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Suggestions for a DVD Video on Demand System?

Posted by Cliff on from the serving-it-up-when-you-want-it dept.

An anonymous reader asks: "I was paid, with about 1000 DVD movies, by a video rental store that owed me money and then subsequently went out of business. I'd like to rip a couple hundred of them to a 1 TB disk array, and serve them up to my big screen, via a video on demand system. However, all the systems I can find for interfacing computer network to the plasma display only serve up the basic MPEG files, and not the entire ripped DVDs with their menus, etc. What systems would Slashdot readers suggest that could manage the ripped DVD files as a complete disk, and serve them up?"

20 of 651 comments (clear)

  1. yeah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was paid, with about 1000 DVD movies, by a video rental store that owed me money and then subsequently went out of business.

    A likely story.

    1. Re:yeah, right by Keebler71 · · Score: 4, Funny

      no kidding... I wonder why they went out of buisness.

      --
      "It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance." - Thomas Sowell
  2. 1000 DVDs? by ack154 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I need to start applying to crappy video stores that look like they're going to go out of business (but have a well stocked selection... :)

    1. Re:1000 DVDs? by whiteranger99x · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sounds like you should try Blockbuster :)

      --
      Join the TWIT army now!
    2. Re:1000 DVDs? by ack154 · · Score: 3, Funny

      True, I'm sure they are probably used. But really, if they're free... a DVD is a DVD as long as it plays fine. Come to think of it, even if it didn't play, it would still be a DVD... but just a shitty one that you could sell to some sucker on eBay for $5.

  3. Re:Legality? by momerath2003 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wouldn't you have to care?

    --
    I had but a simple dream, to destroy all humans.
  4. Flash forward 10 years... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    The mPod(TM)...

    1000 Movies in Your Pocket..

    Ooo.. and the domain is available!

  5. Re:MythTV by Captain_Loser · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just got mythtv working for myself, I only have 3 or 4 dvds, but this is a slick program that I stongly recommend. And hey, it has a web browser, pvr capabilities, music/media player, dvdplayer, and will tell you the weather. That way you can trick people into actually thinking that you went outside, becuase once you have this set up with many many dvds, you won't ever see the sun again.

    --
    -=You might be a geek if your computer is worth more than your car=-
  6. Suggestions for a DVD Video on Demand System? by Loki_1929 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Suggestions for a DVD Video on Demand System?"

    I demand it, Kazaa provides it?

    Oh, a video on demand system for you - nevermind.

    Hang on, someone's banging on my door...

    --
    -- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
  7. Re:If he's got plasma... by proub · · Score: 5, Funny
    Maybe the best idea is to find him a high-quality DVD player and nice storage rack so that he can organize his 1000 DVD collection and show it off.

    Step 2: Acquire and train a monkey. This step may take some time.

    You now have a voice-activated, on-demand DVD swapper.

    Suggestion: omit Planet of the Apes from the collection.

    --
    "Irony is so September 10th"
    Matt Miller, alt.fan.spinnwebe
  8. If I were you ... by enrico_suave · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wouldn't bother ripping the special DVD widescreen edition of "ishtar", ditto for "eye of the beholder" and "Battlefield Earth" that'll save you a few gigs =P

    E.

    --
    Build Your Own PVR/HTPC news, reviews, &
  9. Re:How good are you with programming? by dasmegabyte · · Score: 5, Funny

    And still have no menus. I love slashdot nonsolutions..."do more work for less value just to say you did it." I wish I could get that patriotic about technology.

    "Hey guy! Why not put all the DVDs onto a massive reel of MiniDV tape, and then just play that in a continuous loop! It'd be like an homage to the great days of 8 track tape man those things were cool!"

    --
    Hey freaks: now you're ju
  10. Re:He found slashdot, but hasn't found Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Half of your submissions actually got posted?

  11. Re:why recompress? by mcpkaaos · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's Vivid's complete back catalog. You make time.

    --
    It goes from God, to Jerry, to me.
  12. Re:If he's got plasma... by ticklemeozmo · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'll do it *hides his laptop and external HDs under shirt*.. look man, I'll even throw poop for the "full monkey experience" (that's why you buy dvds right? the experience?)

    --
    When modding "Informative", please make sure it both has a source and IS actually informative.
  13. Re:If he's got plasma... by Martin+Blank · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, but a DVD changer doesn't get the geek chicks.

    Him: Hey, I've got a 300-disc DVD changer!
    Her: So you have a DVD jukebox?
    Him: Well, yeah...
    Her: That is SO 90's. I'm outta here.

    Whereas for an array:

    Him: Hey, I've got a terabyte array!
    Her: Really? That's SO cool!
    Him: Yeah! You can't imagine how much pr0n that is!
    Her: I'm outta here.

    Hmmm... I guess the array doesn't do much, either...

    --
    You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
  14. Re:If he's got plasma... by dekashizl · · Score: 5, Funny
    That's nothing. The box I'm currently hacking on costs a cool $22K or thereabouts. Basically it's a Supermicro MB with 2 Xeons and two 8 disk arrays and a 80GB boot drive. It's also got 2 HotLink II cards in it for good measure.
    Big deal. I just gave one of those to my gardener because it was too slow. I'm installing Slackware right now on a $800M supercomputer that I built out of leaves and mud, and it's colocated in space.
  15. Re:Online Video Business? by Big+Nothing · · Score: 3, Funny

    "I did a lot of work for an online video retailer that went out of business a couple of years ago, and the only "compensation" I got was to keep the 2000 DVD's and 600 VHS tapes they sent me to scan, catalog, and review for their site.

    Unfortunately, it was all porn. Worse, it was all gay male porn."

    So, let me get this stright (no pun intended); you willingly said yes to scanning, cataloging and REVIEWING 2600 male gay porn videos? I can understand why you're posting as AC.

    --
    SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
  16. Re:why recompress? by Thanatiel · · Score: 4, Funny
    BTW-- damn, I wish I had 1000 DVDs
    .

    damn, I wish I had time to watch 1000 DVDs ...

    --
    Irrelevant news and morons using moderation to mod down what they disagree on. 2018 resolution: so long.
  17. Re:If he's got plasma... by hoggoth · · Score: 5, Funny

    > Big deal. I just gave one of those to my gardener because it was too slow. I'm installing Slackware right now on a $800M supercomputer that I built out of leaves and mud, and it's colocated in space.

    "That's no moon!"
    "Oh my God, is it a Death-Star?"
    "Umm... no... it looks like a supercomputer built out of leaves and mud..."

    --
    - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)