Newbie with a PVR/Hard Drive Problem

[gassito]

Hello,

Please be patient with me because I am a newcomer to all this.

I have backed up several of my store-bought DVDs to my computer (using DVD Shrink and without any compression in Audio_TS and Video_TS format). I have each DVD in a folder (for example, "The Magnificent Seven" folder) which has folders entitled Video-TS and Audio-TS.

In case any of my original DVDs are damaged, I'd like to be able to be able to play the DVD stored on my hard drive either directly through my television or transferred to a digital recorder with a hard drive and played from that. Could anyone please explain (step-by-step) how it would be possible to do this from the external hard drive or from the digital recorder's hard drive?

As I said, I'm a beginner, so I apologise if I seem a bit ignorant.

Many thanks.

[guns1inger]

Best option would be to buy yourself a DVD player that is able to play files from a portable USB drive. There are many cheap options available now, including some nice models from Pioneer. We don't seem to get the same Philips models that are prevalent in the US.

Use AutoGK to encode your movies to Divx/Xvid using a quality based encode and a width of 720 pixels. I would suggest you start at 75% and go up until you are happy with the file size versus quality trade-off. Store these files on a portable USB HDD.

You can buy large capacity drives very cheaply - a terrabyte will cost you less than AUD$200, however this will have to be powered separately. Lower capacity portable drives that are powered from the USB port might be a simpler option.

[jagabo]

Maybe the new Western Digital HD Media Player? Or Popcorn Hour?

[gassito]

Thank you guns1inger and jagabo-- I'll do as you suggested.

[easttxgirl]

after backing up my dvd to an external hard drive how easy is it to burn another copy WHEN (not if) the kids scratch the original?

[jagabo]

Start up ImgBurn, select Mode -> Build, browse to a VIDEO_TS folder, burn. It doesn't matter if the VIDEO_TS folder is on an internal or external drive.