $300 retail. Upgrade to a multi-bay model with more storage is planned.

2. Media players, one for each TV (I use WD Lives - circa $189 retail for the new model with inbult wireless, $100 for the older non-wireless model)

3. A wireless or (preferably) wired network to hold it all together.

Assuming you have a wireless router or wired network already, cost circa $700-750. Of course, you also need a computer to rip the disks and transfer them to the NAS (and compress the video files if you wish). If your budget is really tight, you can store the video on your computer and share it that way, but that isn't what I would do.

Awesome Thanks heaps for the advice Jimmy H I have found the following on TM can you please advise if they will do ?

1/ http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/external-storage/external-hard-drives/auction-573009082.htm

2/ http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/external-storage/external-hard-drives/auction-572384371.htm

1/2 of my house is cabled with cat 5 it should be to hard to cable the rest so could run with a wired WD live .

yes I have a 4 port wireless router but would prefer to cable all connections .

ok million dollar question what software to use to rip the movies and how would I go about getting it on my NAS ? Im not keen to compress the video files and given one of the NAS'es has 2 TB of storage I cant imagine getting close to using it all so want full uncompressed video files { for max pic quality and sound .

cheers
Andrew

tukapa1

725 posts

Ultimate Geek

#784192 20-Mar-2013 07:13

veryshort:
JimmyH: Very easily done. You need:

1. A NAS with a DLNA server to hold the files - start at around $250 for a 2TB single drive model. Cost significantly more if you need more than 3TB of storage or RAID etc. I use a 3TB MyBook Live that I got for just over $300 retail. Upgrade to a multi-bay model with more storage is planned.

2. Media players, one for each TV (I use WD Lives - circa $189 retail for the new model with inbult wireless, $100 for the older non-wireless model)

3. A wireless or (preferably) wired network to hold it all together.

Assuming you have a wireless router or wired network already, cost circa $700-750. Of course, you also need a computer to rip the disks and transfer them to the NAS (and compress the video files if you wish). If your budget is really tight, you can store the video on your computer and share it that way, but that isn't what I would do.

Awesome Thanks heaps for the advice Jimmy H I have found the following on TM can you please advise if they will do ?

1/ http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/external-storage/external-hard-drives/auction-573009082.htm

2/ http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/external-storage/external-hard-drives/auction-572384371.htm

1/2 of my house is cabled with cat 5 it should be to hard to cable the rest so could run with a wired WD live .

yes I have a 4 port wireless router but would prefer to cable all connections .

ok million dollar question what software to use to rip the movies and how would I go about getting it on my NAS ? Im not keen to compress the video files and given one of the NAS'es has 2 TB of storage I cant imagine getting close to using it all so want full uncompressed video files { for max pic quality and sound .

cheers
Andrew

Hi

I am just going through a similar exercise.

I would caution you that if you want to play full quality uncompressed blu-ray rips over a home network then you need a player with enough grunt to do that (I went through 3 before deciding on one that works the way I want it to) and you will need HEAPS of storage so best to look at an upgradeable NAS.

I initially tried a Raspberry Pi as my media player - worked great on anything up to 720p but crumbled on the full uncompressed blu-ray rips. I then tried the WD TV Live Streaming Media Player but I wasn't a fan of the user interface (personal taste thing) although others love it and it gets good reveiws.

I finally settled on a small NT-A3700 PC and installed Openelec on it and it has been running sweet with everything I have thrown at it. I ordered it from Amazon, added 8GB Ram and am running Openelec from an SD card. I am currently using an Android smartphone app (Yatse) as a remote control.

You definitely need a wired network solution to run this sort of set up.

Blu-ray rips (uncompressed) will take up anywhere from 16GB to 35GB for the main movie. That does not include extras, special features etc. So you will need a LOT of storgae space and will quickly outgrow a single external hard drive if you are anything like me (for example I have 83 full uncompressed blu-ray rips which are currently taking up 1.6TB of hard drive space on one 3TB drive and I have more rips to make yet)..

I am currently building my NAS and have initially populated it with 2 x 3TB hard drives and have room for 4 more drives. I can see that I will need to throw another 2 x 3TB drives in there very soon. I plan running FreeNAS on that.

As far as software goes I just use MakeMKV for ripping my movies. If I want to compress anything I then use handbrake and you can actually compess a full blu-ray rip down to 5-9GB without a real noticeable reduction in quality (viewing on a full HD 50" plasma from about 3m away).

As far as those items you have linked to on TradeMe - they're a rip off - look here for the 2TB MyBook for $148 brand new at Noel Leeming and here for the 3TB MyBook for $198 brand new at Noel Leeming. You'll be hard pressed to beat those prices.

As an aside I have my WD TV Live Streaming Media Player here in the box in as new condition if you are looking for a solution like that - yours for $140 including shipping if you want :D

Hopefully this helps a bit.

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#785152 21-Mar-2013 19:05

tukapa1:

[...] can you please advise if they will do ?

1/ http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/external-storage/external-hard-drives/auction-573009082.htm

2/ http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/external-storage/external-hard-drives/auction-572384371.htm

1/2 of my house is cabled with cat 5 it should be to hard to cable the rest so could run with a wired WD live .

yes I have a 4 port wireless router but would prefer to cable all connections .

1. Yes, but it will be plugged directly into the media player. Unless you have a media player that can also act as a server (I think the WD Live Hub can) only that media player will be able to see the collection, others on the network probably won't. Also, that is a high price. Warehouse stationery have the 3TB model on sale for only $20 more.

2. Yes. That's what I use. Haven't tried it for blu-ray rips, but I get 85-95mbps sustained transfer rates (circa 11MB/sec) using ethernet over powerline, and that's plenty for DVD rips.

veryshort

81 posts

Master Geek

#785187 21-Mar-2013 20:45

Hi Guys ,
After much debate I have gone with the following options ...

1x Qnap TS-212 NAS ..........http://www.qnap.com/en/index.php?sn=822&c=351&sc=514&t=523&n=3372
1x 2 TB Seagate HHD
1x AC Ryan playon HD mini ..http://acryan.com/sg/buy-now/5-playonhd-mini-2.html

I spent the afternoon getting it all set up and its great Im impressed with the AC Ryan Media player ! The NAS is impressive and lots of features Im sure I will never use until I need too .I blew my budget out of the water a bit but am pretty sure it was worth it .

I now have a question for everyone ... I have ripped one of my daughters movies using MKV but Im concerned that when the movie plays back the audio is quite low level ... I have it running through my home AMP and the volume was at max just to hear it at a normal level am I missing something here ? Iits not a compressed copy either .

Cheers
Andrew W

DarthKermit

5346 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#785201 21-Mar-2013 21:13

As others have said, wired network is the only way to go. Wifi simply cannot cope with full 1080 HD video.

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