Starting a new "TV on DVD" project - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Mojave · 11-11-2009, 05:37 PM

Have you guys ever gotten an urge to watch an episode (or 2 or 3...

) of a show you have on DVD, but didn't feel like digging out the DVD, putting it in the player, going through the menus, etc.? Wouldn't it be cool if you could just call up the show right from your TV like an "on-demand" type service? For example, you could watch an episode from Season 1 and then immediately jump to an episode from Season 4, then back to Season 1, etc. Or maybe you're in the mood to watch a Thanksgiving episode from one show and then you want to watch a Thanksgiving episode from another show. . . Well, wouldn't it be cool to do this without bothering with the DVDs?

Well, that's pretty much what I'm working on doing right now. Using a program called Handbrake, I'm converting my DVD collection to MPEG-4 video files and storing them all on a 1 TB external hard drive. I have the hard drive synced to iTunes on my computer and I use an AppleTV to stream my iTunes collection to the TV in my living room. So far, I've got about 20% of my collection done, and I have to say, the quality is pretty dang good! I really can't even tell a difference from watching the actual DVD, except that it's A LOT more convenient.

Another really nice thing about it is that once I have the show in my Itunes library, I can then easily put it on my iPhone/iPod and watch it wherever I go.

Has anyone else gotten the itch to do something like this, or am I the only crazy one?

Ant-Lox · 11-12-2009, 11:27 AM

Yeah, I've done this as well. I have the first 7 seasons on Wings. My favorite episodes of Frasier Both Seasons of The Jeff Foxworthy Show, and many more. I run them through my PS3 though, they are stored on a External Hard Drive.

11-11-2009, 05:37 PM	#1
Mojave Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Apr 03, 2005 Posts: 12	Starting a new "TV on DVD" project Have you guys ever gotten an urge to watch an episode (or 2 or 3... ) of a show you have on DVD, but didn't feel like digging out the DVD, putting it in the player, going through the menus, etc.? Wouldn't it be cool if you could just call up the show right from your TV like an "on-demand" type service? For example, you could watch an episode from Season 1 and then immediately jump to an episode from Season 4, then back to Season 1, etc. Or maybe you're in the mood to watch a Thanksgiving episode from one show and then you want to watch a Thanksgiving episode from another show. . . Well, wouldn't it be cool to do this without bothering with the DVDs? Well, that's pretty much what I'm working on doing right now. Using a program called Handbrake, I'm converting my DVD collection to MPEG-4 video files and storing them all on a 1 TB external hard drive. I have the hard drive synced to iTunes on my computer and I use an AppleTV to stream my iTunes collection to the TV in my living room. So far, I've got about 20% of my collection done, and I have to say, the quality is pretty dang good! I really can't even tell a difference from watching the actual DVD, except that it's A LOT more convenient. Another really nice thing about it is that once I have the show in my Itunes library, I can then easily put it on my iPhone/iPod and watch it wherever I go. Has anyone else gotten the itch to do something like this, or am I the only crazy one?

11-12-2009, 11:27 AM	#2
Ant-Lox Cloud Watcher Senior Member Join Date: Feb 18, 2004 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 1,824	Yeah, I've done this as well. I have the first 7 seasons on Wings. My favorite episodes of Frasier Both Seasons of The Jeff Foxworthy Show, and many more. I run them through my PS3 though, they are stored on a External Hard Drive.
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