What media do you use to watch movies?

I have hundreds of DVDs, and about 20 Blu Ray disks. I hardly use them any more. I built a PC with 10.5 Tb storage, and can add more, and now I make all DVDs to HD quality mkv files. Then I use an HTPC with BD capability to play those and the 20 BD movies back.

I can play the mkv files back on my home theater, and on any other PC in the house. Dinner time, we might watch part of one with dinner, and continue it later in the home theater.

Do you watch DVDs any more? Do you play them on an up-converting player? Too bad you have to store and access them. It's so much easier clicking the mkv file, and having VLC Media Player play back anything with DTS and DD. Windows Classic Media Player, supported by ffdshow, plays back the few I made that have TrueHD or DTS-HD Master.

I wish one player as easy as VLC Media Player could play back all, but not yet, that I know of. This has been fun setting up and it works.

As a bonus, we can play all music, and view all photos on the big screen. That's fun too.

MKV, now streamed to my WDTV Live devices from a Synology DiskStation NAS. Works awesome!

How large a storage on a Synology DiskStation NAS?

We can also playback through our xTreamer Pro.

Just 3TB. Plenty for me. Do backups, file sharing, DLNA. Only had it a couple of days and love it.

Huh?
A lot of that was 'gobbeldy-gook' to me.
Sorry guys I'm still in the backwater down here.
Most of the movies I watch are still on DVD's.
I have to go this way at present because the missus watches them on her portable player and mum-in-law has a std player and it will be hard to get them to change.
I do have heaps of movies and TVseries on HDD and will simply copy onto USB stick then plug in to the DVD player in the lounge.
That's the extent of my technology guys.

i like the klm player looks nice and plays all movies! just started using it try it from pandora tv.com
cheers
thank you,
jim1953speed

I have most of my movies on Hard drives in Video_ts format, and play then on my main TV via a hard drive docking station connected to a Asus O!play via eSata connection.
Just under 1.5 TB at the moment.

I watch a lot of movies in avi xvid format on my iomega screenplay. I watch many movies in mp4 format avc and regular mp4 on my pandigital novel. I also watch some dvds in their native format.
.

Bought a WD media player a couple of months ago.
Coupled with 1TB HDD.. sooo easy to use.
The daughters love it as I put some simpsons, futurama along with a heap of other TV shows put on for me. I've also converted a few movies and shows to put on. Trouble is... I'm almost out of memory. Might look at a portable HDD. Or maybe a 2TB drive
I have to use DVD's in other rooms around the house. They won't play mkv movies like the WDplayer. So I'm a bit hamstrung there.

Hey Al, you got your WDTV on your home network? That is how I use mine and stream my MKV's to it from my Synology NAS DS111 w/ a 3TB drive. Big enough for my needs now. Next year I will likely go with a bigger NAS unit. Got WDTV's in a few rooms. Started encoding our Potter DVD collection to MKV tonight. We plan on watching all the movies on family night through the remainder of the summer.

Can it be done - Wi-Fi ?
Then I'll start saving for more WD units to put around the house.
How long is the encoding going to take ?
I've got all all my Harrys in avi at present. But if mkv is a better quality then I migh have a 'crack' (software - which ?)

I have one WDTV connected over WiFi using a ZyXEL WAP3205 in bridge mode. That said, I am considering cutting the WiFi use in my house and getting a couple sets of ZyXEL PLA407 (Powerline Ethernet) kits. Watching for a sale.

As for MKV creation, I use HandBrake on Linux. Works great. They do have a Windows and Mac version. Free!!!

I know I've said this before...
I have used Fab for converting the odd movie or TV show to avi format. I did notice in the 'drop-down' screen it has mkv option (not tried yet).
Would you say Handbrake is a better or easier option. Obviously I'd like the better quality.
The other factor is... We currently have std DVD players and portable ones with USB inputs etc. They won't read mkv.
I'll have a look, but does Handbrake convert to avi format ?

Handbrake does not do AVI format, just MKV and MP4/M4V (Apple TV/iPod/PS3 formats). MKV is just a container... In it H.264, AAC audio, chapters and subtitles (if desired). I am quite happy with Handbrake and prefer the Matroska (MKV) container over everything else. We have LG BD players with USB and they support Matroska/MKV file playback.

Might have a look at the LG next time.

Thanks Tracy

I recently read on another forum that someone thought handbrake was middle of the road, dvdfab was faster easier to use, and ripbot was the longest wait with the best result for mkv. It might have been an outdated quote. If I owned a higher ended box I may have tried this. I have found some mkv vids with great quality at half the size of divx avis. Back when my wife made vids we stumbled upon the h.264 avc codec, and were blown away with the quality. The problem was no one at the time could figure out the right codec pack, just wanted to watch everything in wmv!

I know I can use a media player, WD, Asus, Xtreamer, etc. to play back mkv files. I was hoping for a PC software player, like VLC, that can play back audio/video files with DD TrueHD and DTS-HD Master (VLC plays them back as DTS and AC3). I have tried Media Player Classic and ffdshow and it plays back TrueHD and DTS-HD Master files, but video never matches the screen size, and if the audio has more then one choice, it is nearly impossible to pick the one you want.

Is there a software player for an HTPC that can make a Win 7 PC play back DD TrueHD and DTS-HD Master A/V files well? If there is, I not found it yet!

startreksuite wrote:I recently read on another forum that someone thought handbrake was middle of the road, dvdfab was faster easier to use, and ripbot was the longest wait with the best result for mkv. It might have been an outdated quote. If I owned a higher ended box I may have tried this. I have found some mkv vids with great quality at half the size of divx avis. Back when my wife made vids we stumbled upon the h.264 avc codec, and were blown away with the quality. The problem was no one at the time could figure out the right codec pack, just wanted to watch everything in wmv!

What settings do you use?
ie frames per sec etc ?

Currently I use freemake, and since my iomega box is finicky, no h264 or mkv files allowed! So an xvid codec in an .avi container, mp3 audio codec. I'll take screenshots of my settings, since I just change the codecs/container.

Anyone use an HTPC? If you do, what software do you use for playback?

I have an HTPC that networks to a server PC with 16TB storage of flicks, and no one seems to know a 1080p DTS-Master or TrueHD file can be 20GB or more. I use a 4TB drive to hold several dozens of them alone; I have several more here and there, as well.

Right now, WMP works supported by K-Lite x86 and x64 codecs (the HTPC runs Win 7 Ultimate X64). But I want the ease of VLC Media player (which does not support Master or True at all) but opens and works clicking on a 1080p DTS or AC3 file. With WMP, I need to right-click, open with WMP, and then use DirectVobSub (part of the codecs) to adjust which audio track, sub titles, and other settings.

Some PC player must play Master and True, but I have yet to discover a good one yet. I can always use the Xtreamer Pro to play back what's on the server PC, but the HTPC plays them back better. I can see that on my Kuro display and hear it in 7 channels.

If I can find one, I can get rid of the codecs, and VLC, and make THAT the default player. Now that's why I started this thread in the first place.

WDTV streamed from Synology NAS. Works with everything I have needed it to and I don't have to boot something up. Sure, no BD's or DVD's but damn, let's help those formats die already. I don't watch enough to justify the need. VLC can be buggy... works ok for my casual use though.

But VLC does not play HD-Master or TrueHD and I'm not sure your WDTV unit would either. That audio is worth it.

My XTreamer Pro can, as can the HTPC. I am just looking for a PC player that can play back Master and TrueHD. VLC will not. Anyone know of one?

BTW, Neither PowerDVD nor Arcsoft's Total Theatre can either with files, just BR disks.

Sadly AZ-J, I am not as into movies and such. My kids are younger still and rely on the Dad taxi service to get them to their activities. Got one in Travel basketball. I like my sports too (big time Blackhawks and NHL fan). GA over at Ultimate would be the one to grill about this stuff. He seems quite informed about this type of stuff.

Who/what/where is GA over at Ultimate?

GAPonY!