Just starting out

[idkidd]

Hi,

I've been looking for a way to rip dvds to a dvr and watch them at my leisure. I came across Sage today and it seems like it'd be the solution and more. However, since I'm a beginner when it comes to this stuff, it's all kind of overwhelming. Is this stuff pretty easy to get going if you're not familiar with this type of thing?

Also, how many hours of tv/dvd can a normal computer hold? What are the various things I need to purchase to do what I described above?

I am just trying to explore my options so when my cash flow improves in the next few months I can start getting a setup together. Thanks a lot for any help!

[dvd_maniac]

I've been looking for a way to rip dvds to a dvr and watch them at my leisure

My main reason for doing what you are starting out to do. I have over 1200+ movies on my PC. Most are DVD rips others are Sage Recordings.
All have been encoded into either xvid or AVC.

However, since I'm a beginner when it comes to this stuff, it's all kind of overwhelming. Is this stuff pretty easy to get going if you're not familiar with this type of thing?

Could be easy for some hard for others. Depends on the time you want to devote, learning ability, how much you want to accomplish etc... But in the 2 years I've been using Sage, this forum has been nothing short of amazing in helping me get started and throughout my constant tinkering to improve my families Media experience.

Also, how many hours of tv/dvd can a normal computer hold? What are the various things I need to purchase to do what I described above?

I Encode (Shrink) everything I record and all my DVD's
This makes a 7GB 2 hour DVD movie and shrinks down to about 500MB. But takes a while to do. I have almost 1700GB in my main Sage PC, some here have alot more. But even that can get used up REAL quick if using a high bitrate recording and not encoding. Get fimilair with some of the recording qualities on the main Sage website HERE and then ask more specific questions to get an answer that's good for YOU...