Putting files onto media server

Hi All,
Im thinking about setting up a media server on my network
something like the Buffalo Terastation.
I would like to put all my movies and music etc
on the media server.
What is the best way to get movies from my dvd's onto
the hard drive ?
Please excuse my ignorance on this as ive never looked into
getting dvd movies onto a pc.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

I've always loved DVD Decrypter as a means of extracting a DVD to hard drive. This creates an ISO file that is an exact copy of the disc's contents. Of course, you would need a media player that will process this filetype.

To this end, I would recommend VLC Media Player. This player has just about every codec you could ever need built in. This baby has played every video file I've ever come across. No hassle. Plus, its lightweight!

Of course, you might not want the WHOLE image on your hard drive. This takes up ALOT of space. (DVD images are typically 3-8GB). Fortunately, you can use DVDShrink to compress and re-author the disc. With this, you can compress the disc to fit on CD (or better), strip menus, special features, alternate languages, etc. This saves alot of room.

 

Mada thanks for the speedy reply.
I have been looking around and i think i have found what i need.
Its called AoA DVD RIPPER and it can copy dvd's to the hard drive
as a divx/avi so as the film can be viewed directly from the pc.
(or so it says)
Hopefully this will work in much the same way as ripping a music
album to pc via windows media player.

 

Ahhh, yes, that's something I had neglected to mention...an AVI converter. Keep in mind that while this is great for space, you will lose some features like menus and special features, as well as the ability to easily burn onto DVD.