PC to entertainment center

[bbrown]

let's say that i'm tired of physical DVDs. I want to burn them to my harddrive and play them on a big screen LCD. What is the best way to accomplish this? I know there are a bunch of ways of going about this, so I guess I am looking for several opinions before I spend all that money and time.

the two areas I need most advice are:

1. the most efficient way to store the movies without loss. (I figure just straight VOB files).
2. the most efficient way to send the signal to an LCD.
a. what about remote controls?
b. what about 5.1/DTS/etc audio to a tuner?

I'm not so concerned about actually getting the DVD files onto the PC - I've pretty much got that down. I guess the idea here is to have like a sh@#load of movies on some terabytes and then be able to sit on my ass with a remote and be able to watch whatever from some menu or something. It would be cool to be able to play movies/shows randomly (like music).

I figure to use VOB files because of the quality. I've messed with conversions to other file types from VOBs, but man, that takes FOREVER. The thing is, a given movie has maybe 5 VOB files stored in a folder - what is the best way to have some media program play a movie randomly from multiple folders? does one use shortcuts or something?

anyways, maybe the question is popular, but it ain't in the sticky and I haven't seen a how-to or anything in the forums.

[jagabo]

Save your DVDs as ISO images and use a player that supports that. Like KMPlayer or VLC or MPCHC. Also, look into devices like the Popcorn Hour, networked media players.

[fritzi93]

1) I use ISO images and MPCHC.
2) DVI to HDMI cable here.
a) I use an iMon, there are others available. The iMon is satisfactory [shrugs].
b) Dunno, I just use onboard (stereo) audio. Mini jack split to two RCA jacks, and into the TV. I should think you need to look at your audio outputs, maybe get a card capable of what you want, if you don't have it already.

Good luck.

[redwudz]

2b. Depends on your audio card/onboard audio. I output through coaxial audio to my surround sound amp. I can also use optical audio out. Both are from a S/PDIF connector on my motherboard. This gives me 5.1 surround sound to my speakers.