The one caveat is that I don't want to have to pay for it unless absolutely necessary.
Well there's yer problem...
I've gone the route of using my Windows 7 PC to playback Blu-rays, HD-DVDs & DVDs. But to get it looking and playing the way I wanted, I spent some money on software.
To start, I bought two Synology NAS - DS411j units with four 3TB drives in each to give me 24TB of network storage. I just used $120 Hitachi 3TB drives. Certainly not the fastest drives or NAS, but for the price, it's quite a lot of network storage and I don't need top speed so much, I just need lots of space!
Next up, any Windows 7 Home Premium (or higher) PC already has Windows Media Center baked in. It's a slick-looking interface, but how do you get it to playback discs nicely?
I start with SlySoft's AnyDVD HD. I've never come across any disc that AnyDVD HD won't crack. BUT, it costs money. AnyDVD HD just runs in the background at all times. Insert any disc, and AnyDVD HD quickly scans it and removes all the copy protection.
Now comes the playback part. I use ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 5...which costs money. But it seemlessly integrates into WMC and it will handle ALL disc formats (Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, HD-DVD, DVD, etc.) As far as I'm aware, it's the only currect playback software that still supports HD-DVD.
So playback of any physical disc is a cinch. Pop the disc into the optical drive (in my case, an LG Blu-ray/HD-DVD hybrid drive). AnyDVD HD does its thing and removes the copy protection - I've also got mine set to remove any prohibited user operations (the "unskippable" warnings can now be skipped
) and skip the pre-menu trailers (although this doesn't seem to work most of the time for Blu-ray). Now I don't have to worry about player updates. So long as AnyDVD HD is up to date, the player doesn't have to worry about it.
The disc shows up in the WMC interface. Selecting play automatically launches TMT5 and the discs play beautifully. Stopping playback brings me right back into WMC.
But what about those two 12TB NAS that I bought? That's for making my own movie server
AnyDVD HD doesn't do any sort of transcoding or compression. But it does allow you to rip a perfect 1:1 ISO image. And that's what I do. I rip my discs as 1:1 ISO image files to my NAS.
Now how do I get them to show up all pretty-looking and play them back in WMC?
The first bit of software also comes from SlySoft. It's their FREE Virtual CloneDrive, which "mounts" the ISO image files and makes the computer "think" that I've inserted a physical disc into an optical drive with its own drive letter. As soon as the image mounts, TMT5 automatically launches and starts playback of the "disc". But how to launch playback and have a pretty-looking list of all my ISO image files inside WMC?
For that, I use the FREE My Movies software. With My Movies, I build a database of all of my movies in their Collection Management app. Within the app, I can set a "location" for the "discs". I set that location as the ISO file on my NAS.
My Movies seemlessly integrates into WMC. You get a "Movie Libraray" section and it shows all of the movies that I've entered into the Collection Management database. My Movies pulls in cover art and metadata and it all looks very slick and professional in WMC.
Selecting play puts everything into action. My Movies looks up the location and launches the ISO file. Virtual CloneDrive "mounts" the ISO image. AnyDVD HD quickly scans it. TotalMedia Theatre 5 launches, which starts playback. And it all shows up beautifully and seemlessly on my screen! Stopping playback brings me right back into WMC where I can browse or search my entire movie collection and play another movie
So, it takes some time and it costs some money. But it's really slick and it works brilliantly. It's the same feeling as browsing through the movies available in the Zune Marketplace on Xbox360. Looks very similar and functions alike. But it's all local and there's a bunch of software doing its thing in the background.
Naturally, with HandBrake or some other transcoding software, I could turn those large (40GB on average) Blu-ray ISO image files into smaller MKV files or files that could play on my iPhone. But for my home movie collection, I personally prefer to retain 100% of the video and audio quality and I also just personally prefer to keep the menus and special features: I actually like that stuff
I have the hard drive space on my two NAS, so I don't worry about it, and just continue with the 1:1 ISO versions.
Anywho, ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 5 and SlySoft AnyDVD HD are the real keys. They work seemlessly with Windows Media Center, but you don't have to use WMC. TMT5 will work just fine on its own.
Without AnyDVD HD doing its thing in the background, TMT5 has to go through the copy protection updates just like any other Blu-ray player. It IS a pain, and only punishes the people who are buying and renting discs completely legally!
AnyDVD HD would undoubtedly face lawsuits under the DMCA if they were in the States. But they're based in Antigua
Under the law, I'm allowed to have backup copies of my discs for my own personal use. And that's exactly the case. I own the discs that I've backed up on my NAS and I only use them within my home for my own personally enjoyment. I am not sharing them or distributing them in any way. My setup is ENTIRELY unnecessary
I could most certainly just pop my discs into a stand-alone Blu-ray player one at a time to watch them! But I just PREFER the slick-looking and "cool factor" setup of having this Movie Library show up in WMC and being able to play back any of my movies at the touch of a button! It's laziness and excess to be sure. But it's just so darn cool! And I love the reactions of friends or visitors
