Watching movies when off grid

[Burroman]

I have a 13’ Burro, cozy as can be.
I’m wondering how a lot of you watch movies when off grid and what kind of device you find the best.
I use an iPad mini- small screen, but was wondering if an inexpensive laptop might be better. A few have DVD players.
I’m wondering if I could download movies to a flash drive(when internet is available) and then show them offline on the laptop.
I’m not too tech savvy and I need something simple.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Jon in AZ]

We use a standard iPad and watch content downloaded from streaming services pre-trip. On longer trips we replenish content during a meal stop or coffee break with WiFi. The iPad can be recharged from our car or trailer battery, while a laptop needs 110V power.

We don't watch very much, but we like to be prepared, especially during cool season outings when days are short and evenings long.

[Dennis mn]

I use a standard iPad, and either stream tv, using a hot spot, or I have a selection of movies that I have down loaded.

[theresa p]

We use a laptop and have movies and television shows downloaded onto a hard drive. Works very, very well for us.

[Burroman]

Thanks for reply.
How do you keep your laptop charged, if you are off grid?
I like the laptop idea, don’t have one, since a lot have a DVD player.
Do you need 120v, or can you charge it off the USB port?

[theresa p]

Hello again! If we are off-grid, we do have a solar panel, a couple of them, in fact, that recharges the trailer battery and thereby allowing us to recharge the laptop. Alternately, if we are travelling, we plug it into the outlet in the car to charge while we drive.

Our Nova Kool refrigerator does not use propane so we are always conscious of keeping our trailer battery charged because we need to keep the fridge running.

[Jon in AZ]

I haven’t seen a laptop with a removable disc drive for a while. It’s all web-based now.

You might still be able to buy a portable DVD player. Some can be charged from a 12V outlet.

[John in Santa Cruz]

I use my XPS13 laptop, which indeed does not have a optical disk drive, to watch videos, either streamed, or off a USB stick, or stored on the local HD. I recharge it using my inverter, my trailer batteries are solar charged. My laptop does charge off USB C but it has to be a 60W USB C port, and most car-style adapters can't output that much pookah.

I brought it on our 6 day trip to Napa and Sonoma last week, and never fired it up, opting instead to read ebooks on my tablet during my relax-time.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

I haven’t seen a laptop with a removable disc drive for a while. It’s all web-based now.

You might still be able to buy a portable DVD player. Some can be charged from a 12V outlet.

you can get USB DVD and BluRay readers that will plug into a suitable laptop. But who uses disks anymore for anything? I have 1000s of DVD movies at home, and haven't had a DVD player plugged in to the TV in a few years.

[CalCop]

Over the years I converted my DVD library to digital files. Now they reside on my NAS at home. Its very nice to select and watch a movie without dealing with a DVD. When preparing for an extended trip I copy a few hundred movies onto an external hard drive and I'm all set. I can load them onto an IPAD or simply play them on my laptop.

[Raspy]

I don't like to hot spot from the phone, for videos, because too much data gets used and we don't always have phone reception. I do have a TV and a Blu-ray player. That player is only now used for old movies I bring with me. My MacBook Pro has an HDMI port so I can use the TV as the display if I want to.

But the real game changer is going to Starlink. Now, we have high speed internet anywhere. So, anything we can do at home, we can also do in the most remote areas we may be camped in. No searching for a wifi source along the road, no hoping the wifi at some camp is adequate, no hoping there is phone service at the camp out in the wild areas of Nevada, Utah and Colorado. And no excessive phone data or larger data plans needed.

With a reasonably sized solar system and a couple of lithium batteries, you can power a small inverter that will charge your laptop, run the Starlink, and allow you to have power for other uses, like lights and a water pump, while off grid. You won't have to plan ahead with downloads before you leave home or from a wifi spot at lunch somewhere.

Everybody likes to hate on television, but I find it useful for checking local news, weather or a bit of mindless entertainment as I shake off the road after a 500 mile day. Being stuck in Texas, in the middle of the night, during a tornado threat, is a good example. It also acts as a "big screen" inside a small trailer where I don't have to hold the laptop or ipad. Or if I want to watch one of the old movies I brought on DVD. I have one documentary on DVD that I like to share and I find many people have DVD players available, and get a lot of joy from simply plugging it in and watching it.

[Perryb67]

We have a new Samsung Windows 11 laptop. What software are people using to copy their movies to a hard drive or memory stick?

Thanks,

Perry

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Perryb67

We have a new Samsung Windows 11 laptop. What software are people using to copy their movies to a hard drive or memory stick?

what format are your movies on now? if its DVD or BlueRay, they are copy protected, and especially bluray is quite hard to 'rip'. I used to rip my DVDs for remote viewing, I forget what stack of software I used, but it was a fairly involved process. Frankly, it would be easier to get an external USB C dvd/bluray player, then your laptop should be able to play them directly.

[CalCop]

I use MakeMKV to rip then Handbrake to encode.
Fairly straight forward process.