I currently own a 400 disc DVD player simply because I like the idea of purchasing a DVD, putting it into the player, and then not having to worry about it getting scratched. Now my question. If I'm to build a HTPC is it possible to copy the entire contents of a DVD onto a hard drive and then play it from the hdd?
Yes, it's possible but for more than just a few DVDs, it's going to be time and HD consuming. Alternatives: Get a monitor which allows you to hook up DVD inputs. OR, get a TV tuner card which has S-video or component inputs. That way, you won't need to convert everything and you can watch your DVDs through your PC although you'd be fiddling around with two remotes. But yea, a few DVDs onto a HD isn't a big deal, but if you want to store several dozen DVDs, you're going to need to space things out or develop Ghandi-level patience.
Some dvd players can be controlled by pcs especially the dvd jukeboxes. 400 discs (if you own that many) x 6.5GB (average dvd size) = 2.6TB of disk space, unless you use something like xvid or dvdshrink but that would take ages to do that many dvds.
