OS for Media Server

[PigWithAMustache]

Hey guys,

So my family has videos that go up to 20+ years ago. We had them converted from tapes to DVD. We have decided to make a dedicated server for storing and streaming these videos, so I have a few questions. First, how would I go about taking these files off of the DVDs? Would it be just like taking files off of a USB drive or is there more to it? Also, which OS would I want to use? This must be able to stream to mobile devices (iOS and droid), and be able to be accessed remotely. If anyone could help me that would be great. Thanks!

[imreloadin]

8 minutes ago, PigWithAMustache said:

Hey guys,

So my family has videos that go up to 20+ years ago. We had them converted from tapes to DVD. We have decided to make a dedicated server for storing and streaming these videos, so I have a few questions. First, how would I go about taking these files off of the DVDs? Would it be just like taking files off of a USB drive or is there more to it? Also, which OS would I want to use? This must be able to stream to mobile devices (iOS and droid), and be able to be accessed remotely. If anyone could help me that would be great. Thanks!

You just rip the DVDs to your hard drive, just google DVD ripping software and you'll get tons of suggestions. I use MakeMKV for Blu Rays but I'm not sure if it works for DVDs or not.

 

As far as what OS you want to run the streaming server off of you have several choices. You could go with FreeNAS, pretty much any Linux distro you feel comfortable with, or even just normal Windows 10 since you don't need to activate it to run it indefinitely now. Just share the folder that you put the movies into and your golden. It all depends on how involved you want to get with it really.

[lieder1987]

1) You wont be able to just pull the files off the DVDs if the company that made them formatted the DVD to be watched in your player. You will have to RIP the DVDs like any other using a program like handbrake or something similar.

2) Picking the OS is going to be based on accessing the files remotely (via the internet?). I dont have experience with this so don't want to muddy the waters. If you are going to watch them on your home network then just using windows / Linux should be fine and then just run PLEX.

[Oshino Shinobu]

You will often need DVD ripping software to get the files off the disks. There's hundreds of programs available, so have a search around to see what one appeals to you (loads of top 10 lists for the software around). 

 

You may find going for a prebuilt NAS may actually be your best option as the software on them is very simple to use and is often very good in terms of compatibility with mobile devices. I'd personally recommend looking at what Synology has for offer. 

 

If you want to actually build something that can be expanded more easily, have a look into FreeNAS and unRAID. I would advise also checking up on how to do things you want to do on those systems. Some things can be difficult to set up if you're not confident with Linux based systems, such as setting up remote access via SFTP. Even if you're okay with it, it's often a bit more complicated to connect, so other users who need to access the files may not like it. 

[transposedmessenger]

Once you've ripped the DVDs, if you want to store them for the long run, do NAS4Free or Freenas with software RAID (ZFS). Then for streaming, you can setup Plex.

[ezeroc]

I use Serviio.  You can download an app on your phone and stream your video files anywhere!  Just use anydvd and dvdshrink to backup your dvd's to media files.  Then install serviio on a computer/server and with some configuring your good to go.

[scottyseng]

On ‎1‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 2:39 PM, PigWithAMustache said:

-snip-

I also heavily recommend MakeMKV. It's free for DVDs, but for blu rays you'll have to pay. I've already bought it because it's great for arching the anime Blu Rays I buy.

 

But no, you can't just grab the files off of a DVD (It depends how the DVD was made...if it was a data DVD, then yes, it would be like a flash drive). Most of them are Video / Media DVDs though.