Stumbled on PCH, should i take the plunge?

[jbutler15120]

Hi All,

I have been a geek for a long time, but other than ripping my CD collection to my PC, never got into it much. I am starting to get the itch to copy my DVD and Blu Ray collection as well and been doing some sniffing around online and found PCH and the this forum.

Until recently my gameplan was:

Pick up a WD Live Duo 4TB NAS and copy my pics, music, and learn how to rip the movies. I loved that android apps were built to access it from anyplace that I had access.

Hope that I could get my 360 to see it and play from there.

I am quickly learning some things:

-The xbox likely wont play back my movies in HD, if at all.
-I have no idea what I am doing with ripping the movies and their audio tracks effectively.
-I feel like I am biting off more than I can chew.

So can I still use the WD device, maybe a pch, a recomended rip program/process and reach my goal?

[halfelite]

First what are your goals for ripping your movies. Do you want to keep HD audio intact, and are you going to use HD audio?

Nothing gets easier then using anydvd to rip whole images of a disc, downside being they come out as 44GB bluray or 8.5gb dvd. From complete folder backups you move to turning things into mkv files. this is easily done with things like makemkv which again is a complete backup, and from there you move into handbrake which is making the file size smaller and dropping some of the quality down.


Will a WD device work. It should be able to do what you want. I dont use a WD to know what it can and cant do. Better off asking that on their forum or avsforum. Will the pch do what you want to do yes it will.

[jbutler15120]

By HD Audio do you mean 7.1, dts...if so then hopefully.

.mkv file, im a total illiterate in this realm. What players support this fromat, aka would an xbox play it?

Sounds pretty good so far though, thanks for the reply!

[accident]

the problem with the xbox is they also have the interest of copyright holders to content with and lots of money making them a lawsuit target. There is very specific limitations on video files (like number of frames, size, etc).. pre-embedded players I also tried to use a 360 since I already had it first and it was taking so much personal time to make my media files work on it that spending the money on a pch was a no brainer if I actually wanted to watch things.

[halfelite]

no the only thing an xbox will play is a wmv file. and you really want to stay away from them they are MS only type codecs. there are ways to play MKV files on an xbox using things like twonky to transcode it on the fly. But I like to keep it simple xbox is ment for playing games let it play games. You can pick up some cheap players like the wdtv live the popbox v8 for around 100-130$ that will play most anything you throw at it. I myself Have a media player for every tv.

[jbutler15120]

accident, i hear that. even using the built in media center and such it would unexpectedly drop off the network. As to the copyright thing, I get that, it sucks though for people like me who honestly own all the content.

so far, my shopping list is looking like this:

-WD Live Duo 4TB http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=620
-Popcorn Hour c-300 or a-300?
-blu ray drive for my pc
-anydvd?

guys, i know most dont like helping noobs, but many thanks

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(02-02-2012 06:49 PM)halfelite Wrote:  no the only thing an xbox will play is a wmv file. and you really want to stay away from them they are MS only type codecs. there are ways to play MKV files on an xbox using things like twonky to transcode it on the fly. But I like to keep it simple xbox is ment for playing games let it play games. You can pick up some cheap players like the wdtv live the popbox v8 for around 100-130$ that will play most anything you throw at it. I myself Have a media player for every tv.

yea im finding out that i am really ticked i stored my music collection in wmv, might end up converting that or re-ripping.

[accident]

I can't comment on the wdtv options, this is a forum of syabas owners.. those would be best asked in their forum. i'd recommend a general forum but then the dune fanboys will jump in and they tend to be less than honest lately.

A300 vs C300 is pretty easy to answer..

1: if you need full bluray rip support and a commercial playback license, the c300 is the licensed bluray player..

2: it will do full rips, and most menus but playback experience is luck of the draw since it's not licensed and doing it's best.

both are the same for all single file media.

[halfelite]

the main difference between the c300 and A300 is c300 can have a bdrom added to it. But there is a downside its not 100% performing bd player. If you are looking to rip and play go the A300.

If you plan to rip to MKV which is the smart way to go you can skip anydvd and just use makemkv it will work for 99% of things. If you want to keep menus and things with your movies you will need anydvd and rip to folder/img. If i were you. I would download makemkv, anydvd, handbrake they all have trial periods or are free. and see what you like the best so you understand the process before you dive in.

[jbutler15120]

(02-02-2012 07:02 PM)halfelite Wrote:  the main difference between the c300 and A300 is c300 can have a bdrom added to it. But there is a downside its not 100% performing bd player. If you are looking to rip and play go the A300.

If you plan to rip to MKV which is the smart way to go you can skip anydvd and just use makemkv it will work for 99% of things.

well this is huge, you telling me the c-300 will perform the ripping features as a built in feature?

[halfelite]

No it will not rip it will play retail discs

[jbutler15120]

(02-02-2012 07:05 PM)halfelite Wrote:  No it will not rip it will play retail discs

i got excited lol, any idea if it plays them in 3d? i dont see amazon streaming on it either?

thanks again for the answers guys!

[halfelite]

no it does not do 3d. nor amazon streaming. If you are looking for an online media streamer box roku is where you want to look for that.

[jbutler15120]

(02-02-2012 07:11 PM)halfelite Wrote:  no it does not do 3d. nor amazon streaming. If you are looking for an online media streamer box roku is where you want to look for that.

hmmmm, ok good to know. So what is the benefit then if you have a nas, not to downplay it. Seems like a cheaper box might do the same thing (minus the blu ray player)

[halfelite]

Benefit is some people like to keep retail blurays, they like to have the menus and all that extra stuff when they watch a movie, it had the lcd screen in case the play music with a tv, and it can hold a 3.5" drive and a 2.5" drive. its all personal preference you pay for the extra bells and whistles.

[jbutler15120]

Yea, i think if i slapped a drive in there it would do everything the WD does except the simple access from my android devices when im not in the house.