Rename the files so that Gondola knows what's in them, eg 'Big Buck Bunny 2008.vob' or 'Seinfeld - The Soup Nazi.vob'.Backup your DVDs to VOB files using dvdbackup.It might look like a lot, so you might want to get a tech friend to help if you're unsure. Configure as per the full instructions.Install Ubuntu, with the user called 'gondola' and the computer's network name also set to 'gondola'.I've tried these and had power brownout issues when connected to a USB drive - you might be able to solve this with a USB hub (didn't work for me). Alternatively, you could use a Chip or a Raspberry Pi.Or you could use any old laptop you have lying around. These laptops are ideal because they're fanless thus silent, use little electricity, have Intel processors, have a USB3 port, and they are cheap. As a guide, I bought one for $120 in 2017 (Australia). Buy a second-hand HP Stream 11 laptop.To create your own Gondola media server, full instructions can be found on Github. You will likely find it to be much faster if you use an old laptop. This is why I recommend this for media you'll watch over and over again, eg backups of your kids' DVDs. Eg I tried a 3-hour 1080p movie, and my Chip took 40 hours to transcode it. Having said all that, the media must be pre-processed, which can take a long time if it's high quality.

Much safer to have your kids watching your own library rather than randomly browsing Youtube - who knows what they'll come across.

Great if you've got limited bandwidth and can't let your kids watch eg Netflix.

Automatically finds all metadata for movies and TV shows.

Just drop your eg VOB files into a 'New' folder using eg ForkLift or Cyberduck, and it'll wait until transfer has completed and then begin importing it automatically.

Seekable - because it pre-processes your media into HLS, which makes individual files for every few seconds, your media seeks perfectly (important for kids!).

Simple - therefore, hopefully more reliable than the other common alternatives.

The same applies if you use a cheap fanless laptop (which would otherwise be underpowered to run, say, Plex). Silent - my old media center spins its fans all day - this one won't, as most SBC's have no fan.Not hot - my old media center in my garage gets quite hot, and I worry about it in summer! This one won't.Cheap - you don't need to buy an expensive computer or NAS that's fast enough to transcode in real time.

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