scthomp4267 Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Hi all.Kind of a newbie here. I have a Sony 777 and have run out of DVD slots, so I've been actively converting my DVD's to MP4. I would like to be able to access the MP4's via Control4 just like the DVD's. I've been reading alot of the posts about the EV9150, and seems like it's not very reliable solution. I've also been reading some of the posts for some of the more expensive solutions, but I can't bring myself to pay minimum $3,500. Anyone have any solution recommendations, or anything outside fo the box that would be a great expandable solution? I'm currently running a cat5 network with 3.5tb of NAS connected to a Control4 media controller. Definitely prefer hardware that is easily integrated and accessible via C4 Director.Apple TV?Netgear EVA9150?Buffalo Linktheater HD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecodeman Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Curious as to why you picked mp4? I rip DVDs as .iso files, and while this takes up the most space, it's the easiest to do and keeps the disc information exactly as on the DVD, so you're more likely to pick up the coverart info automagically. DVD .iso files also playback great with the 9150, and I'm even able to stream them over a wireless brige over 300' to another building off of a NAS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akg4y Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 Use DVDFab5 to rip DVDs to an ISO, then get a Popcorn Hour or similar Network Media Tank for playback. That is probably the cheapest and easiest solution, but be warned the interface of the NMTs sucks unless you install something like Yet Another Movie Jukebox on a PC that is always on. Also, you will not get coverart on your touchscreens with this solution. If you want coverart then you need to either go with the netgear 8000 or 9150 or an XBMC PC (search here for threads). Im not sure if the 8000 can play ISO files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecodeman Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 The 8000 should be able to handle dvd .iso files, it was HD media that was lacking due to insufficient processing power.Also note that the XBMC driver must be paid for now by your dealer, and will be tied to each project via a serial number, so you will likely encounter a fee for the driver on top of the fee to install and set it up. Just a way to pay for the driver creater's time in creating and supporting it and adding new features. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveC4 Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 I use an EVA9150 and love it.I also agree with codeman that MP4 is an odd choice. I just use ANYDVD to rip .vob files and it finds the cover art perfectly using the embedded .IFO file. It gets the cover art and what not correct about 95% of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bog Posted April 28, 2009 Share Posted April 28, 2009 Let's assume the following:1. Average DVD is 7.5 GB in size (this seems to be the average size in my library)2. Average 1 TB hard drive is about $1003. You use drive mirroring for redundant storage of your DVD imagesCost of the storage is $0.20/GB ($0.10/GB x2 since it's mirrored).Cost to store a typical DVD is $1.40. If this is an acceptable cost, you may not want to rip AND transcode the DVD to .MP4. Just rip the DVD to an ISO image file. This retains the orginal quality and features (DVD menus, subtitles, audio/surround tracks etc). The rip process may only take about 15 minutes where the transcoding may take the length of the DVD or longer, be prone to errors and reduce quality.Only if you need to compress the size of the movie would I suggest transcoding to a new format.NOTE: I didn't include the cost of a NAS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scthomp4267 Posted April 29, 2009 Author Share Posted April 29, 2009 Hi all.The only reason I was storing movies as mp4's was to be able to store and manage them using iTunes. I was thinking about buying an Apple TV, so was just preparing my library. I definitely would prefer to store them as ISO's, but didn't realize there is hardware capable of playing the ISO format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bog Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 iTunes is pretty lame for their lack of ISO and other format support.I run Boxee on my Apple TV to play my ISOs and DivX files from a network share on my NAS.In some ways, Control4 replaces iTunes for media management/library features.... unless you want to play that content on your PC (since the Apple TV and Boxee I rarely play content on my computer anymore). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scthomp4267 Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 Definitely agree, but didn't realize there were options available that would allow me to access ISO's directly from NAS. I appreciate the education! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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