# external hard drive for movies



## scott

just wondering how practical it is to have a dedicated hard drive to store/play movies direct from. is hooking up to a projector fairly simple and can the rest of the components be run through the PC as well? or does the receiver take care of the rest of the components and the PC hook into the receiver?


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## Guest

scott said:


> just wondering how practical it is to have a dedicated hard drive to store/play movies direct from. is hooking up to a projector fairly simple and can the rest of the components be run through the PC as well? or does the receiver take care of the rest of the components and the PC hook into the receiver?


So are you wanting to hook up the external HDD to an existing computer? or have I missed something?

If that's the case then it's not a problem, it's not a problem as it will just appear as another HDD on the computer and you put whatever you like on it.

As for hooking other things up to the computer it depends on what they are. I use mine for everything (TV, DVD, Music) so I don't have anything else to hook up. However generally it's easier to just continue to run them through the receiver as it saves you having to turn on the computer when you want to use them.

I'd hook the computer up directly to the projector as receivers can often mess with the video signal. The audio can just be run to the receiver.


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## scott

thanks aeon

i have been checking other sites as well. do i also need to get a virtual dvd playerto play the downloaded 'rips'? i have about five movies on my current hard drive, but i can't get them to play or is there a certain format or file i need to put them in? when i try to access them they just want to burn.

i'm still in the research stage of my dedicated home theater,but i hope to get some of my info and pics posted shortly.

thanks for all the help so far.:bigsmile:


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## Otto

scott said:


> thanks aeon
> 
> i have been checking other sites as well. do i also need to get a virtual dvd player


Yep, check out PowerDVD, TheaterTek and WinDVD. There may be others, but I know you can use those to play DVDs from a hard drive. I use PowerDVD after auditioning the three, but it's just a matter of your preference.


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## Guest

scott said:


> do i also need to get a virtual dvd playerto play the downloaded 'rips'? i have about five movies on my current hard drive, but i can't get them to play or is there a certain format or file i need to put them in? when i try to access them they just want to burn.


Most likely if they want to burn they are done as an image, which is basically just a copy of the dvd in a file.

To play them back you will need to mount the file as a virtual drive. To do this get a copy of Daemon Tools. It's free just don't install the 'search bar' bit as its adware, but as long as you just deselect it during install there's no problem.

You can then mount the DVD image and it will appear to windows as it would if you had put a physical DVD in and can be played with the DVD software of your choice. 

You can also rip DVDs to the HDD as the folders and files that are on the DVD and then play them directly without having a virtual drive. However I find using disc images and a virtual drive easier as it means you only end up with a single file for each movie and you can use it like its a physical DVD.

I use DVD Decrypter to backup the DVD as an iso, Daemon Tools to mount it and then Zoom Player to play it back. But there are many alternatives that will do the same job.


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## Steve Williamson

scott said:


> i have about five movies on my current hard drive, but i can't get them to play or is there a certain format or file i need to put them in? when i try to access them they just want to burn.


What format do you have the 5 movies in?


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## scott

thanks for the help. i got the virtual drive set up and everything is working great.

the file are ISO.


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## Otto

what'd you end up using for actual playback?


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## scott

playback in powerdvd, is there a way to keep a list of movies for play back, or do you always have to find and load each time?


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## Otto

Hi scott,

I'm not sure about that.


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## toecheese

> do i also need to get a virtual dvd playerto play the downloaded 'rips'?



:sarcastic: 
That's lame. If you're putting your own movies on your hard drive, that's fair use, as far as I'm concerned. But 'downloading' them sounds not so.


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## Hakka

I use a networked xbox1 running XBMC to playback files off my pc, connected with optical and component. Before that I was using pc software for playback and connecting VGA and l/r audio. No comparison at all, XBMC all the way. It will playback pretty much anything, can upsample to 720p, 1080i. I have my xbox in my HT room and a network cable running to the pc in another room. You don't need a chipped xbox to do this, I installed XBMC using a software exploit.

Hakka.


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## Hakka

Screenshot:


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## scott

toecheese

i did use "download", poor word, i admit. i don't download movies from the net or from rented dvds. i just back up my bought movies or LOAD them (is that better?) on my hard drive for playback.:jump:


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## Drobo Dude

People people people......just buy a Drobo. Problem solved. If you have questions let me know. Ive been a home theater nut since the days of laser disc and dont really see an end in sight for me lol. Anyhow, storage / play back issues are solved with this very cute unit with all the storage, protection and expandability you'll ever need. All the best people! :wave: - Mike Pate, San Jose CA


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## wbassett

The only problem I have with Drobo is the price. They are definitely very expensive compared to other options.


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## Drobo Dude

Expensive? $399 eh I guess for some. In the over all scheme of things its seems pretty reasonable considering this is a one time purchase and provides total protection, access and speed. Totally takes the stress out of storage needs.:sn:


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## Bremond

XBMC is a fantastic piece of software, plays just about anything (including DVD iso rips), My previous setup included a 1tb NAS and a couple of original xbox's running XBMC. Add the dvd dongle and it will play all non HD files.


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## Ultramanv

I bought one of those external hard drive holders with 2 drive bays (looks like a lil toaster) Thermaltake BlacX model and put 2 2TB drives in it with esata connection all my movies are on it and it seems to work great the drives never get to hot


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## ddavel544

good idea


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## eugovector

Drobo Dude said:


> Expensive? $399 eh I guess for some. In the over all scheme of things its seems pretty reasonable considering this is a one time purchase and provides total protection, access and speed. Totally takes the stress out of storage needs.:sn:


$399 for the lowest-end model without an storage. So I can get an empty drobo, or about 5GB of external drives, or 8gb of internal drives...Drobo is a great product, but needs to come down in price to, at the very least, be competitive with other other NAS systems retailing around $250. Even a Drobo evangelist like yourself (based on your screen name) must concede that they are expensive compared to other options offering similar functionality.

I myself use multiple internal drives on a main computer with important info spread across 2 different internal drive in case of single drive failure and critical info in the 3-2-1 backup scenario (3 copies, 2 off-site backups, 1 in the cloud) via Sync-back with no space lost to parity of non-critical data.


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