Can I store my DVD collection on a PC hooked up to my TV?

Question

I have an extensive DVD collection and want to know if I can upload them all to a PC and hook it up to my TV? Thanks!

Answer 1

It all depends on what kind of TV you have, if you're planning to hook directly to the TV or first to a home theater receiver, what kind of outputs your computer has, inputs your TV/receiver has, and how much hard drive space you have.

Movies (DVDs) take up a fair amount of space. If you were to just outright copy every file from the DVD to your computer you would see 4.7 gigabytes of files copied. Usually if you "rip" a DVD to your computer using a computer program designed to do this, you have the option of making the DVD small enough to fit onto a normal CD, in other words, under 700 megabytes. It is quite within the realm of possibility to store all of your DVDs on your computer, but if you have an extensive collection, you will almost certainly want to invest in more storage space. I recommend an external hard drive. For your purposes I would recommend anywhere from 500 GB to 1 TB or more. If hard drive space is NOT an issue though, and you're sure about that...you must have a monster of a computer. ;)

Now, if you have an HDTV, and your computer happens to have an HDMI output connector on the back (only newer high-end computers will have this), you're laughin. If your computer has an S-video connector and your TV also has one that would be good too. If your computer has S-video and your TV only has RCA inputs, I can't help much there; I tried it once (there are cables with an RCA connector on one end and S-video on the other) but it didn't work for me, all I got on the TV was...well, I can only describe it as what it must look like when you're on hallucinogens.

If you plan to hook it up to your home theater receiver first you may have a few options. My receiver is an older one (manufactured in 1995) and it only has S-video or RCA capabilities as far as video goes; most newer ones will have HDMI which can then plug into your TV via another HDMI cable or possibly RCA. Some of the newest home theater receivers even have USB capability; you just plug a USB cable from your computer into the receiver and then hook your TV up to the receiver and you're laughin.

Answer 2

The first answerer makes a very good case, but he neglected to mention multi-media external HDD's. I just looked at an advert for a 1TB drive that hooks directly to your TV (HDMI or S video) that has a remote control and standard control buttons on the front. The downside is the 300 Euro price tag. These are becoming popular, though, because DVD collections are becoming so large that storage space is an issue. Here are some links for similar products.

http://www.jr.com/moviestation-maxi-t-u-...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...

With one or more of these, you can rip your whole DVD collection, and play them without having to start up your computer.