Novice needs advice about streaming....

[Toonaroond]

Hi, I am just about to jump into the murky world of media streaming having bought a Hauppage MVP and a Helios 3000.

I now want to tranfer all of my CDs and DVDs onto my hard drive so that I can access these in the lounge (Helios) and the bedroom (Hauppage). (The DVD and CD player will be in what is about to be converted into an office by day and Home Cinema by night this room will house the main computer too).

I haven't got a clue as to what is the best way to transfer the DVDs and CDs in terms of quality of reproduction via the streamers and ease/speed of burning. Would WMP or iTunes be the way to go?? Any guidance would be appreciated!

Cheers

[miltsharman]

there are other options to store music and dvds.

There is an the view that you should transfer with formats that are 'lossless' that is you get top noch quality sound /video but the files are bigger.

I have used my Rio software that I got with my mp3 player for music and its very easy with options of quality choice.

I've not tried video yet so cant comment though I think I would like have a dvd quality and not cut down data

[Toonaroond]

Thanks for reply. I want to maintain quality as much as possible and that seems to be ok with audio. But someone scared me and told me that video files were huge and that I would only get about 20-30 on my computer.

I was thinking about ripping DVDs without all the extras such as directors commentary etc - is this possible and a good way of reducing memory usage?

Do DVDs take up too much room for your average PC?

I am looking to rip about 200 CDs - 200 DVDs and then have about 1000 photos that I will want to access - should I purchase extra storage and if so what type?

Not many questions I know :lease:

Cheers

[Autopilot]

How big is you PC's HDD? Have you seen how cheap HDD's are now? I saw a 500GB external drive for £49.99 the other day. Decent brand too. You would get your 200 DVD's on that if you used something like DivX and still have very good quality. But if i was you, i would go for 1TB and have some room to grow.

[Toonaroond]

I'm not sure of the PCs HDD :god:- I know, I know, but I was given the computer and I haven't got it up and running yet. It will pretty much be dedicated for streaming duties and a bit of surfing though so should have a decent amount of free disk space left over (apparently it only has windows and fire wall/anti virus on it at this moment in time so disk is pretty much clear whatever size it is).

Cheers

[Toonaroond]

How big is you PC's HDD? Have you seen how cheap HDD's are now? I saw a 500GB external drive for £49.99 the other day. Decent brand too. You would get your 200 DVD's on that if you used something like DivX and still have very good quality.

Is divx the way to go then? I know that both of my streamers play that format. Are there advantages over other codecs and will I be able to just rip the feature and not all the extras fairly easily?

[rhubarbe]

The biggest disadvantage of DivX for you (and for me) with 200 DVDs to rip is that the time taken to convert each file can be measured in Aeons.

FWIW, I suggest just ripping the whole DVD to .iso using Elaborate Bytes Clone DVD2 (takes about 40 minutes with an average size double layer DVD) and then you just use the NMP to stream the .iso file (or play it from its HDD) whereupon you will see the whole DVD menu and this is just like playing the DVD. Not all NMPs support .iso so be careful.

I do know that this method is wasteful of HDDs but my time (to me) is far more valuable than the odd £50 for a spare HDD or two if you fill them up.

I did do some DivX conversions so I could take some video on holiday and it took about four hours to convert per 2GB file. I'm too old to waste time like that.

[Toonaroond]

Rhubarbe - what you say makes perfect sense to me, don't know if my equipment is up to it though:god:

My Helios plays the following formats;-

Video Formats:
MPEG 1/2/4
DivX 3.11/4/5
DivX 6/HD
XviD HD
WMV 9/HD
VOB
TS

Audio Formats:
Audio CD
WMA
MP3
MPEG / MPEG-2
FLAC
AAC
Ogg Vorbis

and my Hauppage MVP plays Mpeg and Divx video only I think (well that's all it says on the website).

What are my best options for video and music now??

[badbob]

(takes about 40 minutes with an average size double layer DVD)

40 minutes?:eek: I don't think it takes more than 20 minutes on mine

Anyway if I wanted to store DVD-Video's, I'd just use a ripper and extract just the main movie, no extras, no menus. Also strip out audio tracks you don't want. You'll save a fair amount of space.

Or you could just download the 1.4GB divx movies you already own...it'll be quicker.

[rhubarbe]

40 minutes?:eek: I don't think it takes more than 20 minutes on mine

Anyway if I wanted to store DVD-Video's, I'd just use a ripper and extract just the main movie, no extras, no menus. Also strip out audio tracks you don't want. You'll save a fair amount of space.

Or you could just download the 1.4GB divx movies you already own...it'll be quicker.
If you strip out all the stuff you don't want it may well take 20 minutes. I leave it all in and then go away and let it get on with it. I really don't care if I have to go out and buy another HDD and since I find the less I mess with things the less likely they are to go wrong, I just rip it entire.

[rhubarbe]

Rhubarbe - what you say makes perfect sense to me, don't know if my equipment is up to it though:god:

My Helios plays the following formats;-

Video Formats:
MPEG 1/2/4
DivX 3.11/4/5
DivX 6/HD
XviD HD
WMV 9/HD
VOB
TS

Audio Formats:
Audio CD
WMA
MP3
MPEG / MPEG-2
FLAC
AAC
Ogg Vorbis

and my Hauppage MVP plays Mpeg and Divx video only I think (well that's all it says on the website).

What are my best options for video and music now??
I had a Zensonic Z500 with the same chipset as the Helios 3000 - the EM8620L. In fact I had two but that was just down to stubbornness and stupidity.

I believe that Zensonic (name changed to Ziova to protect the ?innocent?) will now play .iso files so if it'll work with that it would work with the Helios if they have written an update to the firmware.

Of course, once you have ripped the DVD's in your laptop, what do you need a DVD player for?

I can't speak for the Hauppauge.

[Autopilot]

The biggest disadvantage of DivX for you (and for me) with 200 DVDs to rip is that the time taken to convert each file can be measured in Aeons.

FWIW, I suggest just ripping the whole DVD to .iso using Elaborate Bytes Clone DVD2 (takes about 40 minutes with an average size double layer DVD) and then you just use the NMP to stream the .iso file (or play it from its HDD) whereupon you will see the whole DVD menu and this is just like playing the DVD. Not all NMPs support .iso so be careful.

I do know that this method is wasteful of HDDs but my time (to me) is far more valuable than the odd £50 for a spare HDD or two if you fill them up.

I did do some DivX conversions so I could take some video on holiday and it took about four hours to convert per 2GB file. I'm too old to waste time like that.

You can que up files and batch convert the whole lot over night you know, so it does not really take any time if you know what i mean ;)

Your suggestion is a good one though :thumbsup:

[rhubarbe]

Yeah, then you come back to three days later with a big grin on your face only to find the inevitable Windoze error message that had flashed up five minutes after you left the darned thing, and it has converted a big fat nowt.

[Toonaroond]

Thanks for all the advice but I am still a bit flumoxed (being techno-challenged and all).

I think I will rip to Divx and then both my players will play the files for certain. Do I need to download any software to be able to do this or do I just need Divx (where do I get that??), put my DVD in the slot and follow the prompts?

I will rip my DVDs until the hard drive is full and then get bolt on HDDs as required.

Does this sound feasible?

Cheers

[miltsharman]

If you strip out all the stuff you don't want it may well take 20 minutes. I leave it all in and then go away and let it get on with it. I really don't care if I have to go out and buy another HDD and since I find the less I mess with things the less likely they are to go wrong, I just rip it entire.

Is there a dvd stripper / ripper (oh arr.... gelntllemen please......;) that will give you a option of what you want to rip and then do it automatically or do you have to do it manually (lets not got there eh)