Installation Is the Media Server something I can use right out of the box?

[aldavis]

I hope to purchase a Media Server for Christmas. If I am reading everything correctly, it appears I only need to purchase a 3.5" SATA drive and provide whatever cables I might need.

I'm concerned this technology might be too much for me to learn at my age (72). Can someone please answer the following questions for me?

If I have DVDs already on hand, do I need to attach my DVD player to the Media Server to play them?
If I have DVD Fab/Copy lifetime, can the DVDs then be copied to the added SATA disc? Is there on-board software to enable this (copying from DVD to SATA disc)?
If I don't plan to buy Blu Rays, is there any other software that I might need to buy?
If I have several DVDs that I would like be able to store on my Media Server, do I need to copy them to the SATA disc?

I realize I am probably asking the same question in several different ways, but this is a lot of money to spend on something that I may end up returning or be unable to use. Please advise and be direct. Thanks for any assistance you an offer.

[fengtao]

> If I have DVDs already on hand, do I need to attach my DVD player to the Media Server to play them?
No.

> If I have DVD Fab/Copy lifetime, can the DVDs then be copied to the added SATA disc? Is there on-board software to enable this (copying from DVD to SATA disc)?
You can use DVDFab 10 to copy DVD to Movie Server directly.

> If I don't plan to buy Blu Rays, is there any other software that I might need to buy?
No.

> If I have several DVDs that I would like be able to store on my Media Server, do I need to copy them to the SATA disc?
Yes, copy all the DVDs with DVDFab 10 to Moive Server.

Any questions, please let us know.

[Jattok]

aldavis:

You do need to purchase a SATA drive to store DVD content on your media server. Luckily, the Media Server is very easy to use to install this drive. And you can get 1GB - 4GB SATA drives really inexpensively on sites like Amazon or NewEgg in the USA. And all the cables you need for a standard setup come in the box of the media server.

To install the SATA drive, just make sure you're not charged with static electricity. You can discharge yourself easily by touching a faucet of a sink with any part of your bare skin (finger, palm, arm, etc.). Then open the packaging for your SATA drive, and open the easy-to-unlock side cover on the media server. The drive can only be installed one way, with the connectors on the drive toward the middle of the server and on the bottom of the drive. Gently slide it in, give it a slight push to lock it in, then close the door again. And you're now ready to go through the setup on your television. This takes only a minute or two.

If you have DVDFab 10, once your Media Server is on your home network where your computer is also connected, once you start the DVD ripper or copier, you will see in the "Save to:" dropdown the DVDFab Movie Server. If you select this as your Save to: destination, DVDFab will copy the files needed for the Media Server to play the movies properly. Just be sure to select the format you want to use (MKV Passthrough gives you a very good quality picture, but MP4 will allow you to save a ton of movies on the drive compared to MKV).

If you have a collection like I have, with over 400 Blu-rays and 300+ DVDs, an 8GB drive is essential. But if you get a smaller drive now, and need more space later, you can attach external USB drives to the Media Server should you need the additional space.

I hope that this answers your questions?

[Down2Earth]

This is good recommendations by Jattok but I think Jattok meant to say to get a 1TB - 4TB SATA and a 8TB would be essential if you have a big collection. Think any gigabyte (GB) size drive you would be shooting yourself in the foot using it as a movie server.

[signals]

I am confident tha TB is what Jattok meant. I buy 2TB drives for the MS, they are very cheap, often run quieter and cooler and hold a nice set of movies before changing is necessary. I like to rotate them to have a different set to choose from without having to sort through posters that number in the high triple digits.

[Jattok]

Yes, sorry, I wrote that up when I was dead tired and heading to bed. My apologies. TB, not GB...