Rip to HDD?

[Catastrophe]

Hello all,

I've used Slysoft products since 2006 to make backup copies of my DVDs and CDs, but now I want to venture into putting my entire DVD collection (2000+ discs) onto hard drives. My plan is to either buy or build a computer specifically used for playing movies (and eventually, a computer for every TV in my house)

TVs we have now are 32" and 42" flat screens, not sure if that matters or not.

Read a few threads and I think I'm more confused about how to do it then before I started

Not sure I care about eliminating previews from them, unless it's going to save me a ton of space, but I would like to preserve subtitles if at all possible. Haven't really picked a media player for this, have tried iTunes and WMP and both seem to play OK on my TVs, but I can't seem to get subtitles to work. (Possibly the digital copies don't have subtitles, I just tried it with digital movies that came with a disc purchase)

Currently own AnyDVD and CloneDVD2, will buy other stuff if necessary.

Can someone give me advice on HOW to do this? What the best format is for both picture quality and space saving (quality is more important than saving space, doesn't have to be perfect, but I'd rather not have static and miscellaneous lines through the movies) Any suggestions for the best media player when I start playing back? And is there some sort of decent organization software?

Thanks for any help or links!

[vze2mp9g]

All you really need to use is AnyDVD HD and right click the fox icon and choose Rip Video DVD to Harddisk... or choose Rip to Image...

As far as players, I personally prefer TMT5 (Total Media Theatre 5), which you can get from here : http://www.arcsoft.com/totalmedia-theatre/ if you search the forums, you can find a discount code.

[FurryGuy]

The only advantage of having both AnyDVD and CloneDVD over just AnyDVD is that CloneDVD will allow you to remove unwanted video/audio/subtitle streams from your backup; a backup with just AnyDVD will retain everything.

Creating or buying a Home Theater PC (HTPC) is a good idea if you want a machine that both rips and plays back on your HDTVs, especially if you start backing up Blurays (cinavia concerns with stand-alone BD players). If you do build a HTPC the actual output format is semi-inconsequential, depending on what the software player is able to take as an input. All the good software players are able to read and play an image (ISO) mounted with virtual drive software (Virtual CloneDrive works well and is free, available from Slysoft). I personally would create image files if I were doing what you propose.

The main considerations are what software player you use and is the the video card able to handle video/audio output to your HDTVs, usually HDMI. Some HDTVs can natively read video files, check with the manufacturer of your HDTVs to see what they can handle for inputs (HDMI or other).

The size of your HDTVs don't matter, the technical specifications of their resolution (1080p/720p) and inputs available (HDMI, etc.). One thing I have noticed that the smaller the HDTV the less options with resolution can happen. Not 100%, but it is a trend.

Good luck, I'm also doing research for building my own HTPC.