I was wondering if someone could direct me to a link to back up DVDs and then play them. My kids have a lot of Disney DVDs that I want to put on my hard drive. I have already used DVD shrink to create a folder, but then what? How do I play these movies? Also, can I link up that folder with my Windows MCE and list them like I list my home movies? I like the concept of TVIX but I already spent a lot on my MCE machine and would like to hook up my PC to my new TV.
Thanks.

O.K. I found the VLC program and I am trying it out. It looks pretty cool. I still am wondering if I can integrate this into my MCE program at all. I'd like to be able to just look at thumbnails and click on one to play. I think it would improve the WAF. I also noticed that when I back up a movie it is typically 8 GB or so. How do I make it more compressed?

If you have DVDshrink then you already have to tools to make the movie smaller. Just specify a max size for your new movie and it will automatically compress the movie down to that size.

I do not recommend compressing the movie unless you have no choice. If you are only watching your movies on a 30" screen, then you can compress a bit before you will notice the compression.

There is a dedicated forum for HTPC and MCE here at AVS where you can find lots of info on using MCE to do what you describe. This forum tends to focus on stand alone media centers that are not PCs or Macs.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=26

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=465419

and outside of AVS. The greenbutton.com seems to be definitive source of MCE info....

BTW: To Shrink. Download a program called Auto Gordian Knot. AutoGK. This will allow you compress the DVD Shrink rip to xvid or divx. Generally you can reduce a 5G Video to 600M and it looks good enough for kids... I personally don't watch stuff like this if I have a choice but a lot of people do. It should be fine for kids videos....

Sean