How can I create my own personal netflix? (1 Viewer)

[AgentGeekSquat]

The problem is: I have all these DVDs and Blurays I have collected over the years and never watch them. Because, with Netflix Hulu and the Playstation Network(I have ps3 and ps4), its just right at my fingertips. I can do it all from the couch. I can pick a movie, watch it for 10 minutes and go “eh, this sucks I’m going to watch something else”. Or, I can watch an entire season of a show with out ever having to do anything, except, maybe clicking ok to “are you still watching XYZ Show?” If I decide to watch an episode from my DVD collection of Batman: The Animated Series, for example, I’m committed. Theres 4 seasons and each one has about 28 episodes divided into 4 disks. I have to get up, read the back of the case to see which disk has the episode I want, unfold the thing, hope that the disks are in somewhat the right order and place, curse myself for not putting the disks back in the right order or the right case, say "why the F is Hot Fuzz in here?", pick the disk with the episode I want to watch, put it in, curse my ex-roommate that seemed to scratch the hell out of every disk he came in contact with, and when I’m done put it back. It’s not very binge watch friendly.

So, how does one upload a collection of DVD's and blurays onto one thing? Like if I could magically have all my discs on Itunes or a USB flash drive that would be awesome, but I know that Itunes does not do that and no flash drive would ever be big enough. I do have an old laptop I don't use anymore, so I could use that as my media center and just have it pertinently hooked up to my TV with HDMI and use a wireless keyboard and mouse to navigate from the couch (my Macbook Pro is my main computer these days. It has HDMI as well). I know my laptop would not have enough space or even a blue ray player, so I would have to get external things, so maybe I would be better off just getting a junk PC off craigslist and puting in a ton of storage and a bluray disk drive?

I used to use Genesis with Kodi but gave up on it because it was just so unreliable and annoying, but would something like Kodi help? I think maybe you can configure it to work better than I had it, but my experience with it was that it was just so clunky, slow and annoying. I would prefer to have a nice looking, easy to use interface rather than something life "Finder>All Files>Movies Folder>Uploads From *** Device>Upload_986493862396_1" but its not crucial.

For a while I was buying movies on the Playstation network and I like that I have a little library and can sort through them and just click on what I want to watch, but its a bit restrictive. I paid almost the same amount I would have if I had bought a disk at a store, but I can never bring it over to a friends house or let a friend barrow it and its in a completely separate place from my other movies in my collection, which I find annoying.

So how can I create my own little library of movies and TV shows without sacrificing quality.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It sounds like you might be looking to buy/build a HTPC (home theater PC) - I don't really know much about them, but there's a subforum about HTPCs here that might be helpful:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/forums/home-theater-pcs.315/

 

[Mark-P]

There are ways to rip your collection into iTunes, but it is forbidden to discuss them on this forum. If you have a large collection you will probably need to invest in an external storage device such a Drobo which has an array of hard-drive bays so your files can be protected against hard-drive failures.

 

[Al.Anderson]

It's very easy to do what you want to do. You need a streaming player (Plex or Kodi are popular) and someplace to store the video (either a PC or a NAS drive). The problem is that you have to rip the discs, and that's illegal in the US, and so the details are not permitted on the forum. I only do this for this topic ... you might want to go over to the AVS forum; they have a relatively lively discussion of the topic.

 

[LincolnSpector]

DVDs and Blu-rays have copy protection designed to keep you from ripping the movies off of the disc and into some form of storage (I'd recommend a hard drive because of the cheap, massive capacity). There are ways around the copy protection, but it's illegal to provide software that can do it, And, as Mark said, it's illegal.

So unless you want to go hunting for illegal software, you'll have to insert a disc into a player to watch a DVD or Blu-ray.

Lincoln

 

[JediFonger]

http://www.vudu.com/disc_to_digital.html
^this wont have 100% of all titles you have... but the ones that are available on that, it's worth a couple of bucks (literally $2) to make that transition.

that way you can take that under your vudu anywhere!

the problem is not everything is available yet

but i hope in time... that continues to expand...$2 is not a bad price to pay for convenience imho

 

[David Willow]

I am 100% sold on Plex. Besides having my movies available anywhere I am, I use it to front end my HDHomeRun network turner and my MythTV DVR. I can watch my media from any hotel room in the world.

 

[DaveF]

The simple and cost-effect solution circa 2016 is to subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime, to buy digital copies from iTunes and Vudu, and own iPads, and AppleTVs and Rokus and PS4/Xbox One's. Then you can watch content anywhere on any screen. It requires re-buying content you only have on disc. But this is easy, and can be discussed within HTF's bounds.

There are other interesting options, that require a good deal more work and expense on your part, but that can give you powerful options with your existing library. Arguably, these solutions are in decline and will be obsolete in four years as UHD and streaming take over. Also, these options are not discussed on HTF per forum rules.

 

[JohnRice]

I haven't kept up with what discussion is permitted on HTF, but I can say that I use iTunes, multiple AppleTVs, a computer, WiFi and a fan-cooled 4 bay hard drive enclosure to do exactly what you describe. With 6TB drives becoming readily available, I could conceivably store up to 24TB of media, but so far 12TB has been enough. BTW, I do back it all up with an 8 bay enclosure and retired drives.

 

[AgentGeekSquat]

I am 100% sold on Plex. Besides having my movies available anywhere I am, I use it to front end my HDHomeRun network turner and my MythTV DVR. I can watch my media from any hotel room in the world.

I was trying to use plex but I COULD NOT get it to find my server. I dont have a disk drive for my mac anyway.