Here's the solution you really want: TitleTrack Jukebox. It will let you catalog your DVD collection on a Mac Mini and use it to control a 400 disc DVD changer. No ripping hassles, no external drives, but full catalog and control through your Mac.
When people here are talking about ripping DVDs, as I and OutThere761 suggested, you're re-compressing the video to save space at a minimum loss of quality. Using the best codecs (XviD, 3ivx, or maybe Divx), you can reduce a dvd to 1 or 2GB, with 2GB being largely indistinguishable from the original, and 1GB showing some artifacts in scenes with a lot of noise if you're picky.
The problem is this ripping process takes a LOT of time--10+ hours per disc even on a fast computer. If you actually did rip and re-compress a DVD in 32 minutes, please tell me what program and codec you're using because there are lots of folks who'd kill for compression that fast.
Ripping your collection would reduce you to a single external hard drive, but it'd take you 3 months to finish, so just getting a jukebox and controlling it using the Mac Mini is a MUCH better solution.
Because, as you said, you copied the DVD to your mac. When you make an exact copy, of the DVD, it will copy at the full speed of your DVD drive (probably about 4x?), but also take up the full amount of space (5+GB).marknicholls said:
When people here are talking about ripping DVDs, as I and OutThere761 suggested, you're re-compressing the video to save space at a minimum loss of quality. Using the best codecs (XviD, 3ivx, or maybe Divx), you can reduce a dvd to 1 or 2GB, with 2GB being largely indistinguishable from the original, and 1GB showing some artifacts in scenes with a lot of noise if you're picky.
The problem is this ripping process takes a LOT of time--10+ hours per disc even on a fast computer. If you actually did rip and re-compress a DVD in 32 minutes, please tell me what program and codec you're using because there are lots of folks who'd kill for compression that fast.
Ripping your collection would reduce you to a single external hard drive, but it'd take you 3 months to finish, so just getting a jukebox and controlling it using the Mac Mini is a MUCH better solution.
