converting video collection to bluray compatible format

[arconreef]

I am cheapskate looking into how to get my rather large (300gb+ videos of many various formats, mostly mkv for hd and avi for standard def) video collection onto my TV. The cheapest way I have seen so far would be to purchase a budget blu-ray player, and convert the most important videos in my collection to a compatible format and store them on dvds (buying a bluray burner at the same time as a bluray player would be to expensive for a cheapskate like me :P). Obviousely this is not an ideal solution, since even when I choose just half of the collection it still amounts to 150gb of data all stored on dvds. That would amount to 32 dvds!

My two questions are: first, are there any better devices that I could purchase for not much more than $150 that would be able to play my video collection without requiring 30+ dvds? The ideal device (obviously not what I expect to find) would be a 1080p supporting video player that also supports most video formats (not to much conversion!) and has an open slot to (here's where it gets a little pipe-dreamy) install the 3.5" sata hard drive I already own that has all my videos contained within it. If there is a device that meets any of these requirements please alert me!

Secondly, If there are no better device(s), then how would I go about converting my video collection to a blu-ray compatible format? The biggest problem I have run across in the past is aspect ratio. more than half of my video collection uses a non-standard custom aspect ratio. I would assume that bluray players are a lot like dvd players in that they only support a certain number of standard/widely used aspect ratios. If so, how would I convert videos to the correct aspect ratio?

I am not looking for an easy way to solve this problem, and I will probably not have any troubles understanding how to use most programs as long as it does not require using scripts or coding like avisynth does.

[poisondeathray]

Get a media box e.g. asus oplay, wdtv, popcornhour, ... etc...

Fewer compatibility issues, no wasted time or quality loss with conversions, huge inexpensive and convienient expandable storage with HDD , no clutter with jewel cases or disc folders ....

[winter snake]

May be it is an expensive solution, but new generation LCD or LED HD TVs play many formats including .mkv from their usb port.