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    Movie File Server

    My family has a couple 100 movies that I would like to put into a Movie file server. It would save us time in having to find the DVD/Blu-Ray and it would also save the disks from getting scratched. I am looking for the best way to do this so that My family can access the movies from there computer or from the TV's in the house.

    Anyone have any ideas?


    Mayres457

    #2
    For the software, have a look at XBMC. It's free and gives artwork, plot and other details.

    You can centralise the database and it provides a uPnP server for the TV's which usually will not run any software or use SMB shares.

    For the server I just use an older PC that I don't use any more and for storage I use NAS's which I can expans when necessary.
    "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790

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      #3
      Originally posted by GregiBoy View Post
      For the software, have a look at XBMC. It's free and gives artwork, plot and other details.

      You can centralise the database and it provides a uPnP server for the TV's which usually will not run any software or use SMB shares.

      For the server I just use an older PC that I don't use any more and for storage I use NAS's which I can expans when necessary.
      Thanks for the info I will check them out. Someone had told me PLEX as well. What format should I rip the DVD/Blu-Ray's as so that I can keep the closed caption option?

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        #4
        I would use MKV format (Have a read through the link in my signature below. It is a bit outdated but the principles still apply)

        You may have trouble with the SUBTITLES on the TV's as all uPnP server/clients seem to have some trouble with this.

        I prefer XBMC to Plex. Give it a go. It's FREE!!!
        "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790

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          #5
          another quick question

          I have a lot of DVD's for TV series that have 4 to 5 episodes per DVD. Is their anyway to rip the episodes so that I can put them out on my server with out having to put each episode in it's own file? I would like to be able to put it as each DVD but all 5 episodes available for each DVD. Is that possible?

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            #6
            You could save them in ISO format which would be the same as having the DVD but unfortunately, most TV's will not support this format so it looks like you should stick with a file per episode.

            There is an advantage with sticking with single files though. XBMC will recognise each episode and give you the plot for each episode.

            You can make it all pretty painless to manage and view with how you structure your directories.

            This is how I do it:-

            TV Shows->The Walking Dead->The Walking Dead SXX->The Walking Dead SXXEXX

            (Replace the XX with appropriate season/episode..)
            "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790

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              #7
              My two cents is XBMC is great way to go. I have used it for sometime now and love it. The latest versions now support HD Audio Passthrough if you have the right graphics card in your PC.

              Insofar as format mkv is very nice as it allows you to have the one or multiple subtitles. You can either have them embedded within the mkv file by using an external tool to create the mkv or dvdfab which wlll create dvd type subtitles which are external. I used to go that way until i discovered that you could embed the subtitles within the mkv file which has some advantages such as you can label them to represent exactly what they are (i.e. English Subtitle, English Subtitle SDH, English Commentary Subtitle for movies that have that. This way you not guessing which subtitle is for what and same with audio tracks.

              In addition mkv supports chapters. If your movies are backed up blu-rays you can convert them to mkv with no quality loss (remux) however there is a tradeoff is size. I chose to have no picture quality loss. On bigger screens it does make a difference and you don't have the additional time spent in converting the quality to a lower version which does take a lot of time (hours) whereas a remux takes 15 mins. I chose to just buy hard drives as the remux option is much quicker and i get the HD Audio.

              Hope that helps

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                #8
                MKV also allows multiple audio streans which is another bonus.

                I also embed the cover art and NFO file within the container.
                "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790

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                  #9
                  We are developing our Media Server, if you want to be early beta tester, please PM me.
                  DVDFab is the all-in-one software package for copying Blu-ray/DVD and converting video file.
                  http://www.dvdfab.cn

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by fengtao View Post
                    We are developing our Media Server, if you want to be early beta tester, please PM me.
                    I'm interested in this also
                    I SUPPORT 'FAIR USE'. MY MORALS PREVENT ME FROM HELPING ANYONE WHO OBTAINS COPYRIGHTED CONTENT ILLEGITIMATELY
                    I've been testing hardware media playback devices and software A/V encoders and decoders since 2001 | My Network Layout and A/V Gear

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