Techies? DVDs on the road

[Stefrobrts]

Ok, I'm completely spoiled by my iPod and having every CD I ever owned instantly at my fingertips. Now I want the same thing for my DVDs. Just in case I'm a couple hundred miles from home and get the urge to watch Doctor Who and I only brought Simpsons with me (tragedy!). So what's the hot ticket for archiving all your DVDs in one place and taking it with you? An iPod video? Some other cool box I've never heard of? Does anyone think about these things other than me?

[thecatsandi]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

Ok, I'm completely spoiled by my iPod and having every CD I ever owned instantly at my fingertips. Now I want the same thing for my DVDs. Just in case I'm a couple hundred miles from home and get the urge to watch Doctor Who and I only brought Simpsons with me (tragedy!). So what's the hot ticket for archiving all your DVDs in one place and taking it with you? An iPod video? Some other cool box I've never heard of? Does anyone think about these things other than me?

I have used my ipod for some movies. But at 1GB a piece a few takes up a lot of room fast. I am a big apple fan so I have an Apple TV loaded with about 100 movies. There are other boxes out there there names escape me.

[Mel]

On our last trip, we tried out connecting the ipod video to our tv with the Apple composite AV cable. It worked great! I just dumped a bunch of movies and tv episodes to the ipod, and chose enough random stuff that we were always able to find something we wanted to watch. I don't know that I'd put my whole DVD library on it, but it's definitely got my favorites.

[overlander63]

I put all our 280+ dvds in a Caselogic dvd/cd case, and took them with us. It's about a 1 foot cube, maybe a little smaller. We then play them with the dvd player.

[Stefrobrts]

You definitely win the low-tech award, Terry

Michelle, does the AppleTV just store movies you download or were you able to upload movies you already owned on DVD to it?

Mel, how was the quality going iPod video to TV?

[thecatsandi]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

You definitely win the low-tech award, Terry

Michelle, does the AppleTV just store movies you download or were you able to upload movies you already owned on DVD to it?

It can do both. i have purchased movies as well as movies I have archived to my apple TV.

[bryanl]

rip 'em to mp4's and store on a USB drive. The Vista Media Center works very well to organize and view them with a laptop.

[kamadeca]

I have an iMac computer with a 24" monitor that I use as a computer and TV in the trailer. It has a 1 Terrabyte hard drive and I have a second 1 Terrabyte external hard drive. I have all my music on the computer as well as a ton of movies that I have "ripped" to the hard drives.

I also have the elgato TV adapter which allows me to watch live TV on the iMac. Really great - especially since i can get HDTV over the airwaves.

That's my solution.

[elbundi]

I hear that you can use a piece of software called HandBrake
and backup your hard earned dvd's to a mac laptop, or dvd-shrink for a windows box.
Be mindful though if the dvd says it's encrypted!

[Mel]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

Mel, how was the quality going iPod video to TV?

We didn't experience any issues - the picture quality was great on our LCD tv.

Lee's asking what I plan on adding to the ipod next, since last trip I surprised him with some of our favorite X-Files episodes, and Smurfs for Saturday morning cartoons.

[Stefrobrts]

Originally Posted by kamadeca

I have an iMac computer with a 24" monitor that I use as a computer and TV in the trailer. It has a 1 Terrabyte hard drive and I have a second 1 Terrabyte external hard drive. I have all my music on the computer as well as a ton of movies that I have "ripped" to the hard drives.

I also have the elgato TV adapter which allows me to watch live TV on the iMac. Really great - especially since i can get HDTV over the airwaves.

That's my solution.

Neato - a terrabyte of space! WOW! Nice setup!

Oooo, Mel, what's your favorite X Files

[Mel]

Originally Posted by Stefrobrts

Oooo, Mel, what's your favorite X Files

Lighthearted fare for vacation - "Bad Blood" and "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space.'"

[Stefrobrts]

Originally Posted by Mel

Lighthearted fare for vacation - "Bad Blood" and "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space.'"

Excellent choices! Ours would probably be "Bad Blood" followed closely by "Folie a Deux"

I think I have more television series on DVD than movies. I rarely give in and buy a movie, but I love having a whole season of my favorite shows.

[zamboni]

I'd double the recommend an external hard drive for music, pictures and DVD's...you can pick up 1TB pretty reasonably these days.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by elbundi

or dvd-shrink for a windows box.
Be mindful though if the dvd says it's encrypted!

I have that program, and it does really strange things if the dvd is encrypted, and it can't break the encryption--like "lose" the dvd player...

[Hyperion]

Check out a manufacturer named Archos. Something like an iPod, but geared much more towards video. The higher end offerings are shirt pocket size, work like a Tivo to record TV, and have a web browser with WiFi and dozens of other goodies.

You can rip DVDs to the device, or play a DVD through any standard player and record via audio / video out.

I have the AV 500 - it is an older model (copule of years) and has a 100 GB drive. I have about 50 movies on mine, all my digital photos, and my entire music collection.

ARCHOS

[cosmotini]

I had an Archos MP3 player. It had flawed software that they acknowledged but never updated. I'll never buy another Archos product.

[Stephen Mick]

I'm a big fan of Handbrake for Mac. Let's me save DVD files in just about any format I want, from AppleTV to iPod and Quicktime. Play them on my laptop or through video out to a LCD TV.

--SM

[azflycaster]

Originally Posted by overlander63

I have that program, and it does really strange things if the dvd is encrypted, and it can't break the encryption--like "lose" the dvd player...

I use a program called AnyDVD to remove the encryption and region codes from the DVD. It runs in the background automatically when you insert a DVD. It is perfectly legal if you own the DVD and you are doing it for personal use.