Building computer... Picture and audio questions for HT system

[HUB SRT]

Hello Everyone,

I know this is a far stretch to be posted in this section, but I do have audio and video concerns.

I'm going to be building my desktop soon and have had a question that no one can give me a hard answer on. I want to load all my blue ray's and music on the computer and play directly from that computer (computer will plug into receiver). Will I loose quality in regards to video and sound? Especially since the computer will plug directly into a 51" Plasma.

I was told a blue ray rip is anywhere from 25gb to 50gb. Others have told me there is software that can compress it into "M" something without loosing any quality and taking up less space.

Any help or advice would be great!

Thanks,

 

[Audioseduction]

25gb to 50gb is correct. I'm using DVDfab 8 to copy both DVDs and Blu-rays to my 15TB RAID 5 storage unit. The quailty play back for both DVD & BR is on PAR with my dedicated BDP. I will not compress because I want Bit Perfect play back.

 

[|Tch0rT|]

Compressed you can expect about 8GB for every 1.5 hour 1080p movie with the core DTS or DD soundtrack.

You should check out this forum for anything HTPC related:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=26

 

[HUB SRT]

Compressed you can expect about 8GB for every 1.5 hour 1080p movie with the core DTS or DD soundtrack.

You should check out this forum for anything HTPC related:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=26

I just discovered the AVS forum and love it.

Thanks,

 

[HUB SRT]

25gb to 50gb is correct. I'm using DVDfab 8 to copy both DVDs and Blu-rays to my 15TB RAID 5 storage unit. The quailty play back for both DVD & BR is on PAR with my dedicated BDP. I will not compress because I want Bit Perfect play back.

I was going to use MakeMKV to rip my movies. Have you used this program before?

 

[invenio]

The question about blu-rays: the movies are around 20-35 gb with just the movie and single audio track ripped. You can get AnyDVD HD to rip blu-rays. I would NOT recommend converting the video stream as it takes about a day of computer time and you completely defeat the purpose of having HD quality. If you want smaller file size, just get the DVD version. As for the audio, make sure you invest in a good DAC. Expect to pay at least a few hundred dollars for a good one, but of course the sky is the limit and the high end ones go for thousands.

 

[HUB SRT]

The question about blu-rays: the movies are around 20-35 gb with just the movie and single audio track ripped. You can get AnyDVD HD to rip blu-rays. I would NOT recommend converting the video stream as it takes about a day of computer time and you completely defeat the purpose of having HD quality. If you want smaller file size, just get the DVD version. As for the audio, make sure you invest in a good DAC. Expect to pay at least a few hundred dollars for a good one, but of course the sky is the limit and the high end ones go for thousands.

Why would I need a Dac? Everything is digital. I thought dacs were used for analog/ tube amps. How much is any DVD hd?

 

[invenio]

Why would I need a Dac? Everything is digital. I thought dacs were used for analog/ tube amps. How much is any DVD hd?

It is digital, but for music most people prefer to have dedicated high end USB DACS than have their receivers decode the signal. The quality of dedicated DACS is "generally" superior to the built in DACS of receivers (especially if they are low/mid level receivers) and almost always better than the cheap sound cards they put into computers. AnyDVD HD is "somewhat" expensive, I think it's like $80 or so. But it's constantly updated so you can rip the new releases.