HTPC, Blu Ray rom, or burner?

[mikeford]

I'm waiting on a DVD drive (final one, have old one in it now) for my new HTPC until I replace my old TV with a big screen, but I am getting tempted by some of the good deals, and that started me wondering if I should get a burner or a player?

Some issues on my mind below;

I have plenty of server space, and room to expand, but I know at some point I will want to back some things up, critical hard to replace data, and I don't like to play game with original media only backups.

Making playing copies of games, will I need to use dual layer, or will Blu Ray media work?

Player is cheaper, a LOT, will it last as long as a more expensive burner?

Should I be concerned playing lots of DVD's will wear out a burner?

My current DVD burner will do DL 8.5GB disc's, but they seem like a dead end with Blu Ray maybe passing them up already in cost and availability.

Blu Ray software doesn't seem very mature, especially the burner software, but I wonder if it might get worse as DRM might cripple video backup in newer software.

 

[yinan]

Neither. Rip them and stream them from a server. Cooler and more efficient way

 

[mfenn]

I would NOT recommend DVD-R or BD-R for archival purposes. You're very likely to want to get that data back at some point only to find that the dyes have faded and the discs are no longer readable. Magnetic only (tape or HDD) for backups.

 

[mikeford]

I haven't paid attention to the + or - on the R, but I've been burning discs for a LONG time and haven't had any go bad yet that didn't start bad or have obvious damage. I do store media carefully in piles on my desk and around the office, so that could be a factor.

Funny you mention tape, I have a LOT of tape and magnetic backup media, for two dozen different types of no longer supported hardware. CD's from the same era I can still read on any computer in the house, laptop or desktop. Is there even any reasonable magnetic storage left?

*************

I'm with you on the rip and stream, especially the burn using a remote client system with more power etc., but the price of that is either a stand alone system near the AV or always turning on the "more powerful system" to play netflix and rentals. Not a spouse friendly situation, but maybe the way I will go anyway, mostly on the issue of wasted power having the drive in the HTPC.

OTOH any software installs would be a PITA without a DVD drive on the HTPC, but maybe a compromise is to put the BluRay in a USB external case and leave it off unless needed?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm in the same boat. Newegg recently had a deal on a Blu-Ray burner for $110, and included Cyberlink 9.0 BR playback software in the bundle. I would have bought it had I not been going on vaca.

 

[mfenn]

I haven't paid attention to the + or - on the R, but I've been burning discs for a LONG time and haven't had any go bad yet that didn't start bad or have obvious damage. I do store media carefully in piles on my desk and around the office, so that could be a factor.

Funny you mention tape, I have a LOT of tape and magnetic backup media, for two dozen different types of no longer supported hardware. CD's from the same era I can still read on any computer in the house, laptop or desktop. Is there even any reasonable magnetic storage left?

Exhibit A

 

[mikeford]

So that says use the DVD+R? I've no issue with that, all my stuff does both afaik.

That LG burner is still on sale $109 with a code for 10$ off that, still very tempting.

Big issue of backups, knowing what works out 2 to 5 years later. Going through some boxes of old stuff I found a 32 floppy backup I made for our old Win95 IBM laptop. As I recall when I needed to use it, floppy number 32 had some issue and install failed. Mad an impression on me.

I'm running raid1 a mirror, and making periodic backups to eventually a pair of smaller hard drives, which will rotate off site with all "important" hard to replace files. The BluRay vs 8.4GB dual layer is more for convenience offline storage. Playing copies of games, and storage of videos I rarely watch and if lost easily replaced with netflix.

Maybe even a final rip of my slowly rotting collection of laser discs.

 

[mfenn]

So that says use the DVD+R? I've no issue with that, all my stuff does both afaik.

That LG burner is still on sale $109 with a code for 10$ off that, still very tempting.

Big issue of backups, knowing what works out 2 to 5 years later. Going through some boxes of old stuff I found a 32 floppy backup I made for our old Win95 IBM laptop. As I recall when I needed to use it, floppy number 32 had some issue and install failed. Mad an impression on me.

I'm running raid1 a mirror, and making periodic backups to eventually a pair of smaller hard drives, which will rotate off site with all "important" hard to replace files. The BluRay vs 8.4GB dual layer is more for convenience offline storage. Playing copies of games, and storage of videos I rarely watch and if lost easily replaced with netflix.

Maybe even a final rip of my slowly rotting collection of laser discs.

"50% of my CMC-based DVD+/-R discs are bad now, fortunately I only have less than 100 of them."

No, it says that either can fail if they are low-cost media.

Also, re: the games, you're not going to be able to play them from a copy of the disc unless you either mod the console (for console games) or use no-CD cracks (for PC games). If you use a no-CD crack, you might as well just dump the ISOs on HDDs somewhere since you don't need the discs anyway.