Can you see yourself having a need for a blu-ray recorder?

[Locut0s]

The drives are almost down to the $100-$150 range so the hardware cost isn't an issue any more. However media is still way way to expensive. NCIX shows a 10 pack of Verbatim discs going for 120 bucks! But lets say they were to magically drop to oh say $1-2 per disc. Would you RIGHT now have a use for them. I certainly would. I'm currently downloading TV episodes and if I were to get the HD versions DVD suddenly starts to become awkward.

 

[MoPHo]

Only reason I use BR is because I won a PS3. If I didn't have this machine, I would in no way use BR or require a need to do so. Don't use that much data that a DVD-R and a portable hard drive can't suffice.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Can't you store a massive amount of data to a blu-ray disc? I'd like something I could backup my photos and music too for archival purposes.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: MoPHo
Only reason I use BR is because I won a PS3. If I didn't have this machine, I would in no way use BR or require a need to do so. Don't use that much data that a DVD-R and a portable hard drive can't suffice.

Yeah I have a PS3. In the above I sort of assumed people in this situation have a large screen and a HT blu-ray player to take advantage of whatever you are storing on the discs.

 

[nakedfrog]

It would be nice if I could archive my digital pics to fewer discs. Builds up over nine years, plus scanned photos from before that.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: MixMasterTang
Can't you store a massive amount of data to a blu-ray disc? I'd like something I could backup my photos and music too for archival purposes.

25-50 Gigs per disc depending on whether dingle or dual layer. But HD video can start to eat into that quickly.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Probably not. I do all my backups to HDDs as I can get in the 1TB range for under 100 bucks so to me it's more effective having a few 1TB drives kicking around in a rotation scheme.

Back when HDDs were expensive, then yeah, sure. Could have a bunch of DVDRW's in a rotation for at least the most important data. Come to think of it I have not burned a CD or DVD at home in a LONG time, unless it was for someone else.

 

[KLin]

As long as the cost difference per GB between hard drives and BD discs remain very high, I'll stick with hard drives for storage.

 

[frostedflakes]

Yeah I could see it being handy, I back up stuff to DVD occasionally. It's probably not something I would use very often, though, especially with large hard drives and USB flash drives getting so cheap.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Probably not. I do all my backups to HDDs as I can get in the 1TB range for under 100 bucks so to me it's more effective having a few 1TB drives kicking around in a rotation scheme.

Back when HDDs were expensive, then yeah, sure. Could have a bunch of DVDRW's in a rotation for at least the most important data. Come to think of it I have not burned a CD or DVD at home in a LONG time, unless it was for someone else.

HDs are a nice way to go with one exception for me. Portability. Our HT setup is in the basement where I would ultimately like to watch this stuff. I don't yet have an HTPC, though I will probably build one one day. Streaming over WiFi is a no go for Hi-Def content. I suppose I could use a portable HD but again the USB would be a bottleneck for Hi-Def. Blu-Ray would be perfect right now if they were cheap. However by the time the price of BR media gets low enough I will already have an HTPC down there so it's a moot point. For now it's DVDs.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: Locut0s

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Probably not. I do all my backups to HDDs as I can get in the 1TB range for under 100 bucks so to me it's more effective having a few 1TB drives kicking around in a rotation scheme.

Back when HDDs were expensive, then yeah, sure. Could have a bunch of DVDRW's in a rotation for at least the most important data. Come to think of it I have not burned a CD or DVD at home in a LONG time, unless it was for someone else.

HDs are a nice way to go with one exception for me. Portability. Our HT setup is in the basement where I would ultimately like to watch this stuff. I don't yet have an HTPC, though I will probably build one one day. Streaming over WiFi is a no go for Hi-Def content. I suppose I could use a portable HD but again the USB would be a bottleneck for Hi-Def. Blu-Ray would be perfect right now if they were cheap. However by the time the price of BR media gets low enough I will already have an HTPC down there so it's a moot point. For now it's DVDs.

external TB drives are under $100 per right now, get one with eSATA and go that route.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Originally posted by: Locut0s

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Probably not. I do all my backups to HDDs as I can get in the 1TB range for under 100 bucks so to me it's more effective having a few 1TB drives kicking around in a rotation scheme.

Back when HDDs were expensive, then yeah, sure. Could have a bunch of DVDRW's in a rotation for at least the most important data. Come to think of it I have not burned a CD or DVD at home in a LONG time, unless it was for someone else.

HDs are a nice way to go with one exception for me. Portability. Our HT setup is in the basement where I would ultimately like to watch this stuff. I don't yet have an HTPC, though I will probably build one one day. Streaming over WiFi is a no go for Hi-Def content. I suppose I could use a portable HD but again the USB would be a bottleneck for Hi-Def. Blu-Ray would be perfect right now if they were cheap. However by the time the price of BR media gets low enough I will already have an HTPC down there so it's a moot point. For now it's DVDs.

Yeah depends on your setup. If youy have a HTPC then you just copy the file over, then play it directly off it, so no network bottleneck.

When I setup my TV I'll probably have a HTPC with teamed nics for 2gbps of bandwidth, though never did that before so not sure how easy/hard it is.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Originally posted by: xSauronx

Originally posted by: Locut0s

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
Probably not. I do all my backups to HDDs as I can get in the 1TB range for under 100 bucks so to me it's more effective having a few 1TB drives kicking around in a rotation scheme.

Back when HDDs were expensive, then yeah, sure. Could have a bunch of DVDRW's in a rotation for at least the most important data. Come to think of it I have not burned a CD or DVD at home in a LONG time, unless it was for someone else.

HDs are a nice way to go with one exception for me. Portability. Our HT setup is in the basement where I would ultimately like to watch this stuff. I don't yet have an HTPC, though I will probably build one one day. Streaming over WiFi is a no go for Hi-Def content. I suppose I could use a portable HD but again the USB would be a bottleneck for Hi-Def. Blu-Ray would be perfect right now if they were cheap. However by the time the price of BR media gets low enough I will already have an HTPC down there so it's a moot point. For now it's DVDs.

external TB drives are under $100 per right now, get one with eSATA and go that route.

I never really got the point of esata at first, until I got one of those HDD docks and tried it and man, is it ever awesome. Just need a regular HDD and insert it in like it was a super nintendo cartridge and get the same speed as an internal drive. Awesomeness right there. I plan to build my future backup solution based on this. Put it in, press the ON button, have my custom app automaticly detect the drive as being a designated backup drive and start the backup job for that drive.

 

[magomago]

if media was cheap, yes for sure. i can put 5 DVDs worth of photos on a single layer. that is wonderful and magnificent. of course a cheap HDD is nicer....

but the reality is i need to simply organize all the photos first lol

 

[pontifex]

if the price dropped, yes

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Nah. For long-term storage, hard drives are cheaper. I recently replaced my entire DVD collection with a 1tb drive; gonna be a long time before blank blu-rays approach blank dvds in cost. I don't own any HD media so that's a moot point for me. For quick data transference, flash drives are cheaper & 're-usable.'

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: Gigantopithecus
Nah. For long-term storage, hard drives are cheaper. I recently replaced my entire DVD collection with a 1tb drive; gonna be a long time before blank blu-rays approach blank dvds in cost. I don't own any HD media so that's a moot point for me. For quick data transference, flash drives are cheaper & 're-usable.'

Agreed. But what do you do for backups? Is it a RAID array? With optical I'm safe for a good 10 or 20 years at least if I take care of the discs. And if I lose one I only loose what's on it not my entire collection!

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: Locut0s

Originally posted by: Gigantopithecus
Nah. For long-term storage, hard drives are cheaper. I recently replaced my entire DVD collection with a 1tb drive; gonna be a long time before blank blu-rays approach blank dvds in cost. I don't own any HD media so that's a moot point for me. For quick data transference, flash drives are cheaper & 're-usable.'

Agreed. But what do you do for backups? Is it a RAID array? With optical I'm safe for a good 10 or 20 years at least if I take care of the discs. And if I lose one I only loose what's on it not my entire collection!

Buy one of these and a few 1.5 TB drives and backup to them all for redundancy.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: pontifex
if the price dropped, yes

 

[lxskllr]

Not really. I have a bunch of DVDs I bought because I thought they'd be useful. I hardly ever use them. I do almost everything on HDs, and for portable use, I use flash drives.

 

[Red Irish]

I picked one up when I built my rig a few months ago, just in case: it cost me ?55 and is unnecessary.

 

[CZroe]

Already have one. Media costs aren't a concern with 50GB DL BD-RE and cheap multi-TB RAID arrays.

 

[LumbergTech]

yes i would be ready to use them if they were a dollar a disc

hell even 5 bucks a disc..although i wouldnt use them all the time...i would use them for backups

 

[spaceman]

not really
optical medias playedout homie

 

[shortylickens]

For many purposes, including the ones the OP mentioned, flash memory and and traditional hard drives are more practical. If I had a crapload of downloaded shows and movies, I would leave them on the system or move them to a home theater PC with a couple of 1 TB hard drives. Thats much easier than burning a crapload of discs, no matter how cheap they may become. Its also much easier for viewing later. Blu-rays take forever to load up, but watching directly off a hard drive or even streaming is close to instant.

I dont really like it, but realistically the blu-ray format is probably the last physical medium we will ever see. With the MPAA and RIAA creating such a fear and hatred of piracy, I think eventually most movies and music will only be available as streaming or downloaded data. You can either rent it, or pay to keep it on your home computer or personal media player. I'm not saying it will happen this year or next year, but eventually I think it will be the norm.

/conspiracy rant