Setup A Movie Library of DVD Images I Can Play In My Living Room

[gaming_mouse]

I have a bunch of DVDs and I am going to create images of all of them and put them on a single external HD (I have a terabyte of space).

I would then like to be able to play them on the TV in my living room. Essentially, I want a setup that would be for movies what iTunes is for music.

Is there a device out there that is made for doing this? If not, what options do I have? I would also like to control the play with a remote control.

Thanks for any ideas,
gm

[Bremen]

I have not done an exhaustive search, however I have been unable to find anything that will play images directly.

Anyway, 1TB may sound like alot but it isn't when you consider 1 DVD ~ 5 GB and most commercial disks are dual layer so double that. It gets worse if you buy alot of tv series (like I do) as a show like Stargate SG-1 is 50 disks (500GB)! In order to alleviate this using an encoder like divx/xvid/x264 is a must. x264 or any other h.264 encoder will give you the best compression btw.

I believe Windows Media Center will do what you want with the remote. I personally use (whenever I get a computer hooked up to the TV) MythTV running on linux. Both options will also act as a DVR.

[gaming_mouse]

[ QUOTE ]
I have not done an exhaustive search, however I have been unable to find anything that will play images directly.

Anyway, 1TB may sound like alot but it isn't when you consider 1 DVD ~ 5 GB and most commercial disks are dual layer so double that. It gets worse if you buy alot of tv series (like I do) as a show like Stargate SG-1 is 50 disks (500GB)! In order to alleviate this using an encoder like divx/xvid/x264 is a must. x264 or any other h.264 encoder will give you the best compression btw.

I believe Windows Media Center will do what you want with the remote. I personally use (whenever I get a computer hooked up to the TV) MythTV running on linux. Both options will also act as a DVR.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bremen, Thanks for the reply.

If I was going to use Windows Media Center, would I just keep a cheap old laptap in the livingroom, and that would be used to play the images on the external hd? And would there be a USB attachment that works with a remote control? Let me know if I understood you correctly.... Also, what kind of cables/connections are required to get the output going to your TV?


Thanks again,
gm

[RedRover]

If you are competent with computers you can set up an old computer with MythTV on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythTV

It will do everything you want.

[_dave_]

Or, you can run Media Center on your comp with all the storage / Video files, and use an xbox360 in the living room to play on your main TV.

Xbox360 makes a very good media center extender, IIRC, if a little noisy.

EDIT: MythTV FTW if you are happy getting linux up and running (or have time to learn).

[gaming_mouse]

[ QUOTE ]
If you are competent with computers you can set up an old computer with MythTV on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythTV

It will do everything you want.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sure I could figure it out. What hardware requirement does MythTV have? Could I get good performance on an old Dell Inspiron 8100 (~350 RAM IIRC)?

What cables would I be using for the output? Any TV requirement to accept the input?

[RedRover]

Honestly I don't know how well the different parts of MythTV run on different hardware. I don't think the Inspiron would be able to record full resolution while you watch a saved video, for example. Everything in MythTV is plug in based, so if all you want to do is watch videos and show still images then you can remove the DVR functionality.

As for the hardware, it depends what you're starting with. The MythTV site will be your best bet. You can ask them questions about what will run on your setup, what you need to get, etc etc etc.

If you enjoy computers it will be a fun project. If you just want something that works and you're willing to pay Windows Media Center will have more support and probably work with less hassle.

[Meech]

Buy an old modded Xbox with XBMC on it. Works great.