Holiday travel season is almost upon us, which means hours of “are we there yet?!?” coming from the back seat of the SUV on the way to and from Grandma’s house. Taking the kids on a road trip is like transporting prisoners: They don’t want to be there, and they will fabricate just about any creative excuse to try and get out of the vehicle. As parents, all we want is:
I wasn’t willing to cough up for the overpriced built-in entertainment system for our SUV. Plus in most vehicles that means the kids have to watch the same thing, which inevitably leads to a pint-sized MMA fight in the back seat over movie selection. Our school district requires the kids to have iPads for class anyway, so that was the perfect solution. But just a handful of movies on an iPad will fill up all the storage. So I wondered, how could I turn our huge pile of DVD’s collecting dust in the basement into a pocket sized solution for mobile devices? The answer is easier than you think!
You know you want this. Here’s what you need:
The core of the system is the Sandisk Connect WiFi Stick. This slightly larger than standard sized flash drive puts out it’s own WiFi signal, and allows up to 3 devices connect and stream audio and video. 
You’ll need a USB DVD drive for your computer, unless you still have a computer with a DVD drive. But honestly, that computer is probably old, and may be too slow to do this without beating your own brains out on the desk waiting for it to finish.
You’ll need two free software downloads: MakeMKV, and Handbrake. The former copies your DVD to the computer as a backup. The latter makes the file much smaller and puts it in a format you can view with a tablet or iPhone.
OK, I got the stuff. What do I do?
Step 1: Run MakeMKV and put in your movie. Scan the disk by clicking the big DVD drive looking graphic. After a minute or two, it gives you a listing of all the content on the disk. The full length feature is always the biggest file (Obvi, as my daughter would say). You can uncheck all the other boxes to save space, those are the short features, behind the scenes, and ads that usually come on a DVD.
Next, choose a file location, and click the Make MKV button. Now we wait… 
Go grab a cold one. It usually takes 30-60 minutes for a full length movie. The result is a full sized copy of your DVD called an MKV file. NOTE: I find about a 5% failure rate, usually from too many scratches on the disks thanks to the kids. If it is having trouble reading a dvd from scratches, go out to the garage and apply some RainX to it then try again.
Step 2: Use Handbrake to compress the file down to usable size, and put it in a format that your phone or tablet can use. The source file is the MKV file you just made, and take note of where it is saving the output file. By default it should create an .m4v file at 1080P/30.
Step 3: put your Sandisk Connect drive into an available USB port on your computer and copy the file handbrake just made onto it. 
I suggest deleting all the folders that Sandisk puts in and putting all in the root folder of the flash drive. This makes it easier for young kids. I would also be sure to rename the file to the movie’s actual name. This is how the files will be listed, and it makes things more simple for young kids.
So how do I use it?
Power it on and connect to its WiFi signal on your tablet/phone. You may get an alert that tells you it has no internet connection. That is normal. You can connect up to 3 devices to it simultaneously. Open up the app on your device and follow the on screen directions. Sometimes it takes a minute or two to get the full list of movies to show up. Tap a title and it will begin to stream, usually within about 30 seconds. The kids may need a little operational guidance early on, but my Kindergartener has no problem working it. Here are a few screen shots of the setup process:
Good to know stuff:
- Power it on BEFORE you plug it into a usb charger in your car or a power brick, otherwise it will go into it’s computer data mode and you won’t get a WiFi signal.
- The built in battery life depends on how many devices are connecting to it. It usually goes a couple hours, but I always plug it into power in the car or a Power bank to avoid complaints when the battery dies in the middle of a movie.
- Since copying the DVD’s takes a while, I suggest buying the stick from Amazon and get started right away converting your DVD’s while you wait for the item to conveniently arrive at your doorstep a couple days later.
What else am I probably going to want?
- To enjoy some peaceful driving, you’ll want some good kid friendly Bluetooth headphones. Don’t skimp on these. The cheap plastic ones don’t last long in little hands, especially when they end up piled under all the books and toys your kids also bring on a road trip.
- If you’re going on a plane, don’t forget a power bank in case you need to charge the headphones, and to keep the stick charged. I have an Anker PowerCore 10000. It will last longer than your sanity will if you run into airport delays or road construction.
- As a side benefit, I also used this as an opportunity to ditch the DVD player at home too. Most TVs have a USB port. If you copy these files onto a regular flash drive, you can always have your entire collection ready to view on almost any newer TV.
A word about copyright issues
The FBI Warning on your DVDs might leave you with the impression that copying them will result in getting hauled off in the middle of the night to a CIA black site, where they will waterboard you until you surrender all your files. In reality, the law is a lot less clear than they try to make it sound. DVD players are becoming a thing of the past. Remember when you copied your entire CD collection into iTunes a decade ago so you could listen to your music on your iPod? Same thing here. Just follow this simple rule: If it’s not yours, don’t copy it.
If you run into any issues, comment below and I will do my best to help. Clicking any of the links in the blog should take you to the appropriate product on Amazon. Share with your friends, and enjoy the silence on the family trip. You’ll thank me later…
