Community Forums

Stealth01 · 10-30-2016, 05:16 PM

Being tired of carrying DVD/Blu-ray discs to the Coach, I purchased a WD 12 TB, My Book Duo. I set it to RAID1 and started copying movies to the HD. After copying ~ 500 movies I plugged it into our Blu-ray player in the Coach and received a "USB Device Not Recognized" (I had tested the concept with a 1 TB drive and it worked) !! GREAT!! So, knowing the unit worked in our home I decided to just upgrade the Coach Blu-ray player. I purchased a new Sony Blu-ray player, installed it in the Coach and tried the system out... Approximately 5 minutes into playing a movie from the USB HD the screen started flashing on and off. I went back the BR menu and the screen continued to flash on and off... Defective BR player... I exchanged the unit and tried again... with the same results! Next I tried an "upgraded", (read more expensive) Sony BR player. This time it took about 12 minutes for the screen to start flashing... After much research, I realized the Sony HDMI driver chip can't handle the ~41 foot length of our HDMI cable, BTW, all of the units worked in the bedroom with a 3 foot HDMI cable). I exchanged the Sony BR player for an LG BR player and the system works and continues to work!! I also noticed that the bottom of the Sony players was VERY HOT when the screen started flashing... Hope this saves someone else some frustration, I've always purchased Sony units but it seems on long HDMI cable runs they're not up to the challenge.

docj · 10-30-2016, 09:57 PM

An alternative approach would be to "rip" the DVD/Blueray disks to the hardrive of a computer you've configured to operate as a media server.

I like to buy Region 2 DVDs of shows not available in the US and I rip them to the HDD of my laptop on which I've installed PLEX, a free media server. The PLEX app on my Roku can access those DVDs and play them on the TV via wifi. No need for any DVD or Blueray player other than the drive associated with the laptop which is only used for ripping the disks. No need for a dedicated drive or any other hardware. A DVD only requires a couple of GB when ripped so the 1TB drive on my laptop will hold an awful lot of recordings.

FWIW, the DVD/Blueray drives used in computers are not affected by the regional encoding of disks when they are being ripped. The ripped copy in MPEG or AVI format no longer has regional encoding.

And, before anyone voices an objection, these are all disks that I own and these copies are being made for my own personal use so there are no DRM issues that I'm aware of.

RustyTools · 10-31-2016, 05:24 AM

What programs do you use to copy (is rip the same thing?) your movies to hard-disk?

I asked the pimple-faced neighbor kid, and he said he had the setup and would do some for me if I bought him cigarettes or beer... yeah, like that's gonna happen!

docj · 10-31-2016, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RustyTools

What programs do you use to copy (is rip the same thing?) your movies to hard-disk?

Ripping is different from straight copying because the file format is changed. Once the file is moved to the hard drive it becomes a standard video file format such as MGEG or AVI instead of the "special" DVD format.

As for programs to do it with, I used CloneDVD but there are others of similar type also available.

tcg · 10-31-2016, 06:08 AM

I copied all my movies to a 2TB HD and just put it in a cradle and plug that into my tv. If you have a smarttv or Roku Stick or Roku TV it will play many video formats. I chose mp4. Most newer tvs will also play mp4s through the USB port on the tv.

I've found Samsung tvs to be the best at playing videos with nothing more than a usb thumb drive filled with mp4s.

I can also put a lot of movies on a usb stick, that way I don't need to supply power to the external drive.

I use DVD Fab, best 50 bucks I've spent in a while. It rips the movie to an mp4. It does not give you chapters like a DVD Disc, it rips the entire movie to a single file. That file can be fast forwarded through.

There's a small learning curve but it's really easy to use. I can rip a full length movie in a couple minutes.

There is a 30 day free trial that puts a water mark on the video. It's not too distracting just to try it out.

There are free ways to do it but all those ways involve some technical know how and require several steps with different open source tools. I have the know how but went with DVD Fab for the ease and speed.

az99 · 10-31-2016, 09:12 AM

I put my movies on a HD also. The only thing I do not like when putting it direct to a Samung TV is that it is very slow loading all the titles.

Stealth01 · 10-31-2016, 01:12 PM

I purchased LEAWO Blu-Ray Ripper to convert DVDs and Blu-Rays to MP4 format. You can find it here...

RustyTools · 11-01-2016, 05:06 AM

ok, thanks everyone. sounds like I have something to do on a rainy day!

bruceisla · 11-08-2016, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stealth01

Being tired of carrying DVD/Blu-ray discs to the Coach, I purchased a WD 12 TB, My Book Duo. I set it to RAID1 and started copying movies to the HD. After copying ~ 500 movies I plugged it into our Blu-ray player in the Coach and received a "USB Device Not Recognized" (I had tested the concept with a 1 TB drive and it worked) !! GREAT!! So, knowing the unit worked in our home I decided to just upgrade the Coach Blu-ray player. I purchased a new Sony Blu-ray player, installed it in the Coach and tried the system out... Approximately 5 minutes into playing a movie from the USB HD the screen started flashing on and off. I went back the BR menu and the screen continued to flash on and off... Defective BR player... I exchanged the unit and tried again... with the same results! Next I tried an "upgraded", (read more expensive) Sony BR player. This time it took about 12 minutes for the screen to start flashing... After much research, I realized the Sony HDMI driver chip can't handle the ~41 foot length of our HDMI cable, BTW, all of the units worked in the bedroom with a 3 foot HDMI cable). I exchanged the Sony BR player for an LG BR player and the system works and continues to work!! I also noticed that the bottom of the Sony players was VERY HOT when the screen started flashing... Hope this saves someone else some frustration, I've always purchased Sony units but it seems on long HDMI cable runs they're not up to the challenge.

Most HDMI cables that are 40 feet or longer won't pass compliance tests. Typically, 25 feet is fairly reliable. You are really pushing the envelope. Anyway ... thanks for the heads-up !!

Stealth01 · 11-09-2016, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bruceisla

Most HDMI cables that are 40 feet or longer won't pass compliance tests. Typically, 25 feet is fairly reliable. You are really pushing the envelope. Anyway ... thanks for the heads-up !!

I wasn't pushing anything... That's the length of the cable Newmar installed in the Coach. BTW, per HDMI Spec, an HDMI cable should operate at 50 feet.

bruceisla · 11-09-2016, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stealth01

I wasn't pushing anything... That's the length of the cable Newmar installed in the Coach. BTW, per HDMI Spec, an HDMI cable should operate at 50 feet.

I apologize ... maybe I should have said "Newmar is pushing the envelope".

Please note my use of the word "compliance" ... if your cable has a HDMI compliance certificate for 50 feet (or even 41 feet), congratulations.

As far as I know, the HDMI spec does not include cable length.

"Although no maximum length for an HDMI cable is specified, signal attenuation (dependent on the cable's construction quality and conducting materials) limits usable lengths in practice, and certification is difficult to achieve for lengths beyond 13 m (42.65 ft.)."

Newmar also supplied coaches with E-plex ... we all know how that went.

None of which changes my thanks for your heads-up on what actually works.