Have a client that recently changed the video system from distributed to Ignite TV boxes at each TV. It was explained that they would no longer have access to the old DVD player. It was also asked, when was the last time you watched a DVD and they could not remember.
Now things are changed, and they have an easy to use remote, and the cable box also gives them 4K, Netflix and Prime, everything was going great.
Then DVD's came up again.
They mostly have a bunch that were recorded at family functions etc, plus a few documentaries. Might only be around 50 discs I saw in a cabinet.
So they are asking if I can hook up a new player to 1 TV for viewing. Problem is there is no where local to any TV to put a player. So it would have to go back into small rack space where we have music system still running. I have cat 5 and 6 that I could access going to a TV and add a balun, and I would have to use one with IR in and out so they could control the player.
I talked about using PLEX, there is a tower computer that is in his home office where we could load the discs to and I think plex is pretty easy to use. They seemed to be a bit apprehensive about this though.
Are there any other options that people have used? USB connected devices?
They have Ipads and I have shown them how to airplay to the TV's, so not technically afraid to try things. Plus I do not believe they are looking to buy more movies, just want what they have to be available.
Is there a DVD player that "airplays" or sends AV via BT. The one main TV is within 15ft of the old rack location.

Do you have an AVR for that one room (family room?) in the rack? RF remote?

If so send the video to the display via the cat and extenders and drop the audio into the AVR. Program the remote and you should be done.



No AVR no RF remote? Using the TV speakers?

HDMI extender with IR to the TV. Program the remote and you should be done.


Realistically the family room would probably be the best location for them to watch these home made DVD's.

THey just want to be able to play a disc "Just in case"?

There are plenty of decent 1080P wireless HDMI setups out there. Why not use one of those and put the Player local.

[Link: amazon.com]

Maybe we'd better pretend that there might be a need for a disc player, and keep installing them. They're not a huge addition to a system, and they're a whole lot cheaper to install with the system than after the system.

I could go to a random selection of 10 clients and ask when was the last time you used the DVD / Bluray player. The only one's that would remember are the clients with children or dedicated high end theatre rooms.
I have been at service calls, where after I would test the various sources, and when I check the DVD / Bluray player it still has the disc I left in it from the last time I was at the house. This could have been a year or more since I was last there. I can go back tomorrow and I bet the discs are still in the machines.

Occasionally, I get a request to hookup the VCR when we install. I ask, "when did you last use the VCR?" (long pause) "199x". I'll then point out that it is unlikely that the VCR is still functional, the tapes are reaching EOL, and that any critical tapes should be archived on discs. As an aside, one should not assume that there is a composite input on new equipment.

I have one customer who has hundreds of tapes and thousands of discs. His VCR and DVD players are constantly busy.

I retired the VCR but do still have a bunch of tapes in a box for the donation pile....

How about copying the movies to an SSD and connect that to the USB input on the TV? I'd get an SSD that has the ability to add a power cable so that it could be powered separately. When the input is no longer selected (or the TV is turned off) it could lose power and if a file is open it could become corrupted. The SSD could be velcro'd to the back of the TV.

I haven't tried copying movies to an SSD. What software is required for that?

I assumed one would have a list of files show up and they would be able to be selected to open/play. Need to see what file types the TV supports.

I just put a commercial CD into my computer. Windows Media Player shows each cut, with name and time.

Looking at the disc Properties with Windows Explorer, the disc has 0 bytes Used space, 0 bytes Free Space, and 0 bytes Capacity. The disc's files, the same in number as songs on the CD, are named with the pattern Track01.cda, Track02.cda, etc. Date and time of 12/31/1994 is given for each cut, but this disc is a new release of old Dave Brubeck cuts, copyright 2020. Each of these files is shown as 1 KB in size. If you click anywhere on the info line of a track, Windows Media Player will open and play the file.

Along with all that, the fact that clicking on a file in Windows Explorer causes Windows Media Player to open tells me that you cannot just copy an audio file onto a hard drive and have a hope in hell of it playing.

I believe some kind of authoring software is needed, that the player uses to prep the file for proper recording, and also for playback. If this is so for audio files, it's probably also so for video files.

EDIT: I ripped it. Windows Explorer shows that it takes up 735 MB of WAV files.

An SSD should be seen as the same as a USB flash drive:

[Link: techwalla.com]

The first paragraph of that techwalla article:

The caption under the accompanying picture is more succinct:

(I added the bold.)

In general, I'd say the installers here are looking for solid working solutions rather than art projects (see [Link: remotecentral.com]).

If we're going to do something for a customer, we want it to work and stay the same. Coming back to adjust something that should have been thought of as a hobbyist solution... kills business because it's free service calls. We can't afford to install things that don't JUST WORK.