Denyer wrote: ↑Sat Sep 30, 2023 2:25 pm
If not just finding elsewhere will probably be going with the option of ripping ISOs and playing them from main PC rather than what I'd hoped to do with a laptop and stream directly from the optical device via a tablet... which does work and I've proven with some TV episode discs (so probably ones with lower bitrate content) just not reliably enough.
Rather than ripping ISOs, have you considered ripping them as mkvs and setting up a media server like Plex or Jellyfin?
That's a project I've been working on and it's been going pretty well.
Samba or FTP is as convenient, if doing files. Android VLC can play ISOs (or a device symlinked as one). Having said ISO, Handbrake on Very Fast 480p preset seems to be as quick as just ripping and on very average hardware it's chugged through a 3hr gig recording.
I'm only going to do a few discs at a time. I don't watch very much (tend to listen to YouTube hobby stuff). I just want a more convenient option than sitting in one place / buying a TV, moving a laptop or dedicated player, etc. Ideally that's still as convenient as "insert disc, watch" but if not then caching the disc one way or another is annoying but acceptable. Had a Samsung SE-208BW networked optical drive years ago but that was very poorly implemented... something like that that actually worked would be good, or if Android VLC could play VIDEO_TS folders I suspect that'd be more reliable than ISO and allow for reliable playback directly from a disc.
Plus it's nice to keep discs around as backups (probably knocking on for a thousand in a handful of the largest size disc wallets that are available, which is another reason I can't be bothered to systematically rip them) but a lot of old TV shows and cartoons are past any great monetisation potential and are officially on YT as full series now.
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