BLU-RAY and Home Media Centers: How do they work ?

[Engage]

Hey guys, it seems like home media centers keep getting more popular. Devices like this: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1270

These devices are great because all the user needs to do is plugin a 3TB USB drive and they have access to all of their content without getting out of their chair.

I've only bought a few movies on Blu-Ray discs so it's not an issue for me, but I keep seeing how users on here seem to have so much content on Blu-Ray disc so how do you balance having a home media center?

Thanks!

[refnulf]

WD TV is great for playing digital files, and streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, WWE Network, HBOGO, Showtimeanytime, etc. The quality of those streams might be great, but it doesn't compare to the blu-rays that you have on disc. Of course a better piece of hardware would be the Roku 3.

Blu-ray handling is a problem, having to constantly change disc might be an issue but ripping em to your HDD and watching em off your network using a network media player solves the problem there, especially when you're trying to watch a TV show that has 24+ disc on the complete series blu-ray collection. I have a network media player that allows me to play full blu-ray copies off my hard drives, and any other file I might have on the network.

I use the streamers like WD TV, or Roku 3 for Netflix/Hulu, etc and watch what I can't get on blu-ray, you won't find latest tv shows out on blu-ray a day after it airs so those services are good for something. Also watching archives of tv shows that you might not have on blu-rays, or aren't out on blu-ray at that time.

Other than that, I stick to blu-rays because of the quality. It's not the best format out there, but the best you can get for personal viewing. Avoid all the digital copies that come with the blu-ray (UV, DC, Itunes) because they're sub standard encodes and a waste of time if you're a person that appreciates the quality a blu-ray gives you.

[slimdude]

Home Media Centers are convenient, if you stream a lot of movies and other content on the internet. Personally, It wouldn't benefit me because, I don't stream my movies. I very much prefer physical media.

[mogwai_macabre]

I use a Roku and a PS3 for streaming Netflix/Amazon/Hulu/Vudu. They work great for that. The WD device probably works just as well.

But I really don't see the benefit of ripping blu-rays to a hard drive for convenience. First off, 3TB isn't really a lot of space. Not for full quality blu-ray rips at least. Second, it's going to take a large amount of your time to rip your collection. Then what about accessing menus/special features? I'm not sure.

All for what? To not get off the couch once every two hours?

I think for the most part, people who use a 3 TB hard drive under their TV for media are most likely downloading their content, either from legitimate or illegitimate sources, and not storing full quality 50GB blu-ray on their hard drive.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by mogwai_macabre

I think for the most part, people who use a 3 TB hard drive under their TV for media are most likely downloading their content, either from legitimate or illegitimate sources, and not storing full quality 50GB blu-ray on their hard drive.

I was reading this article yesterday about WD's 10TB hard drive and saw that someone made a comment that 10TB was huge and implied no one would need one other than for video editing. What amazed me is that they stated they had 600 movies, 5000 episodes, photos, and music on a 2.5TB HDD. In order to get all of that on a 2.5TB drive those files must look like shit.

600 movies would average out to ~4GB per movie (DVD quality or lower) on a 2.5TB HDD without taking into account the 5000 episodes and photos and music. I can't imagine what the average file size would be with the episodes factored in.

http://gizmodo.com/sadly-this-10tb-h...not-1691245306

Originally Posted by thatguyalex

10TB is huge...I mean, unless you are video editing, I can't imagine the average user comes anywhere near that kind of storage requirement...personally I have 2.5 tb's of stuff and that's, cough, like 600 movies and 5000 eps of tv plus all my photos and music and what not...

[makinbiscuits]

If you're ripping blus and not compressing them down 3tb will be filled fast. Better invest in a Nas.

[mogwai_macabre]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

I was reading this article yesterday about WD's 10TB hard drive and saw that someone made a comment that 10TB was huge and implied no one would need one other than for video editing. What amazed me is that they stated they had 600 movies, 5000 episodes, photos, and music on a 2.5TB HDD. In order to get all of that on a 2.5TB drive those files must look like shit.

600 movies would average out to ~4GB per movie (DVD quality or lower) on a 2.5TB HDD without taking into account the 5000 episodes and photos and music. I can't imagine what the average file size would be with the episodes factored in.

http://gizmodo.com/sadly-this-10tb-h...not-1691245306

I agree, but with today's codecs a 4GB file would look a lot better than a DVD. I wonder what the file sizes of 1080P steaming Netflix movie are? Less than 10GB I would guess, but I really don't know.

[bkfountain]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

I was reading this article yesterday about WD's 10TB hard drive and saw that someone made a comment that 10TB was huge and implied no one would need one other than for video editing. What amazed me is that they stated they had 600 movies, 5000 episodes, photos, and music on a 2.5TB HDD. In order to get all of that on a 2.5TB drive those files must look like shit.

600 movies would average out to ~4GB per movie (DVD quality or lower) on a 2.5TB HDD without taking into account the 5000 episodes and photos and music. I can't imagine what the average file size would be with the episodes factored in.

http://gizmodo.com/sadly-this-10tb-h...not-1691245306

i ripped my dvd collection to a HDD before getting into bluray and would easily get mkv movies at like 800MB-1GB, tv shows at 500MB.

havent started ripping blurays yet though.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by bkfountain

i ripped my dvd collection to a HDD before getting into bluray and would easily get mkv movies at like 800MB-1GB, tv shows at 500MB.

havent started ripping blurays yet though.

Even if we were to assume the episodes were 500MB each 5,000 of them is right at 2.5TB. Obviously converting them to H.264 would account for some of the file size reduction but even then I can't see how all of that material can fit on a 2.5TB HDD without sacrificing quality. Not to mention DVD quality is no longer the best quality any more so I couldn't fathom reducing it any further.