raleighnet.org

SlashDot is running a story claiming that DVDs degrade over time. I’m not sure how accurate the information is, but one person is suggesting that they have an expected life of 5 to 10 years. I always assumed that I’d eventually get sick of storing and grabbing discs whenever I needed to watch a movie. Now, I’m thinking I should move my plans ahead a little and figure out some way to build a decent home media server.

I currently have 177 DVDs. Figure room for growth, and that means I probably need about 2 terabytes of storage.

I also need something with low power consumption/noise. A capture card would be nice - particularly something with hi-def just in case. Digital out for full 5.1 sound. I’ll probably want to use it to play MP3s as well. Of all the MP3 jukeboxes I’ve tried so far, I really do prefer iTunes. That means Mac would be better, but not entirely required. I will need some way to strip out all of that DRM (Disabling and Restricting Mechanisms) crap that the studios want to throw on the discs. I’d like a slim profile, and a solid remote control.

Anybody have any suggestions?