We just lost Turner Classic Movies from our channel lineup. The crooks at Crapcast moved it from just about everyone's lineup to a separate Sports and Entertainment package that costs an extra $10 a month, which I currently refuse to pay just on principle.

We have a ton of movies on (mostly) DVD and Blu-ray. I'd like to be able to view our stuff on our Samsung smart TVs or our iPads.

I know there are issues copying the movies themselves as far as copy protection is concerned, and I'm not sure where to ultimately store them so I can access them from the above-mentioned devices. I only want to watch them from home and don't need access for travel.

I'm a Windows gal when it comes to laptop/desktop devices, and have a couple of iPads.

I know zatz about NAS, which I think is one option for me. And it seems the term "home media server" is relevant.

Any thoughts? Mark? Ax? Bueller? Anybody?

Bueller.

*bump* for the weekend, in case folks drop by....

While you are waiting for an appropriate and more technically correct answer, what I did for a short-term fix for a while was just plug my laptop into the back of the TV using an HDMI cable. Doesn’t help you with the iPad, but does allow you to watch a movie with your TV’s sound and picture, by just plugging the disk into your laptop.

You probably already know this, but it’s all I got…

Comcast did the same thing here. What a bunch of idiots. Cable is losing more and more market share to streaming services, and this is their brilliant response?

They've basically pulled all the sports programs (non-network) into a "sports package," but I didn't realize that TCM was part of the package. So blatantly money-grubbing.

Ugh.

Sorry ... I have not look into “home media server” (or NAS for that purpose) for a long time and don’t have anything helpful to share on that topic.

Mark...any thoughts?....

I don't know much about this subject, but I found this:

http://bluraydtstruehd.com/201...ray-on-media-server/

Thanks, Mark! Looks like a good step-by-step guide...

I recall landline telephone companies cutting services and raising prices when they faced competition.
Have not had a landline since 2006.