HTPCs and DvDs

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Thread Necromancer

Thread Necromancer

So this isn't really a request for help. Nor is it a rant. It's more a topic of discussion. Regardless, it's tech, so it's here instead of in general.

I have a HTPC that I build. It's quite a nice little machine. Intel quad core i5 processor, 4 gigs of ram, 2 TB hard disk space, dual HD ATSC capture cards and one analog side capture, DVD and Bluray drives built in. It's all hooked up to my nice 42" plasma and 7.1 surround sound with 2 presence speakers. All very high dollar high quality gear. Each of my tower speakers are huge (and expensive) Polk speakers running with a Cerwin Vega sub. Basically, pretty nice F*n system that all said and done has cost me thousands of dollars to put together over the years. I tell you this because I want it clear the lengths I go through for high quality entertainment.

All my music, some 60 gigs worth of music has been uploaded from CDs or purchased and etc and now resides on the media box. I love that.

I thought to myself: "wouldn't it be great if all my movies were on there to, library them up so I don't have to mess with discs. I just decide I want to watch a movie, hit the right menu in my Media program and here we go."

Sounds like a great idea. So I started transfering all my movies off my (completely legally purchased retail) DVDs. When all is said and done I've just finished my 123ish movie. It's not the largest collection, but it was definately an expense of time to upload them all.

While I was uploading these I had decided to strip the extras, save space and etc etc. Of course to save space I ended up compressing them to standard writtable DVD size.

And now all of a sudden it has occurred to me... why? Why the hell, when it's so obvious that I appreciate the best of quality in my media have I been uploading them onto a hard drive where it is required I compress them, therefore reducing their quality?

after uploading all of these movies I've used about 500 gigs worth of a 1 TB drive. I haven't even bothered to back up my Blurays because of their size. And now I'm not sure if I should be cursing myself, sticking with just plain DVDs, or going back through and using up the extra space to make sure they are in full quality.

So then I've come here now for a simple discuss and others thoughts while I decide what to do.
 
K

Kitty Sinatra

I love my music on my PC because then any given song is readily available in seconds. And given the number of various songs I listen to, and get a craving for, it makes it nice. Also, it means I can shove all my CDs into binders (which are horrible to search through compared to nicely organized jewel cases) without concern because now I never need access my CDs constantly.

I just don't see a need to make my movies as readily available as my music. I mean, when I start a movie, I'm not gonna be looking for another for 90 minutes or more. Nor am I gonna be going back to the same movie more than once a month (well, not even once a year really, but I'm trying to make a point).

And if you're losing access to the full quality and all the extras, you're just wasting your time in this endeavor, I'd say. So go all the way - buy another couple terabytes if you have to - or don't bother. That would be my suggestion.
 
Thread Necromancer

Thread Necromancer

Gruebeard said:
I just don't see a need to make my movies as readily available as my music. I mean, when I start a movie, I'm not gonna be looking for another for 90 minutes or more. Nor am I gonna be going back to the same movie more than once a month (well, not even once a year really, but I'm trying to make a point).
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The music without question will remain on the media box for exactly the reasons you list. And I agree with your points about the movies and not being frequently watched. But another thing is that I have all these damned dvd cases that are always taking up space to get used, what, once a year? It's not like I display them, no i have to find a place to keep them. So moving them onto the Hard disks allows me to box the cases, stick the movies in a binder (which is much easier to store) and still have access to my movies in an instant. I rarely ever care about the extras.

I have considered buying a couple more TB drives but the case my media box is built into is not your typical tower. It's even designed to fit flat and look like it belongs on an entertainment center. As such it has limited expansion size at least for places to physically mount drives.

Anyone else remember the days of a 1 gig hard drive and thinking that was more space then you'd ever use in your life? How times have changed.
 
K

Kitty Sinatra

Thread Necromancer said:
So moving them onto the Hard disks allows me to box the cases, stick the movies in a binder (which is much easier to store) and still have access to my movies in an instant.
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They should still be accessible enough in binders. Just buy about 3 times the number of binders you actually need at the moment, and place the movies in alphabetical orbit with blank spaces throughout. This way, when you buy more movies you can continue slotting them in alphabetically. This is even easier if you use actual 3 ring binders with loose sheets rather than those fancy faux-leather cases I used for my CDs.

And if you're like me at all, you'll just toss out all the DVD cases rather than storing them. I actually even tossed out the liner notes for my CDs. I can find all the info on the web now, and I really don't have storage space; nor do I foresee ever selling my music so I don't need the complete packaging.
 
Seraphyn

Seraphyn

The way we worked around the storage problem here was by building a low powered fileserver. It currently holds 5tb with plenty of room for expansion, tucked away in a storage closet and connected to the network. Remote desktop enabled and you've got unlimited storage potential, accessible 24/7 (via Wake on LAN) and no noise or ugly/large case as HTPC.
 
Thread Necromancer

Thread Necromancer

Seraphyn said:
The way we worked around the storage problem here was by building a low powered fileserver. It currently holds 5tb with plenty of room for expansion, tucked away in a storage closet and connected to the network. Remote desktop enabled and you've got unlimited storage potential, accessible 24/7 (via Wake on LAN) and no noise or ugly/large case as HTPC.
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I had considered that option but don't you have consider lag when transfering/streaming your movie from the file server to local memory?
 
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