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newish (8 month old) Directv with HD DVR
24" Intel iMac
What do I need to do to be able to save TV onto my computer? What is the most cost effective way to get it in HD and easiest also? The main problem I see is that the computer and tv box are 3 rooms and about 70 feet apart. I would not be against buying a separate Mac Mini to setup near the Directv box and just swapping the hard drive out for a larger one. I also would like to be able to upload all my movies I have onto a hard drive and stream them to the TV.
I am just for the most part clueless on what I need to do and was told to head this way for help.
While their may be some in here that can help, I would suggest going over to MacRumors. They have an entire subforum dedicated to TV and Home Theater.
After doing a good amount of research, it appears to me I am going to get a mac mini. Upgrade the memory and hard drive space on my own to save $. I would like to upload on an external hard drive all my music and dvd's on the external to be viewed through Plex. Get the dvi to hdmi connectors for the best quality possible and the optical cable connection for the audio.
The Logitech diNovo remote seems pretty sweet also as does the Drobo external hard drive enclosure for Raid. Anyone know if you can use time machine for these or is that how you use them usually?
Might want to hold off one more day on that purchase. There is an apple event tomorrow with some speculation that a new Apple TV might be announced. It's a slim chance but probably worth a days wait to see.
The drobo is good for DAS but I wasn't crazy about the USB 2 bottleneck if you want to add the droboshare NAS. Also keep in mind they use a proprietary RAID method so if the device failed you would need to fix or buy another Drobo to get your data off the drives.
I went with the NetGear ReadyNAS Duo. Has built in gigabit ethernet to attached directly to your router. I use it for general file storage, to back up both Macs and serve content to the Apple TV or whatever media device I will use in the future.
Either way, great investments since they don't cost anymore than buying three separate USB drives.
Might want to hold off one more day on that purchase. There is an apple event tomorrow with some speculation that a new Apple TV might be announced. It's a slim chance but probably worth a days wait to see.
The drobo is good for DAS but I wasn't crazy about the USB 2 bottleneck if you want to add the droboshare NAS. Also keep in mind they use a proprietary RAID method so if the device failed you would need to fix or buy another Drobo to get your data off the drives.
I went with the NetGear ReadyNAS Duo. Has built in gigabit ethernet to attached directly to your router. I use it for general file storage, to back up both Macs and serve content to the Apple TV or whatever media device I will use in the future.
Either way, great investments since they don't cost anymore than buying three separate USB drives.
I think from all the research I have done and what I am looking for, the Mac Mini will be the best bet. IMO Apple TV is pretty niched. I wont be buying a Mac Mini though for at least a month or two.
Pretty positive the new Drobo has firewire800 AFAIK. Is there any other options for me to do a drobo like setup?
Plex is amazing looking. I just havent played with it enough to actually put files into it yet. For some reason it wasnt working to well the last time I messed with it, like the mouse didn't work at all lol
I don't think there is any filetype that can preserve the DVD features. If you want those you need to do a straight rip of the DVD directories. Those can be read/navigated by Front Row/XBMC/Boxee etc.
You should also look into a universal remote like the Harmony One if you haven't already.
I am giving Handbrake a try now, looks like its going to take around an hour to rip it, and supposedly it keeps the directories and menu's and is putting it in mp4 format.
I use Handbrake all the time but still don't see how that's possible. Definitely let me know how it turns out for you.
I use handbrake all the time as well and as far as I know there is no way to preserve the directories. If you get it to work let us know how, but I doubt it.
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Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. -Proverbs 27:6
Nope didn't work. How long does the whole process usually take for you? I am doing 40 year old virgin now and it is saying 4 hours with the AppleTV preset
I know DVDShink for Windows keeps all the diectories and menus
It's very processor intensive...depending on movie length, but I usually average 1:30 for a full length movie. I noticed the animated movies take less time, I'm guessing because of less visual complexity.
That is with a late 2008 2.8 GHz MacBook Pro. Will be interesting to see if the developers take advantage of OpenCL to share some of the load with the GPU.
The Elgato Turbo.264 Video Encoder will do DVDs that are not copy-protected much faster. You can always use mactheripper or osex for those that are.
Last edited by 350Zenophile; 09-12-2009 at 06:26 AM.
It's very processor intensive...depending on movie length, but I usually average 1:30 for a full length movie. I noticed the animated movies take less time, I'm guessing because of less visual complexity.
That is with a late 2008 2.8 GHz MacBook Pro. Will be interesting to see if the developers take advantage of OpenCL to share some of the load with the GPU.
The Elgato Turbo.264 Video Encoder will do DVDs that are not copy-protected much faster. You can always use mactheripper or osex for those that are.
Handbrake will also work for encrypted DVDs as long as you also have VLC on your computer. I'm not sure if you were implying the Handbrake can't do it, or if you were just giving MTR or osex as alternatives, but just thought I'd throw that out there.
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Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. -Proverbs 27:6
Home theater questions/Apple
