Why is this so difficult...

[VolvoR]

Here's my scenario....

I run an audio/home theater store here in Toronto, Canada...free plug... www.topchoices.ca Say you're from [H] and I'll give you a stupid deal (no one beats my prices in Canada anyways).

I've got about 200+ movies (about 40 Blu Ray and the rest regular DVD) that I'd like to put on a dedicated server. I have about $1000 to spend on this. So my budget will allow more than enough storage space, and a fast enough CPU/RAM to rip the movies.

I'd like to set up two seperate computers in the store, one for the main theater, one for a wall of flat panel displays. I have a budget of about $2000 for this. Again, no problem getting two computers that are fast enough to stream and play the movies. I'll be using IR remotes to control the computers.

Here's what I'd like...
1- Wireless streaming to BOTH machines at the same time, playing different movies.
2- 1080p playback of Blu Ray content that I have ripped to my server.
3- VMC integration with My Movies
4- No loss of image or sound quality (Dolby True HD doesn't matter, but DD and DTS are important)

We already have a wireless N router in the store, and I'll be using wireless N cards in the computers.

I've read the guides and tutorials, and they seem so damn complicated. Is there a way that I can simply put a Blu Ray movie into my Blu Ray drive, and click a single button to rip it to my server, put it in the right place on the server, and be able to play it from the other computers?

I'm trying to come up with something anyone can do. I like to think that I'm fairly computer literate (apparently not!!!), but most of my clients are NOT computer literate, but they love the idea of a movie server that's user friendly and doesn't cost $30,000 like this one... www.kaliedascape.com .

Thanks for the input guys, any help is appreciated.

 

[purdym]

I like problems like this, but they required a lot of planning and hard work.

First, do you have all three computers (server, client1, client2) yet? In general, I'd make them all the same. Buy three of everything. That way you won't run into problems with different hardware. However, the "server" probably needs a to be "better": a faster CPU and of course more HD space.

I don't know how to rip Blu Ray; ripping DVDs is easy, use DVD Decrypter. Although, I do wonder about the legality of a business doing this.

Sorry, I don't use VMC either. Check out the sticky at the top of the this forum.

Are you wanting to sell a HTPC to your clients? ("I'm trying to come up with something anyone can do.") I found HTPCs require a lot of tinkering to get them to work.

And I think what your really asking about is: managing content. I personally don't use any software to manage my media. I just organize it on the hard drive (myself). I browse to it using widows explorer and run it.

 

[VolvoR]

There's no legal issue with selling a computer to a client and having them put their own software on it...

It's really more of a showpiece for the store though...something cool for people to talk about, and a great way for us to manage what we've got to demo on the TVs and the surround sound systems.

That's why I was asking if there's an easy way to do this, eg: one codec pack, or something that checks for updates for codecs...

I'd like to:
Put the disc in the drive (with whatever software running...) click a button, and then go over to another computer and be able to watch that movie (I know this will take about 1/2 an hour, but that's ok).

And the computers don't all have to be the same, the server has to be fast, the others don't as they won't be ripping the content, that'll be done on the server.

 

[Vader]

In general, I'd make them all the same. Buy three of everything.

Bad advice here. In general, you will not need a beefy system to stream content..you'll need more power on the front end clients to process the video etc.

My suggestion:

SERVER:
1. HP MediaSmart Server: Upgrade Memory to 2GB, and add 4x1TB Harddrives.
2. Obtain AnyDVD HD software and install on WHS box.
3. Obtain MyMovies for WHS and install on WHS box.
4. Rip content to storage on WHS box via MyMovies Add-in w/Any DVD HD for WHS

CLIENTS:
1. Build systems based off of AMD/AMD 780g Chipset or Intel/Nvidia 9300-9400 with lowerend lowwattage Dual Core CPU, 2GB's memory, Vista Home Premium. Storage isn't important as WHS will handle that.
2. Install My Movies on Clients and add your DVD/Blue Ray rips to the database.

NETWORK:
GO GIGABIT Network. Even wireless N isn't solid enough, IMO, to stream HD CONSISTANTLY.

Play Blue Ray Rips, HD, DVD from clients via MyMovies on the clients.

 

[brownkc]

** Just read the advice from the guy above and I have something new to check out. I will leave my info though since it does cover AnyDVD in a little more detail.

I ripped my HDDVDs, BluRay Discs and DVDs with the HD edition of AnyDVD. All you have to do is install the software and change the settings to your preference. Once installed, a red fox icon appears in your systray. Pop a movie in and it will take a minute for AnyDVD to recognize it. After that, just right click the icon and select rip DVD (or ISO) to hard drive from the context menu. A box will pop up with the last place you saved a rip and you can just hit the copy button.

Regarding HD Movies: AnyDVD can remove the copy protection or not depending on what you need. If you don't remove it, then you may have problems playing back on a computer without AnyDVD running in the background. The only way I have found to play back an HD movie from my hard drive (without all of the convoluted steps) is to rip as an ISO (basically, just an image of the original disc), mount the ISO as a virtual drive (AnyDVD has a free program that can do this and you might be able to create a virtual drive for each movie you have - I haven't tried this) and then open a software package that can play back that type of video. I use Cyberlink PowerDVD HD for this.

Regarding SD Movies: I have to create a folder for each movie since there are multiple files pulled from the Disc. I have not figured out how to use a GUI movie interface with them yet but I know it's possible. This is an added step after selecting copy DVD to hard drive because I create the folder in my save location and then navigate to it from the AnyDVD pop up box before copying.

I'm still a little new with this so take my advice with a grain of salt. I've made it work for me but there may be easier ways. I still have not found a way to easily integrate everything for playback.

 

[Modred189]

I'll be honest and tell you did not read the rest of the thread, but I don't need to!
It's relatively easy, actually.
1- Go get DVDFab. There is a free trial period of 30 days, so no risk
2- put a blue-ray drive in the server and use it to back up the blue rays to the server
3- put Vista home premium and somethig like Nero9 or whatever for the blu-ray codecs on all three
4- Share the folder with your disk backups over the network, do not restrict acess at all.
5- Open vista Media center in the remote systems, add a network folder to the dvd library list (the folder on your server)
6- follow these directions to have the DVD library in media center show cover art-
7- You are done! Now, you can rip your blue rays into backups at 100% quality, PLUS, access them remotely with a sleek interface.

 

[purdym]

Thinking about the hardware infrastructure for such a project, if he's going to build the three systems himself:

Then, an AMD/AMD 780g Chipset or Intel/Nvidia 9300-9400, will work just fine - for perhaps the server and the clients.

I'm suggesting all three be the same to avoid finding three different video drivers, three different audio drivers, etc.

 

[SC385]

Bad advice here. In general, you will not need a beefy system to stream content..you'll need more power on the front end clients to process the video etc.

My suggestion:

SERVER:
1. HP MediaSmart Server: Upgrade Memory to 2GB, and add 4x1TB Harddrives.
2. Obtain AnyDVD HD software and install on WHS box.
3. Obtain MyMovies for WHS and install on WHS box.
4. Rip content to storage on WHS box via MyMovies Add-in w/Any DVD HD for WHS

CLIENTS:
1. Build systems based off of AMD/AMD 780g Chipset or Intel/Nvidia 9300-9400 with lowerend lowwattage Dual Core CPU, 2GB's memory, Vista Home Premium. Storage isn't important as WHS will handle that.
2. Install My Movies on Clients and add your DVD/Blue Ray rips to the database.

NETWORK:
GO GIGABIT Network. Even wireless N isn't solid enough, IMO, to stream HD CONSISTANTLY.

Play Blue Ray Rips, HD, DVD from clients via MyMovies on the clients.

This is almost exactly what I would suggest for what the OP is looking for.

The HP servers are great and for ripping DVDs and blu-ray you don't need a lot of power, just a lot of storage. And if you put the mymovies add-in on there with AnyDVD HD then you will be able to put the disk in the computer and it will rip it to a central location and add it to the movie list on the clients. If you get one of these HP servers then make sure to find an external enclosure that uses eSATA since ripping Blu-Rays and DVDs over usb is extremely slower than IDE or SATA.


Streaming HD over wireless is just a bad idea, you're trying to sell these systems and if potential clients see them struggling to play back the media then they won't buy one. Go Gigabit because the playback will be choppy and any wireless.

 

[nitrobass24]

Ok you have gotten some good suggestions, but I would do it slightly different. BTW I have this exact situation at my home but with 3 clients.

[H]ARDWARE:
First off if you plan on doing Blu-Ray your going to need a real sever. 40 bluray ISO's is ~1.2tb so your going to need a system that can take some HDD's I suggest building your own.
I would grab a Intel board with onboard dual gigabit nics, with plenty of PCI slots, so you can expand your storage with Supermicro SAT2-MV8 controllers.
45nm low power dual core, and 4b of ram. I would use 1.5tb HDD's
BluRay drive.

Build your HTPC's with Gigabyte 780g boards and a AMD 4850e 4gb ram. Unless you want a kickass case for showing off to your customers you can build these client systems for less then $500 ea very easily. And then have more to spend on HDD's

Software:
Server:
WHS
MyMovies(not WHS version, just the regular x86 server/client) reason I say not the WHS version is that I just dont think it works that well and it installs all this crap that you dont need.
Daemon Tools
AnyDVDHD

HTPC:
Vista Home Premium
MyMovies Client Edition
PowerDVD7 or 8
FFDshow
ac3Filter

On a network note....Wireless will simply not cut it for HD playback. I can get it work ok on my laptop some of the time. Problem is wifi is a shared bandwith technology where wired each client gets full speed. Spend the time run some cat5 youll be much happier you did.

 

[VolvoR]

you guys are amazing...thanks for the input!!
I really appreciate it!

I'll let you know if I have any further questions or something doesn't work the way I'm hoping it will...

Thanks again!!!

 

[UT-Jackal]

Yeah, everyone pretty much got all of the details. I run a similar setup in my house.

Side notes/my opinion:
Gigabit is a must. Can't properly stream uncompressed BD's via wireless to my knowledge, at least at a reasonable price.
AnyDVD+HD is one of the few softwares i purchased, well worth it @ $80 for ripping your blu-rays.
WIth the 780g boards, or at least mine, unless you want to run 2-channel audio you must use SPDIF.
I didn't go with WHS because it was buggy on my old desktop, i think driver issues, so i just use XP and it works fine as a pseudo-server.

This should be a pretty easy build, aside from working out the never ending software issues.

 

[Adidas4275]

Bad advice here. In general, you will not need a beefy system to stream content..you'll need more power on the front end clients to process the video etc.

My suggestion:

SERVER:
1. HP MediaSmart Server: Upgrade Memory to 2GB, and add 4x1TB Harddrives.
2. Obtain AnyDVD HD software and install on WHS box.
3. Obtain MyMovies for WHS and install on WHS box.
4. Rip content to storage on WHS box via MyMovies Add-in w/Any DVD HD for WHS

CLIENTS:
1. Build systems based off of AMD/AMD 780g Chipset or Intel/Nvidia 9300-9400 with lowerend lowwattage Dual Core CPU, 2GB's memory, Vista Home Premium. Storage isn't important as WHS will handle that.
2. Install My Movies on Clients and add your DVD/Blue Ray rips to the database.

NETWORK:
GO GIGABIT Network. Even wireless N isn't solid enough, IMO, to stream HD CONSISTANTLY.

Play Blue Ray Rips, HD, DVD from clients via MyMovies on the clients.

+1 the mymovies WHS addin folder monitor is fairly good at just knowing that when the movies is there.... as long as you know the DVD title exactly, otherwise you might need to change it a little. the WHS addin had been updated twice... have you used it since the last 2 updates?

i use WHS mymovies with my HTPC running VMC client mymovies over gigabit and it works great...


wish the UI would get updated for mymovies

 

[SC385]

wish the UI would get updated for mymovies

+1 to an updated UI. I wish it would look like Open Media Library, the MCE Viewer included with Movie Collectorz, or the DVD gallery in VMC.