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I have a growing collection of 400 DVDs currently and would like to be able to have a more efficient way of accessing them or trying to store them all. I have looked at the Kaleidescape System, but that is out of my budget currently, so I was wondering what other options do I have? I have a Pioneer Pro 151FD, so ideally Id like the DVDs to look as good as when I play them in my Classe CDP-300 which upconverts them to 1080i. What do you suggest?
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Well on the other extreme of the affordability spectrum you could you could do a HTPC/media server setup anything as simple as a standalone HTPC with a lot of hard drive capacity to a NAS system accessed by multiple PC's around your house. It will require a lot more work/maintenance, fiddling with software and DIY setup though but it will also be a lot more flexible/customizable. Not sure how comfortable you are with doing that...? Systems like Kaeidescape cost so much because they offer simplicity. If you want that same functionality for cheap it'll take a bit of mental "elbow grease".Jason -
Stay away from the Escient Vision system.. Not quite ready for prime time yet.
Imerge is realsing a new server that does movie soon, but I have no experience with it.
Kevin D.Comment
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Honestly I dont care about it being accessed around the house. I just want it for my main room. Im technical so having to set things up doesnt scare me. If I went with a standalone HTPC with a lot of hard drive space, what video card would be best to run and what media player would be best to use. Again picture and sound quality are very important. I would not use the HTPC for anything other then movies, and I guess music as well.Comment
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Here is what I've done so far:Originally posted by TYE
visit www.thegreenbutton.net for the best source of information on media center. You'll need Vista Home Premium/ Ultimate or Windows 7. There are others out there, but I'm an MS whore. sorry.
I bought a gigabyte motherboard. It works great, supports 7.1 LPCM over HDMI and is based on the nvidia geforce 9400 mobo chipset (onboard geforce 8800 vid card).
To browse video's, there is a plug-in called media browser that is slick for browsing your movies. Arcsoft's TotalMedia Theater 3 is a cool plug-in for blu-ray/dvd playback in media center, and supports ati and nvidia hardware scaling for better performance. They also sell slimhd as a cheap plug-in that is supposed to work as a great upscaler. I think slysoft has the best products for ripping to your library as it will also bypass hddvd and blu-ray copy protection if you want to store those as well.
finally, there are also numerous QAM tuners you can get for your HTPC to get clear QAM channels and record your TV programs. You won't get the hbo's, showtimes or any of those without a full-blown cable card system, but thats a full conversation unto itself, but it is still cool. there is also a cool link to automatically download your favorite TV programing in HD if you want to consider cancelling cable.
and don't forget about hulu and secondrun.tv!
As you can see, there is a lot you can do with an HTPC. hope that helps. I've spent the last 6 months learning this and it should save you some time if you are interested in going this route.I'm just sittin here watchin the wheels go round and round...Comment
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Thanks for all the info. Can you give me the specs on the other componenets you ended up going with, like case, etc etc. Also, since sound is important to me as well, would I just basically be going from the hdmi in the motherboard directly to my processer, then from processor to tv?Originally posted by sikoniko
Did you run one single hard drive, or did you set up a Raid array so that you arent trusting all your movies into one drive.Comment
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If you go down to the Tower of Power section on HTG I and many others have some build logs there of HTPC's.Comment
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Sunfire just came out with a brand new Media center that can stream to room boxes all over the house. It has a server on your network and home network connections make everything play nice together. Go check it out.
DanComment
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The Sunfire is the same as the Imerge, probably more expensive.
Kevin D.Comment
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Building your own is arguably the most affordable option, though the downside is that you're going to miss out on higher quality audio processing on the source end (BD Audio is still a pain to get properly working, let alone Bitstream). If you're not the DIY type, you could look into systems from Niveus, or purchase/build a simple File Server and rig it up to the home network. My current setup streams my DVD collection from my PC HDD to the Playstation 3 in an MPG container with the preferred soundtrack (DD, DTS, or PCM); works quite well, and much better for TV Seasons.
You mention you want them to look as good as they do in your Classe DVD Player, and while technically possible to do on an HTPC (especially with modern GPUs), the software is lacking at this point in time. The Kaleidescape system has gotten universal praise for their DVD Upscaler, but the system is incredibly expensive for what it offers; still, it is a fully legal option here in the states.
Best of luck with whatever you choose!Comment
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