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DVD to hard drive, then watch from hard drive
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Flinkly:
hey guys,

this community always seemed smart about computing, so i need some help on saving my dvds.  at the moment i'm trying to save my futurama discs since they have started to show the use they get.  i'm looking to copy them straight accross to my computer and play them off a standalone computer hooked to my tv.  i'm not worried about the computer setup to act as my dvd archive, but more along the lines of how to copy and play straight from the hard drive.  i'd also like to get it set up easily, like a front end, so people can search for what they want and play it from there.

i'd also love to be able to cut out menu's and extra's, i'm only after the episodes or movies, and i'm not looking to save space, so full dvd quality.  thanks guys.

as far as legality, i'm not looking to share or copy, and at the moment i'm only looking to save some of my series.  if someone really wants the movies i have, they only have to look to find them, aka p2p and torrents.
spacies:

***Modified***

I just follwed the DivX instruction below and now I am hooked!



Good luck!
crashwg:
With todays new advances in copywrite protection, namely ARCCOS from sony, you might want to look into RipIt4Me and/or DVDFab Decrypter.  I'd suggest DVDFab for the newb...

Go here http://www.doom9.org/
Flinkly:
is there any frontend style programs that you can open on startup that would allow you to search your folder of movies and play what you chose without having to manipulate programs?  in order to make a "dvd player" computer archive that you could keep plugged into your computer?  i guess after building an arcade, i like to simplify things.
shmokes:
I wouldn't rip them into ISO's as mentioned above.  You could be looking at up to 5 or 6 GB for a single movie, more even with all the extras (not sure if you can strip those out ripping an ISO like that).  I'd rip those DVD's into DivX or Xvid if I were you.  That's the DVD equivalent of ripping a CD into MP3 files.  It significantly compresses it, but you can get really good quality too. 

The easiest program I've used to do this is #1 DVD Ripper.  Stupid name, but incredibly simple to use.  It handles everything from decrypting and ripping, to encoding into Divx.  My newest Maximum PC recommends another program and it sounds great, but I haven't tried it yet and can't seem to find the magazine at the moment.

As far as the front end is concerned, it sounds like you want something like Windows XP Media Center edition.  If that isn't an option because you're already running XP Home or Pro and don't want to get another version there are some other programs out there that will give you Media Center functionality.  People rave about Beyond TV from SnapStream.  Programs like this also give you TIVO-like functionality if you've got a TV Tuner card.  I'd guess there are others too, even free ones, but I don't know.  Personally, I use a modified Xbox to stream media from my computer to my TV and I'll be damned if there's anything out there that works better than that.  For me Xbox Media Center is basically the front-end you're talking about.
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