Need help with home theater setup!

[lily8656]

I'm very new to Home Theater Systems, and pretty much all A/V applications. However, I really enjoy movies, and have a lot. I'm looking for a good way to store them safely, play them, and have the capability for expansion. There seems to be a lot of information out there and many different products. I've read a lot about Control4 and Escient, notably the Escient SE-D1/Sony DVP-CX777ES 400 capacity system combination.

My basic needs are to have my over 200 DVDs safely stored, and eventually be able to access them on the tv screen from a catalogue type system (such as DVDlobby). My questions are as follows...

What would be the most basic system I could use from Escient (or any other quality comparable brand) to be able to display my movies on the screen in this way? What other components would I need besides the disc changer and the Escient system (keyboard, etc).

Does the Escient system read ripp-ed DVDs? If not, it's not a big deal, but I have a few backups of my originals, and the originals now have scratches on them so I rely on the backups I made. Would it recognize the info on these so I could view them along with the rest, and if not, could I input that information manually?

I've read a lot about programs like DVDLobby, but it seems most components like Escient come with their own catalogue device. Is there a cheaper type of box that I am missing that would load this software?

I would greatly appreciate any reviews on either product or ANY similar products, suggestions of what I should look at/purchase, or any general advice.

Thanks in advance!!

[Jason Dunn]

Oh boy...BIG question. I, like you, have a lot of DVDs and love movies...and I'd love to be able to get away from the current system I have of "walk to the shelf, put the DVD in the drive". I still haven't seen the "perfect" system myself. The Escient stuff seems insanely expensive to me - I think it's mostly sold by high-end home theatre installers to people who don't know any better. Personally I don't think DVD changers are the answer - anything based on the physical limitation of how many discs it can hold will be out-grown. I think ripping the DVDs to a hard drive is the best way of doing this. But the question then becomes, what's the best way to rip the DVDs, into what format, and what's the best way to view/manage them. DVDlobby looks OK, but I don't think the user interface is particularly elegant. There are dozens of applications out there for managing DVD collections, but I have yet to find one that really nails it in terms of elegance, simplicity, and functionality.

I wish I could be of more help, but since I haven't found the right solution for myself, I can't really firmly point to any one solution out there that's the best for others as well. :o

Hopefully someone else here can help!

[onlydarksets]

Get an old PC, load it up full of 1TB HDD, rip everything. Get Sage TV and a Sage extender (http://www.sagetv.com/hd_extender.html). Total cost should be well under $1000, and you don't have to do too much configuration.

[Jason Dunn]

Get an old PC, load it up full of 1TB HDD, rip everything. Get Sage TV and a Sage extender (http://www.sagetv.com/hd_extender.html).

It's too bad the Sage Extender can't play ISO files...I don't like the idea of ripping all my DVDs to a certain format that might be eclipsed by something better in a few years.

[onlydarksets]

It's too bad the Sage Extender can't play ISO files...I don't like the idea of ripping all my DVDs to a certain format that might be eclipsed by something better in a few years.
It will play VOBs - you don't have to convert them.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29768

[lily8656]

Thanks everyone for the help! I found a system to start with and get used to the Escients and megachangers. Is $200 a good deal for an Escient Tunebase 100, the etp-100 12.1" touch panel screen, and escient keyboard?