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Blu-Ray Burner Opinions

T

TripleThreatTLT

Member
Hi All,

I'm in the market for a Blu-Ray Burner. Just wanted some advice. My plan is to use it to rip some existing Blu-Ray movies that I own, and also use it for backing up photos and handing them out to family members for remote site backup. I'm thinking I would burn less than 10 discs a year, probably 2-3.

I don't want to buy additional software to play Blu-Ray movies and I'm getting some conflicting reports on using VLC. I already have VLC and some people seem to say it works others say you need to drop a bunch of money on software. Do I need to find a drive that comes with software? I'm really not seeing much even at higher price points that includes software.

Here's the drive I'm looking at right now. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136250


Thanks,
Tom
 
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Computer/Computer+Drives/BDR-2209
the pioneer bdr-2209 comes with cyberlink bluray playback software. Cyberlink is kind of bloated.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=REG&A=details

I like macgo's simplified interface more, but that counts as additional software
http://www.macblurayplayer.com/

vlc will play bluray content, but not commercial blurays. There are work arounds that may or may not work.

Bluray DRM kinda sucks... I'm starting to think it's the main cause behind the barely scratched disks not playing well issue, with the higher density being secondary.
Regardless, I wouldn't trust blu-ray for anything but short term data storage.

Use an online source for picture backups, like flickr. With flickr, you get 1TB of off-site photo storage, and you can just email them a link to your photostream.
 
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If you can tolerate a 12x burn speed and the need to send in a rebate, there's this going for $47 ($77 - $20 MIR - $10 promo code (EMCXWXN23)). Comes with Cyberlink's Power2Go software.
 
So it appears playing a blu-ray is more difficult than it should be. I have not heard of any issues yet ripping them. What's stopping me from just taking my blu-ray ripping it using MakeMKV and then just playing it back? Can MakeMKV rip the majority of blu-ray on the market?

The whole reason I rip things is to put them on my HTPC and just toss the discs back on a shelf and forget about them. So really I don't ever intend to watch them from the disc.
 
TripleThreatTLT said:
So it appears playing a blu-ray is more difficult than it should be. I have not heard of any issues yet ripping them. What's stopping me from just taking my blu-ray ripping it using MakeMKV and then just playing it back? Can MakeMKV rip the majority of blu-ray on the market?

The whole reason I rip things is to put them on my HTPC and just toss the discs back on a shelf and forget about them. So really I don't ever intend to watch them from the disc.
Click to expand...

The reason that playback software is expensive is that the costs of the decoding licenses are built-in. MakeMKV claims to be able to get around the encryption without any extra software. I'll give it a shot and report back.

Side note, when inserting a Blu-Ray into my drive, I realized that this was the first time I'd opened the front door of my case in like 3 months...
 
I can report that MakeMKV will do a commercial Blu-Ray. Well, it'll do Kingdom of Heaven at least.
 
Thanks for checking! I'm thinking I wont worry too much about software and just try my luck with makemkv. I don't have too many blu rays and most movies I buy are animated ones for the kids, which I usually opt for the DVD on anyway.
 
Blu-ray has always put the burden on the consumer. I ended up buying Total Media Theatre 5 last year to guarantee easy BD playback, and full integration with WMC. Its normally $100, but after coupon and gift cards, received a digital D/L version for $27.

Once I added up what BD costs me, I decided to stick with DVD for now .. I can't see much difference on a 42" plasma at 10'.
 
Pioneer drives have always performed well for me. As for bd's lite-on, even the rebadged sony optiarcs have been problematic.
 
WT said:
Once I added up what BD costs me, I decided to stick with DVD for now .. I can't see much difference on a 42" plasma at 10'.
Click to expand...

The only reason I bother with bluray, is actually for the DTS-HD MA soundtrack. Unless the DVD has a DTS soundtrack (rare in Denmark, can't imagine why) there is an appreciable difference (not overly large, but its certainly there) to standard Dolby. You do need a good set-up to hear the difference though...
 
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