A total, absolute novice requires NAS assistance

[jamesinbury]

Hi everyone

Firstly, a plea. Go easy on me. When I say I'm a novice, I can overestimate how much I mean that. If you'd like to reply to my thread, please write as though you're talking to a five-year-old. I am not technically minded at all.

I currently have:

- An iTunes collection of approx. 20,000 items, ripped from a CD collection and a few downloads, on an iMac. I still have the CDs too.
- Three Sonos speakers which connect to the iTunes and allow me to play music from it in the living room, the bedroom or the kitchen
- A DVD/Blu-ray collection of about 300 discs

I love the Sonos, being able to stream wirelessly. Now, I'd like to do the same with my DVDs, and I've been led to believe that an NAS could be the way forward.

I want to bin the DVDs and keep everything digitally, presumably on an NAS, that I'd stream to smart tellies in the living room and the bedroom. I'd also like to bin the iMac containing the iTunes library BUT I'd still like to be able to keep buying CDs and ripping them to wherever they're stored and streamed from as it's still a hobby. I'd also like to be able to add the odd DVD to the library too, for instance if I see something in a charity shop that will never appear on a regular streaming platform etc.

Firstly, is this possible?

Secondly, if so, how? I believe I'd need to use something called Handbrake to rip the contents of a DVD/Blu-ray. How long would it take to rip the contents of one and upload it to the NAS on a 16.5 mbps upload broadband connection? If I upgrade my copper connection to fibre earlier, will this speed up the process?

Thirdly - and here's the request for simple language - can someone guide me through step-by-step what I'd need to do?

I think I've made it clear what I'd like to do but if I haven't, please do ask any questions that would help me get an ultimate answer. Thank you (and feel free to take the p*** too).

 

[sja360]

First thing to point out which might confuse you, typically a NAS is kept at your home. So your internet connection is irrelevant for your use.

I assume all your devices at home currently connect to the internet wirelessly via a router?

 

[jamesinbury]

Yes, a common or garden domestic broadband connection. The Sonos and the smart TV and laptops etc are all connected wirelessly.

 

[LostCorpse]

first : welcme to the forums.
2nd : we all started from the same point, not knowing a lot. so no pee taking.

3rd its both simple and complicated.. it is possible, plenty of people do do it.

my thougts
You'll still need to keep the CD's and DVDs those are your "licence entitemnets" technicall. there is just leeway to have a back up of the midia on another plat form/format.
but we all understand the desire to de-clutter and shrink our olections physically..

i think the first question is do you know what a NAS is and what it does? and do you understand its limitations?

there is also securirty to think about i.e. people from outside your hous hold againing unwanted access and potentailly destroying the data.

i dont use itunes so i cant coment to much on it but i thought it created the files in to there own format. can check on this a bit later.
But if they are in no proriatory formate then thats good and reduces the stress.

at the moment i think you still need something to play the music through i.e. itunes or something else.

Converting the DVDs is techcially possible it depends on the protection on the DVDs to secure them agaisnt piracy. at a rought guess each dvd to conver would take round 1hr to do, the size of each dvd will vary depending on the settings / quality you use.

assuming each music track is 4mb each and each dvd is approx 3gb each a rouch total of 80gb Music & 900gb disk space for a rouht total of 1tb if i can math right as a minimum. for expandability suggest a 2tb hard disk

Like @sja360 metions upgrading toFibre is not needed. you wont see the gain in this situatin.

your request isnt really a one thread topic, its several i feel soething like :
1) Hardware selection for NAS if needed
2) setting up the hardware, choosing a spot in the house.
3) accesssing the connectivity options for the nas to the home
4) Choosing and setting up software of the NAS
5) configurations of permissions and access shares
6) Software for Handbrake and guidance
7) assessing the network connectivity from router to TV
8) Configuring TV for accessing the media

its a series of smaller steps needed to be taken one at a time. not nececaerrally in that order.
as example you can try Handbreak now and start learning it. i think that might be the first step, so you can see if you want to invest the time in this route.
and a lot of time can be sent on every aspect of it if people wanted to or as little as a few hours.

i suppose a docker container could work

maybe a rasbery Pi with openmediavault. - this sort of ives you an idea :

 

[BigT]

Network Attached Storage is certainly used as a term to achieve what you want but in order to make good decisions for your use case it's worth delving in a little to what it actually means and how you might use it. If any of this seems patronising it isn't I promise, just going from real basics.

Storage comes in many forms but for large amounts of data like DVD rips you're likely looking at hard disks. To make a disk become storage attached to a network it needs to sit in a device that has an operating system on it that can then expose the contents of that disk to be used on your network. So @Emo_hug makes a suggestion in their post of a Raspberry Pi for hardware with an OS of openmediavault. There are lots of options. Sometimes these two things come as a package and tend to be branded as NAS devices like those from QNAP or Synology, or sometimes with the disk already in and so really easy to deploy like a Western Digital NAS drive.

The capability of the NAS OS will determine the options available to you to then consume your media. So pretty much all NAS OSes can create SMB network shares and such like to mean that you can see your files on the disk on your network as if it were on the local machine. If you want to play your ripped DVDs on your computer then you can just navigate to the file on your NAS and open it and it'll play. The potential problem is if you want to consume your media on a device other than a computer. Some devices/appliances will have an application that can replicate what you could do on your computer. A simple app for an ipad will allow you to navigate to your NAS and directly play a file by tapping on it for example. But move to smart TVs and such like and your options may become more limited.

One way around this which many people use is a piece of software on the NAS that acts as a media server and a corresponding client on the devices to consume the content. Probably the most famous and widespread of these is something called Plex. You install Plex server on the NAS and you install Plex clients on your firesticks, smart TVs etc. It has quite broad support. Some NAS OS can easily install media server applications and some can't. openmediavault can as can Synology I believe and many more. A convenient all-in-one WD NAS can't I don't think.

Some NAS OS can install an app such as handbrake to rip your media onto the hard disk contained. Many can't.

And I say all this because you may not need to spend much money. I don't know itunes but if I understand correctly your Sonos streams music off files on a hard disk on your Mac. In this instance the hard disk, the physical Mac and MacOS are acting like a NAS. You could install an external USB disk, handbrake and Plex server onto the Mac and your quasi-NAS is there serving video as well as audio out onto your network. Sonos continues to be the media client for your audio the way it is today and you can install a Plex client on your TV if you're lucky and consume your video in a similar way without spending money on anything except the extra disk capacity you need.

Of course there's a myriad of other options and configurations that you could deploy, like the one linked to in the video above. I favour a home built tower computer with UnRaid but there's more still.

 

[jamesinbury]

Hi all, apologies for the lack of responses, I've not had a great start to the new year.

I think you're right, @BigT . I want to be able to to stream the content on my telly rather than just my computer - but I also want to be able to ditch the computer too as it takes up too much room. So an app that allows me to navigate to my NAS would be needed.

How rare are the NAS OSs that will allow me to rip new content, from CDs and DVDs? I don't want the content to be static, I want to be able to add more and more to it over time.

Also, how might you access other 'parts' of a DVD using a setup like what I'm thinking of if it's accessed via an app? You put a DVD in the drawer and up comes a menu, you navigate to 'Extras' and you watch the deleted scenes. But how do you do the navigation if you've just ripped and uploaded the content wholesale to a disk drive? How do you access subtitles etc, which is currently accessed by pressing a button on the remote control?

Lord, I'm thick!

 

[LostCorpse]

Hi all, apologies for the lack of responses, I've not had a great start to the new year.

I think you're right, @BigT . I want to be able to to stream the content on my telly rather than just my computer - but I also want to be able to ditch the computer too as it takes up too much room. So an app that allows me to navigate to my NAS would be needed.

How rare are the NAS OSs that will allow me to rip new content, from CDs and DVDs? I don't want the content to be static, I want to be able to add more and more to it over time.

Also, how might you access other 'parts' of a DVD using a setup like what I'm thinking of if it's accessed via an app? You put a DVD in the drawer and up comes a menu, you navigate to 'Extras' and you watch the deleted scenes. But how do you do the navigation if you've just ripped and uploaded the content wholesale to a disk drive? How do you access subtitles etc, which is currently accessed by pressing a button on the remote control?

Lord, I'm thick!

i hope things are some what better or getting better for you.

regarding dvd extra's there are differan ways this can be accomodated. you can converted each segment of the dvd/blueray so everything is there for you or you can convert the dvd/blueray in to image files. there are pro's and cons to both options. i would think most people dont have the extras or not to interested in them,.
if its an image file then you play it as if you've put the dvd/blueray disk in to a disk drive, you can run a meda player and navigate around.

If you rip it to individual files then during the rip process you have the option of keeping audio track/sub titles or removing them. to access them its usually an option in the player menu i.e. were the play pause skip rewind buttons are.


i was tinking unraid OS seems to be a poular choise, for whats being asked as it uses Docker a load of things could be pulled down.

you could use a NUC connected to the TV (small sixed desktop pc's) and stream through the computer. or use the laptop connected to the tv running a streaming client or some other option.

but the issue is its not a beginners set uo. it wont be freindly.
this pos i ran across having a think on your post sort of sums up what you to do but doesnt give you an anwser : https://forums.unraid.net/topic/775...ing-a-500-dvd-blu-ray-collection-help-needed/
maybe somehting like a Dell EMC PowerEdge T150 which can be pre-built better option rather than diy hardware.

unraid is a nas os with a lot of flexability. Its a do it yourself project. https://www.reddit.com/r/unRAID/comments/gv186w/question_best_prebuilt_unraid_system/
it allows for Docker images (applicaitons to be downloaded and installed and run)
i.e. something like plex or jellyfin & makemkv,

at some point as you continue to add content you'll hit a hard limit - Hard disk space / storage space.

i think lets circle back to your original post and question 3.
i dont really think there is a point by point / step by step guide out there for what you want to acheive, because each home is differant and has differant requirements. its more of a bare bones outline and finger in the air direction.
its the sort of project you start small and work up to what you want a step at a time.
there is likely stuff thats going to break or not work as expected. or things break in the future and then you need to work out how to fix it.
i dont feel its a simple project, but i have to break it down in my head some.

i dont say this to put you of just set expectations.

your not "thick" your just at the begining of a journey.
i know next to noting about tax as an example but you might know a load of it because you've either worked in tax or had lots of issues that you needed to learn about tax.
Same princibles hear your starting at the begining. a 16year old thats left school and getting the shock of their lives as they realise life doesnt work as they expect, you have to pay for optician appointmenst... <-- wasnt me honest guv.... (yes shock horror you have to start paying for stuff!!! disgracefull!!)
sand your already learning and asking questions and at least reading up on things even if you may not fully understand.

High Five

i'll try and have a proper think on this over the coming weekend.
even if its just a repsonce that might spur some other discsion or direction.
have a think on some of the below points of thoughts. Cost being the first big thing.

Thought Notes :
size of server (phsyicak)
Location of NAS in house
acual spec - tbc
software
software tools / addons
sound levle is alos important
running network to other locations (cable/powerline)
backup option - if the server stops working
disk replacement
raid
costs to set up <-- start hear how much to spend
cost to run
futureproofing
power consumption
will this be a one person or multi user system
learning curve
Pre-built hardware (must, also reducece complexity and could add warranty)
future proofing / expandability

 

[Blueball]

If your TV supports the "Plex" app then look into running Plex on your NAS. It can stream music and videos. There is an excellent piece of software called MakeMKV which will rip your DVDs and BluRays into a format that Plex can stream to your TV. Plex "can" be accessed from the Internet but it doesn't have to be making security better.

The things you will need to consider are:

How many DVDs/BluRays will you need to rip to the NAS? DVDs are "very roughly" about 5GB per film, BluRays can be about 25GB per film.