Poll: Do you use optical drives in 2023?

[BFG10K]

I just installed Halo OG on my Windows 10 PC without issue. The DVD is from 2003 so the media is now 20 years old.

Spoiler

It was installed with an external USB DVD drive, but I also have a SATA Bluray drive which I sometimes connect with eSATA.

We know HDDs can also last 20 years, so I wonder if SSDs will also work after that time.

 

[OlyAR15]

I have an external blu ray and 4K UHD blu ray drive. I use it to rip my discs to my NAS. Otherwise, I have no use for optical drives.

 

[Pohemi]

Not had one in a decade, I think. Even before I stopped gaming on my PC, I had been getting games and software digitally for some time. I had an LG USB DVD-RW for a while "just in case", and I didn't use it once over the 4 years I had it.

I just don't have a use for one anymore.

 

[mikeymikec]

2x internal drives (BD-RE and DVDRW, I started with a single DVDRW which wasn't perfect so I put another one in alongside the first, then replaced the iffy one with the BD-RE which is just as well because the DVDRW is much faster in some scenarios seemingly), one ~20yo USB DVD writer which was mainly for an old laptop but has come in handy so many times in my line of work.

 

[sdifox]

Nope. Don't even own a sata dvd drive

Actually, I do have one in my PE R710 but it just sits there.

 

[Mantrid-Drone]

I require at least one DVD-RW drive available because my retro-gaming consoles may require disc based install of certain utilities or tools running from disc. It is also, arguably, the simplest way of getting stuff from PC to console.

You can FTP instead but I don't use the console online so it is not permanently networked and often it is practically as quick to do it from disc.

Then there's the music CDs I still prefer to buy which I rip on PC for media centre install. I also have at least a couple of dozen unplayed PC games on their original discs too.

For my latest PC build I've bought a case with plenty of spare 5.25" bays and will be fitting two SATA DVD-RW and maybe a Blu-Ray-RW later as well.

I'll probably install the new build's Windows OS from disc too.

I have done it with previous builds using a flash drive instead just for the experience. Went without a hitch. But, ironically, I used the files copied from the original Windows OS disc I bought and, obviously, needed a DVD drive to do that.

Two years ago I had RAM issues on one PC and used MemTest from disc to identify the bad module. Could have done that from USB flash drive too of course but the PC was set up to priority boot discs and I would have had to alter my BIOS settings to change that. So doing it from disc seemed the simplest solution.

The problem now is actually getting hold of decent new DVD-RW. My favourities: Samsung SH-224, are no longer manufactured (2016?) and I had a job sourcing two genuinely new ones a year ago.

The Liteon models you can still find easily new are, I've found, pretty good but they are very noisy compared to Samsungs.

Disc media is disappearing from the high street stores in the UK but you can still find it fairly easily both suspiciously cheap and the expensive well known brands like Verbatim and Philips.

 

[Brainonska511]

Currently, only have a Blu-ray drive in the computer serving as our HTPC, which in a way is just an 80% transplant of my former desktop (Skylake build, moved it in December). I used to keep one in my desktop for the occasional old game or ripping a CD I may have received, but those days are few and far between now, my new build doesn't have a spot for the drive, and CD ripping can be done on my HTPC for now. If needed, I can always get a USB one.

However, when the HTPC finally hits EOL in a few years, I may opt for something like a NUC and just buy a separate blu-ray player. The Blu-ray playing software is kind of a pain in the ass.

 

[mindless1]

I keep a DVDRW drive in one system, not to install Windows or burn CDRW or DVDRW discs, but rather felt I might as well keep it in that system when the rest of it was upgraded, and do use it occasionally when I happen upon some disc that I either want ripped to ISO or files. That happens once or twice a year.

 

[Ronstang]

I'm using a Blu-Ray drive right now in fact to rip Jurassic Park using MakeMKV so I can then compress it and put it on my emby server so my wife can watch it with the kids.

I have one in my HTPC, which is the one I'm using now, and another Blu-Ray in my desktop I was using last night to rip Blu-Ray collections onto my other machine to encode at a later date and put on my emby servers....which I have two.

I have a stack of extra DVDRW and Blu-Ray drives in the drawer upstairs as backups as I use them almost daily right now as I am in the process of populating my emby servers with my own content and I have over 1K discs in this house....one of my best friends has about 5 times as many discs as me and I will put those on emby also since he is one of my users.....so I will be using optical drives almost every day for the foreseeable future and then on occasion whenever I get a new DVD or Blu-Ray as I do not watch them any way other than in emby as it spoils you. The last time I tried to watch a disc with my wife on a standalone player we had to stop and resume the next evening so I ripped and encoded it as using the standalone player has become painful since we have used emby for over 3 years.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Yes, I still use optical drives. One in my HTPC, and one USB for the occasional need elsewhere.

Mainly for bluray/DVD watching, but also for backup purposes.

However, when the HTPC finally hits EOL in a few years, I may opt for something like a NUC and just buy a separate blu-ray player. The Blu-ray playing software is kind of a pain in the ass.

Fortunately, VLC added support for menus on bluray. Works perfectly, you just need Java and one other additional program installed. Which shouldn't be too hard to find.

 

[Brainonska511]

Fortunately, VLC added support for menus on bluray. Works perfectly, you just need Java and one other additional program installed. Which shouldn't be too hard to find.

I've had a license for Cyberlink PowerDVD 16 that I've used for at least 4 years, and that is generally okay; we don't watch separate blu ray enough to justify my time implementing another software solution. I may also have some other underlying issue with my drive: in the past, when it was still a Haswell budget system, it would sometimes just disappear from Windows, requiring a restart for it to be seen again.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

we don't watch separate blu ray enough to justify my time implementing another software solution.

You could be up and running in about the time it took to type your reply. For once it really is that easy.

I was totally surprised by how easy it is.

 

[dlerious]

I've had a license for Cyberlink PowerDVD 16 that I've used for at least 4 years, and that is generally okay; we don't watch separate blu ray enough to justify my time implementing another software solution. I may also have some other underlying issue with my drive: in the past, when it was still a Haswell budget system, it would sometimes just disappear from Windows, requiring a restart for it to be seen again.

I used to use PowerDVD, but at some point they started requiring Intel SGX (7th gen - 10th gen). Looks like UHD playback is getting harder

CyberLink Support Center

 

[Brainonska511]

I used to use PowerDVD, but at some point they started requiring Intel SGX (7th gen - 10th gen). Looks like UHD playback is getting harder

CyberLink Support Center

That's good to keep in mind. I guess (fortunately) for my setup, UHD isn't an issue. Our TV is a 42" 1080P LCD TV I bought back in 2010, with no plans to upgrade in the next 2 years.

 

[OlyAR15]

You could be up and running in about the time it took to type your reply. For once it really is that easy.

I was totally surprised by how easy it is.

Only if you are lucky. I tried getting VLC to play blu rays, which wasn't an issue. But getting menus to work was a failure. No matter which version of Java I installed, menus refused to work. I didn't spend more time on it because it was pointless for me. I rip all my discs to my NAS and use Kodi to play them on my big-screen.

 

[DeathReborn]

I have a USB DVD-RW drive and a SATA BluRay Writer both for Desktop use/newer laptop without drive, along with an old laptop that has a SATA DVD-RW drive in it. I have a couple of large cases filled with games going back to the 90's which all still work.

 

[Ronstang]

However, when the HTPC finally hits EOL in a few years, I may opt for something like a NUC and just buy a separate blu-ray player. The Blu-ray playing software is kind of a pain in the ass.

Why sunset the HTPC? I have one but I only call it that because that is what I built it for 9 years ago but never really used it because it was cumbersome to use but the sunsetting of WMC forced me to look for options and that is how I found EMBY. So why pull out a disc to watch at all? Use your Blu-Ray drive to rip them with MAKEMKV and then either store them as is or encode and compress them with ffmpeg as I do and use the emby server to enjoy them anytime anywhere....on your phone or any smart TV.

I have 4 friends and 2 family members accessing my emby server on this new desktop anytime they want to watch a move.....most are recorded and encoded TV from TCM, Encore, MGM, or SONY channels etc but all are HDTV and look just as good encoded to a fraction of their recorded size and I can house around 3K movies on a 4TB hard drive.

I currently have almost 500 Blu-Ray and DVDs stored and that isn't even half my collection plus I have a friend's collection to add to mine and he has almost 5 times what I have but similar taste. I am currently only sharing a portion of my content with friends but that is 6K movies.

The best thing....you don't even need a powerful computer to do any of this the way I have it set up. If you are interested and have any questions just PM me for more info.....always glad to help anyone who shares my interests.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Very rarely use them now days, but they're so cheap that any time I do a build I put one in just in case I ever need it. Also have a USB one in case I run into a machine that has none and need to use it. Back in the day I use to make archive CDs of stuff like program installers, programs I coded etc... but now I just keep that stuff on spinning disks + backups.

Same with floppy drive I pretty much put one in all my builds until it basically became impractical. Basically when IDE got phased out is when I stopped.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Only if you are lucky. I tried getting VLC to play blu rays, which wasn't an issue. But getting menus to work was a failure. No matter which version of Java I installed, menus refused to work. I didn't spend more time on it because it was pointless for me. I rip all my discs to my NAS and use Kodi to play them on my big-screen.

In my case, it was just install the lastest version of VLC (3.0.18) (Which was already installed), install Java, install MakeMKV, and flip the integration switch in MakeMKV. Worked right out of the box. Nothing additional required. I've now tried it on a couple of PCs. Worked straight away.

Which is why I am so surprised. You only need to make sure the software versions match. E.g. x64 VLC, x64 Java JRE, x64 MakeMKV.

 

[cellarnoise]

I've read that spinning disks of any kind helps to keep the "A Eye" away!

I still have several plastic spinners and hard rusting? spinners, spinning away , until the a.i.eyes come and evaporates the spinneroid immune or until the next power outage...

Spin on Diskoids!

 

[Brainonska511]

Why sunset the HTPC? I have one but I only call it that because that is what I built it for 9 years ago but never really used it because it was cumbersome to use but the sunsetting of WMC forced me to look for options and that is how I found EMBY. So why pull out a disc to watch at all? Use your Blu-Ray drive to rip them with MAKEMKV and then either store them as is or encode and compress them with ffmpeg as I do and use the emby server to enjoy them anytime anywhere....on your phone or any smart TV.

I have 4 friends and 2 family members accessing my emby server on this new desktop anytime they want to watch a move.....most are recorded and encoded TV from TCM, Encore, MGM, or SONY channels etc but all are HDTV and look just as good encoded to a fraction of their recorded size and I can house around 3K movies on a 4TB hard drive.

I currently have almost 500 Blu-Ray and DVDs stored and that isn't even half my collection plus I have a friend's collection to add to mine and he has almost 5 times what I have but similar taste. I am currently only sharing a portion of my content with friends but that is 6K movies.

The best thing....you don't even need a powerful computer to do any of this the way I have it set up. If you are interested and have any questions just PM me for more info.....always glad to help anyone who shares my interests.

The HTPC wouldn't be completely sunset in a few years, it would just be replaced with something much smaller and sans optical drive. I have a decent number of DVDs of movies and a few TV shows ripped, so there is still merit in maintaining a system.

I haven't gotten into ripping any of the handful of Blu-ray we own, but I assume I could probably do this with MakeMKV and just use Kodi to watch (just like I do with DVDs).

EMBY seems interesting, but I don't have a personal use case for this. Nice to see that stuff out there though.

 

[Ronstang]

EMBY seems interesting, but I don't have a personal use case for this. Nice to see that stuff out there though.

Dumb question but what do you use your HTPC for currently?

When built I used mine to record CATV movies etc but I found WMC too clunky to use and the quality of playback was not that great....but once I found emby and started encoding my movies to HEVC it took on a new life as the playback quality is far better not using a browser. When using emby as a file server alone the device and it's emby app control playback and I noticed better quality.

Also, ripped and encoded DVDs look better played this way through emby than they do just sticking the disc in a stand alone player. So ripping your content to a HD and encoding it an then just using emby as a personal player without sharing with others simply replaces your HTPC with something useful in my opinion. Yes, it takes a little effort upfront but being able to browse your collection and click to play is nice....plus resume to where you left off and all the info and ability to look up actors, find similar movies or ones by same actor etc. are far better than anything WMC ever offered.

So you may have a personal use case and not know it unless you just don't use your HTPC at all or rarely. But even if you have 100 discs you can have them all at your fingertips and basic playback on emby is free or costs $6 for an app purchase.

 

[Brainonska511]

Dumb question but what do you use your HTPC for currently?

When built I used mine to record CATV movies etc but I found WMC too clunky to use and the quality of playback was not that great....but once I found emby and started encoding my movies to HEVC it took on a new life as the playback quality is far better not using a browser. When using emby as a file server alone the device and it's emby app control playback and I noticed better quality.

Also, ripped and encoded DVDs look better played this way through emby than they do just sticking the disc in a stand alone player. So ripping your content to a HD and encoding it an then just using emby as a personal player without sharing with others simply replaces your HTPC with something useful in my opinion. Yes, it takes a little effort upfront but being able to browse your collection and click to play is nice....plus resume to where you left off and all the info and ability to look up actors, find similar movies or ones by same actor etc. are far better than anything WMC ever offered.

So you may have a personal use case and not know it unless you just don't use your HTPC at all or rarely. But even if you have 100 discs you can have them all at your fingertips and basic playback on emby is free or costs $6 for an app purchase.

Currently, we generally use it for daily evening streaming (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Paramount+, Youtube) since we don't have a separate device for that, occasionally watching some of the DVDs I've ripped (using Kodi), it's our Blu-ray player, and we use it for Jackbox games when we have guests over. The video quality with Kodi is fine, and we're a single TV household who doesn't really watch stuff on the go for a number of reasons; so I'm probably not going to take the time to set up emby (I mean, it sounds neat and all, but just doesn't fit our use).

 

[Muadib]

Bought the drive below, as a means to backup the pc in my sig. It got more use as a CD player though.

BDR-XS07UHD - 6x Slot Loading Portable USB 3.1 Gen1(3.0) BD/DVD/CD Burner. Supports 4k Ultra Hd Blu-Ray Playback , BDXL™ And M-Disc™ Format. USB Bus Powered. Cyberlink Software Included

6x Slot Loading Portable USB 3.1 Gen1(3.0) BD/DVD/CD Burner. Supports 4k Ultra Hd Blu-Ray Playback , BDXL™ And M-Disc™ Format. USB Bus Powered. Cyberlink Software Included

www.pioneerelectronics.com

 

[Puffnstuff]

When I built my new system it did not have a 5.25" drive bay so I had to place by bdrw drive in an external USB enclosure. I still have bluray movies and it works well for them plus I still have files on bluray discs.