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tablet for wifi/DVDs


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Old 20-12-2015, 21:08
riverwhy
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Looking for advice on a tablet for wifi and watching movies.
I like to watch DVDs when abroad and I’ve used various tablets previously. Prefer tablets to laptops due to the better battery life of a tablet, the only drawback being, on most tablets, lack of storage. My preference is to convert a DVD to MP4 on my laptop via the DVD drive, then copy the MP4 to a USB stick, but I have had problems doing this finding in some cases though the convert/copy works with no errors and the movie plays ok on the laptop it won’t play on the tablet. I seem to remember there was also a problem storing movies on high capacity USB devices.. forget exactly what but something to do with format.
I see now that some tablets have expandable memory via a micro SD card. Are there any problems associated with:
1. Copying MP4 format movies to micro SD card on a laptop then playing from the SD card on the tablet?
2. Can movies bought from someone like blinkbox be stored on a micro-SD card?

I was looking at something like a Dell Venue 8 7000
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Old 21-12-2015, 14:56
oilman
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Looking for advice on a tablet for wifi and watching movies.
I like to watch DVDs when abroad and I’ve used various tablets previously. Prefer tablets to laptops due to the better battery life of a tablet, the only drawback being, on most tablets, lack of storage. My preference is to convert a DVD to MP4 on my laptop via the DVD drive, then copy the MP4 to a USB stick, but I have had problems doing this finding in some cases though the convert/copy works with no errors and the movie plays ok on the laptop it won’t play on the tablet. I seem to remember there was also a problem storing movies on high capacity USB devices.. forget exactly what but something to do with format.
I see now that some tablets have expandable memory via a micro SD card. Are there any problems associated with:
1. Copying MP4 format movies to micro SD card on a laptop then playing from the SD card on the tablet?
2. Can movies bought from someone like blinkbox be stored on a micro-SD card?

I was looking at something like a Dell Venue 8 7000
The problem you are referring to I suspect is if the file is larger than 4GB as that is the maximum size of a file if drive is fat32 formatted. Format drive as NTFS and you do not get that restriction.

You can use SD cards - more convenient in some ways as you can put sd card into an sd card adaptor and write directly to it from a PC if PC has an sd card reader.

If it does not play on a tablet, that is more likely due to missing codecs. I always use VLC which supplies all the main codecs and plays most formats.

Of course, biggest issue is actually converting DVDs to MP4 due to copy protection, but we are not permitted to discuss that on this forum.
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Old 21-12-2015, 21:31
riverwhy
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i did reformat the USB drive to NTFS but i did still get problems in some instances, though it was a few years back and i can't remember what the issues were exactly, but they were enough to make me abandon tablets in favour of a small laptop with a DVD drive, converting my legally bought DVDs to MP4 on my hard drive for my own use to save the battery power driving the DVD when not plugged into the mains.. but i still had battery life issues on long journeys. i was hoping technology would have provided the ideal solution by now but it seems not. I was thinking of using blinkbox to buy films but only very limited editions of android software are compatible to download their movies to SD and with them, once you download to a hard drive you can't copy it anywhere else. i'm thinking of a windows tablet but i don't know of any other movie supplier where i can buy movies that i can download to an SD card..
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Old 22-12-2015, 00:11
BKM
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Of course, biggest issue is actually converting DVDs to MP4 due to copy protection, but we are not permitted to discuss that on this forum.
I hardly think that this even counts as a problem these days! The copy protection on DVDs is so well hacked that ever so many public domain programs and utilities can do it.

Converting DVDs to MP4 is also such a common task that there a vast number of commercial programs proporting to "make it totally trivial" - with simple menus and hand holding. With more skill and knowledge it can even be done totally using freeware. With the (invariably included) reformatting to tablet screen resolutions the DVDs will fit into one file

Just do a bit of searching and many possible solutions should pop-up!
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Old 22-12-2015, 00:17
oilman
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i did reformat the USB drive to NTFS but i did still get problems in some instances, though it was a few years back and i can't remember what the issues were exactly, but they were enough to make me abandon tablets in favour of a small laptop with a DVD drive, converting my legally bought DVDs to MP4 on my hard drive for my own use to save the battery power driving the DVD when not plugged into the mains.. but i still had battery life issues on long journeys. i was hoping technology would have provided the ideal solution by now but it seems not. I was thinking of using blinkbox to buy films but only very limited editions of android software are compatible to download their movies to SD and with them, once you download to a hard drive you can't copy it anywhere else. i'm thinking of a windows tablet but i don't know of any other movie supplier where i can buy movies that i can download to an SD card..
Your issues are all related to digital rights. You talk about converting legally owned dvds to mp4 but in most cases, that is not legal due to UK's draconian copyright laws.

Recently the law was changed allowing you to make personal backups (like US fair use policy), but the law change was overturned.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articl...rturns-new-law

However some companies have negotiated a concession where you can make a copy on a device but it is still restricted.

So to use a tablet with mp4 versions, UK law forces people to basically use methods we are not permitted to discuss, but I have no issue in saying that it is easy enough to find solutions on web. I neither encourage nor discourage you from seeking such methods of course.
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Old 22-12-2015, 08:22
riverwhy
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DVD conversion isn't an issue even if it should be.. it's getting bought downloaded movies onto an SD card that's the problem...
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Old 22-12-2015, 09:20
Stig
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DVD conversion isn't an issue even if it should be.. it's getting bought downloaded movies onto an SD card that's the problem...
With a Windows tablet like the Dell Venue 8 7000 you shouldn't have any problems formatting and accessing a large capacity SD card with NTFS.
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Old 22-12-2015, 09:30
riverwhy
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i know... but the issue is that if the movie is bought from Blinkbox they tell me it is not possible to download to an SD card.. and once downloaded to another device (hard drive probably) you can't then copy it elsewhere.

i think the best bet would be initially to do much as i am now, i.e. buy a DVD, convert to hard drive then copy to SD card. I can now get a 64gb windows tablet with 8-10 hours battery life & with SD slot and USB so i could either copy to SD on my laptop or convert (physical DVD) to the tablet then copy to SD to free up space on the hard drive.

unless of course someone knows where i can download movies to an SD card on a windows tablet?
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Old 22-12-2015, 10:54
dont_be_hasty
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What software are you using to rip your DVD's? I have used HandBrake before for ripping to MP4 and have had no issue. It's free and might be worth a try.

Are you set on getting a windows tablet? With android tablets there is plenty of apps where you can download movies directly onto the tablet itself. In fact you can even buy movies from Google Play Store, though not sure how it works - whether you download or stream them.

You can get android tablets that have micro SD support so you always have lots of storage. You could even consider getting a SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive that allows you to easily transfer content between Android smartphones, tablets, PC and Mac computers.
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Old 22-12-2015, 11:07
Philip Wales
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If you have Amazon Prime, maybe think about a Fire Tablet, as you can download quite a few films and programs from Prime to it.
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Old 22-12-2015, 12:44
Stig
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If you have Amazon Prime, maybe think about a Fire Tablet, as you can download quite a few films and programs from Prime to it.
The Amazon Video app allows you to do that on iOS and probably Android too.
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Old 22-12-2015, 17:03
riverwhy
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thanks for the replies but as i said conversion to mp4 isn't the issue, and the reason i'm looking at tablets with expandable storage (SD cards) is because most tablets don't have much space on the harddrive.. wanting around 256gb, which i can get with a 128gb windows tablet and a 128gb sdcard
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Old 22-12-2015, 18:35
oilman
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thanks for the replies but as i said conversion to mp4 isn't the issue, and the reason i'm looking at tablets with expandable storage (SD cards) is because most tablets don't have much space on the harddrive.. wanting around 256gb, which i can get with a 128gb windows tablet and a 128gb sdcard
Bear in mind sd cards are not the most reliable devices. You also need to back up stuff to an exterrnal hdd as well. In fact, I would probably just have 2 64 GB cards and swap as needed. Then if one fails whilst away, you still have other available.
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Old 22-12-2015, 18:58
riverwhy
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changing tack a little.. what do you guys reckon the best value tablet (new or second hand, but under £400) with:

battery life at least 6 hours
at least 64gb
usb able to support external devices such as portable DVD drive
micro sd slot
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Old 22-12-2015, 19:53
oilman
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changing tack a little.. what do you guys reckon the best value tablet (new or second hand, but under £400) with:

battery life at least 6 hours
at least 64gb
usb able to support external devices such as portable DVD drive
micro sd slot
Any tablet will struggle to power a dvd drive. Better to use it via an externally powered usb hub, or a dvd drive with its own power supply.
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Old 22-12-2015, 23:02
riverwhy
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i was only thinking to use the DVD drive to convert my DVDs to mp4, which i would do when the tablet was connected to the charger...
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Old 23-12-2015, 09:25
oilman
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[quote=riverwhy;80845592]i was only thinking to use the DVD drive to convert my DVDs to mp4, which i would do when the tablet was connected to the charger...[/QUOTE

Not all tablets (if only one usb port) allow charging at same time as data transfer.
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