HDTV and computer video

[misterblue]

I have a pile of DVD's which are slowly becoming unwatchable, as they get scratched, shuffled etc.

I have seen advertised 'Media centres' - effectively USB HDD's which you can hook up to your TV and store all your video on, to be played through the telly.

I quite fancy the idea of this, but my question is this.

How would I rip a DVD, and what format for the output file should I use?

I have tried ripping a DVD to avi format, using XVID compression, as a trial.

The output file was 720x 576 pixels, 25 frames per sec, data rate of 163kbps (whatever that is)

I haven't managed to watch the file on TV, but on a computer it still looks poor quality, and nowhere near good enough to watch on telly.

Any experience of this sort of thing, anybody?

Thanks

MB

[jxc]

I use western digital hdtv and use western digital 500gb passport storage i believe they now do a 1gb one

For ripping Dvd's I have found slysoft to be the best and easiest cost a little bit of money

WD TV Live HD Media Player ( WDBAAN0000NBK ) (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=735)

SlySoft Products | Copy Movie DVDs with AnyDVD and CloneDVD (http://www.slysoft.com/en/)

[misterblue]

Thanks JXC.

I have downloaded the suggested software and tired ripping a DVD. It appears to have been turned into a series of BUP VOB and IFO files. Does the media player play stuff in this format, or am I missing something?

Thanks again for your help

MB

[hellsbrink]

The VOB, etc, files are the type of file used to burn your ripped DVD onto a blank DVD. It keeps all the different chapters, etc in order and means you can use a burned DVD exactly the same as the original.

There are various programs out there that convert these files to mpeg/wmv/etc for windows media player, and also you can use VLC player to play the VOB files as if they were a dvd

[jxc]

yes wd hdtv will play the files. you only want to mark the chapter that has the whole film not all the individual chapters
if you want I could talk you through it on the phone send me a pm with a no.


Cheers

[roundwego]

I use a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo double drive NAS box to store all my DVD's.
ReadyNAS Duo - RND2110, RND2150 & RND2175 (http://www.netgear.co.uk/readynasduo.php?src=home) .

DVDFAB is the software I use for ripping the DVD's. It is easy to use and is reliable. I save the films as a .iso file which is a "disc image" which avoids having lots of files per film.
DVD Copy Software from DVDFab | Copy DVD to PSP, DVDR or iPod (http://www.dvdfab.net/index.htm)

I was going to buy a Western Digital media player to play the films on my TV but I found a Medion media player in Aldi's for £59.99 which is excellent.

If you want to play the films on your computer, I find the free VLC media player program very good.

Both the Medion Media player and VLC will play the film directly from the .iso file