Any GOOD DVD Jukeboxes?

[EwanG]

One item I've been looking at for home is a DVD Jukebox - one of those 300 (or 400 or 300 + 1 or ...) Disc machines that allows you to keep your DVDs all in one place, and then call them up at the push of a button (or two or three).

The problem is, when I go to read the reviews, almost all of them appear to suck (pardon my english). Is there any machine on the market that y'all have used that you would recommend?

Thanks,
Ewan

[EwanG]

No one out there uses these anymore, or no one likes any of them, or...

Still curious,
Ewan

[Donny661]

In lieu of a DVD jukebox, you could go for one of those DVD recorders with a built in hard drive. Get the one with the biggest amount of storage, and then back-up your DVDs to the hard drive, that is if you are "allowed" to do that (I haven't had any experience with them).

Or, you could get a DVD player that allows you to play content from your computer through an ethernet connection like some of the KISS players and others. You would obviously have to back up your DVDs on your computer.

Addendum:
If your computer isn't near your PC you could get a wireless bridge and a wireless card on your computer and use an Ad-Hoc network. I don't think you would need a router or a switch because you only need to connect the two devices and they don't need to share the internet.

Or, you could build a small, cheap PC that would fit in nicely with your other home theater equipment and get a big hard drive in it and back-up all your DVDs in that. One of the Shuttle cases would be nice, or you may be able to find a case that looks just like an oversized DVD player on the internet (I know I've come across a few).

[EwanG]

Actually I've tried several of those suggestions. The "backing up the DVDs" to a Hard Drive Recorder is very hit and miss. Even backing up to a PC depends on whether there is Macrovision protection and the programs you are using.

The various streaming over a network options suffer from the current state of wireless networking - even with a 108 Super G wireless network like I have, there tends to be drops and resyncs in the signal. Not enough to notice in audio, but very noticable for video.

As for the small PC by the TV itself, that gets a bit expensive. Particularly if you have multiple TVs in the house. Certainly more expensive than a jukebox with a couple 3-disc changers at the other TVs.

However, assuming that a GOOD jukebox is a pipe-dream, I may have to take a look at those options again...

FWIW,
Ewan

[Donny661]

Even backing up to a PC depends on whether there is Macrovision protection and the programs you are using.

I don't think Macrovision should be an issue. DVD Decrypter and SmartRipper (not sure if anyone actually uses that anymore ) I know have the option to remove Macrovision while you are doing the initial rip.

I guess you're right about the wireless networks. They can be a bit unreliable.

As for the PC, you don't need to get anything fancy. The only thing it really needs is a video card with TV out and a DVD drive. Sound is usually integrated. The most expensive thing you should get is the hard drive. Even a garage sale PC or a bargain E-machines would be plenty. From what I remember, the CD jukeboxes started around $200 at least. A cheap PC shouldn't cost much more than that.