non-internet media database?

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The VOB format is Mpeg 2. It is an early form of video compression. Mpeg 4 is more recent and a more efficient form of compression. An Mpeg 4 file contains video and audio. It also can include sub-titles. I agree that leaving the video file in the VOB format is the best approach to maintain quality and is simpler to burn a DVD disk. If storage space is a factor the VOB file can be converted to Mpeg 4.
 
Not quite the "same".

"VOB has a number of features that are not available with MPEG. The first is the ability to cut the video into chapters to let the viewer jump quickly into predetermined parts of the movie or video. MPEG doesn’t support chapters, so you need to search through yourself. To select the chapters, and to browse through other aspects of the DVD, VOB was also endowed with menus via the use of the remote. Again, this is another feature lacking in MPEG. Lastly, VOB has the ability to incorporate multiple subtitles. This is very important for DVDs that are to be sold in countries that do not share the same language. This is not as important with MPEGs, thus the exclusion.

Read more: Difference Between VOB and MPEG | Difference Between | VOB vs MPEG http://www.differencebetween.net/technol...z5hWf6wUFZ"

Big differences. Mpeg2 will not play on a DVD player without encoding to VOB first. This has been debated ad nauseum on the internet. VOB works best for me and evidently MPEG works better for you. Others like MKV (Matroska Video) format. They all have strengths and weaknesses.

The ability to turn subtitles on and off at will helps too. I know subtitles can be in MPEG but they are always on screen.
 
my brain hurts. I have a headache. thanks for the explanation, I think. LOL highdesertranger
 
Not for the faint of heart for sure. A lot of digging to get to this point but there isn't any of that shiny stuff you get when you dig.
 
Getting back on track, hopefully. The simplest solution for the OP is to get a media player.
Here's one on Amazon: Micca Speck G2 Media Player
[img=200x200]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61Xqri-YW-L._SL1280_.jpg[/img]
One limiting factor is maximum drive size is 2TB.

Another is an Android TV Box like this one: Android TV Box
[img=200x200]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61kd5PcEltL._SL1001_.jpg[/img]
It comes with Kodi installed. Kodi can be a challenge to set up, but once done it is an amazing application. When connected to the internet it catalogs all your movies and TV shows. I have two TV Boxes and they work well but they also have a 2TB hard drive limit.
 
Just thought of another option. I have one of these boxes and it works quite well. It has a TV tuner and can record off-air TV with the addition of a USB hard drive. You can also set up a record schedule. It will also play videos that are stored on the hard drive. If you have several videos in a directory it will play the videos one after the other. I don't know if it repeats. One problem I've noticed is that some video will display in the wrong aspect ratio. Here's a refurbished one available at Walmart for $18.99:

Ematic AT103B Digital Converter Box (Refurbished)
 
how ironic that the nomenclature has been so twisted that now we are referring to "personal cloud" storage? the idea and terminology of "cloud" storage is that it is NOT on your device/s but stored off site on someone else's device and you use the internet or other significant network to access it.

if i read the OP right, they/you would like to have access to your old movies and tv shows even when good internet access is not available. in that case you would need to store the movies/shows on local storage devices. like harddrives, thumbdrives or cd/dvd optical disks. in most cases the cheapest route for significant storage is going to be harddrive. tera byte drives are cheap these days. heck my laptop came with a 1 tera byte drive and it is a cheap laptop,

if you dont need ultra high resolution and stick with DVD quality and use some compression software to save them in avi or other format you can save tons of shows and movies on a single tera byte drive.

i wont get into the details of how to download and save to these formats as the process is ever changing you will need to look into how that is best done.

once you get what ever shows/movies you want downloaded and save to your local storage it is just a mater of picking a media player that will allow continuous play and even better the option to make playlists. i used to use windows media player for this. worked great. this was a few years ago and in order to build up cheap storage i was using 200-300 gigabyte harddrive stacked with expansion boards and several usb hard drives. when i was still in a sticks and brix we had cable tv and 5 seperate computers in the house each with an "all-in-one" video card that would play and record from the cable service. we could program what was recorded a week in advance and with multiple machines we could record several shows that were playing simultaneously. we ended up with just shy of 3 tera bytes of movies and shows that we downloaded as we transitioned out of the city life. then we took our stacks of hard drives that we labeled based on the type of shows on them and would swap them out depending on what we wanted to watch.

now a days it would be so much easier with the massive terabyte drives so cheap. the hard part will be downloading and compressing in a format and resolution that works for you.
 

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