Warm? LG BD-Burner

wjogert said:
I didn't think you could backup BluRay movies to BD-R since the blank media is single layer (25Gb) and to my knowledge, none of the BD utilities have a compression function.

Am I wrong??

BTW, NewEgg has the OEM drive at this price about once-per-month, and the retail drive as low as $159 about every 2nd month. I know, I've been watching them for months... waiting for the prices to go even lower.

With HD-DVD out of the picture, it seems there is no reason for the hardware to get any cheaper than it is?
Click to expand...

You can down-rip them with AnyDVD and It'll work. A lot of BD Utilities have compression abilities.
 
Making an actual bit-for-bit backup of a retail Blu-ray movie (dual layer, 50GB media) is impractical and god awful expensive, hence the rising popularity of programs like HandBrake which use x264 to encode the original content down to something far more manageable (resulting in an h.264 file with the full audio soundtrack, subs, you name it).

At such ridiculous prices for the media, taking a retail Blu-ray movie - that's typically 25-40GB as a single file (the original Transformers movie is like 42GB as a single file, insane) - and crunching it down to something in the DVD9 range (8.5GB or so) at the same resolution with nearly the same image quality (and with all that audio too) is the way most of the backups are accomplished.

Makes it far easier to set up home theaters with media centers these days, and the MKV container tends to be the standard for such end results.

But the full process is slow, even on the most monster of machines as h.264 encoding is a real beast in terms of number crunching and power to do it efficiently. Still, it's worth the time for most people because it's the only practical solution to make a "backup" of the original media.
 
Hard drive space + MakeMKV

Who wants to mess with disc trays more than they have to?
 
The most cost effective way to back up your Blu-rays is a big SATA drive. I got in on four of those 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 drives for $80 each a few weeks ago, and couldn't be happier.
 
wjogert said:
With HD-DVD out of the picture, it seems there is no reason for the hardware to get any cheaper than it is?
Click to expand...
Not necessarily.

It goes back to supply and demand. As more factories ramp up production of Blu-ray burners, and supply goes up, then prices will naturally come down. They'll make up for lost profit with greater volume.
 
All I know is that I bought the LG BD/HD-DVD ROM from the Egg for $109 (on sale)... just weeks before the price on the burners dropped to $150-ish.

Sucks, 'cause had I waited I would have spent the addtl. $$ for the burner. :(

Been watching the prices for about 8 months since, and $139.99 is the cheapest they ever hit.
I think I would have bit finally, this time, were it not for my max'd out credit card...

Of course, when I do finally buy one... that is when the prices will finally hit rock bottom, lol. Just to screw with me. Murphy's Law hates me.
 
SocceRich20 said:
The most cost effective way to back up your Blu-rays is a big SATA drive. I got in on four of those 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11 drives for $80 each a few weeks ago, and couldn't be happier.
Click to expand...

So very true.
Large HD's FTW;)
 
I sure hope it's a bit more than just a BD-ROM drive, unless you mean there's a blank disc inside (highly unlikely)... clarification?
 
Well...until one of the cheapo companies brings out a Blueray player that is cheap...I doubt you see prices drop for a long time. Most consumers are just now transitioning to High Definition TV's and the majority of them are NOT demanding High Def media to go with them yet. Until they do, PC drives aren't gonna drop drastically because media companies don't want you ripping your backups. Does anyone blame SONY for protecting their assets? Of course, but it is smart business since they are a media company that has most of their big budget films ripped off. They have no incentive to lower prices yet. Just like the DVD that was out for a long time before being adopted. It took a cheap Walmart branded DVD player (I believe it was Apex) to cause everyone else to drop their prices. But, the masses flocked because the DVD was a worthy upgrade not just because of the superior sound and video to VHS but because the video didn't wear out after a few plays. DVD's had a virtual 20 year shelf life that magnets didn't accidently kill. According to this article, PC's really aren't projected to seriously incorporate the drives til around 2013.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/19178-report-blu-ray-unlikely-to-replace-dvd-in-pcs.html

Even DVD's really didn't make a splash on PC's other then businesses and movie pirates until a few years back when the gaming industry finally decided that they didn't need to pack 7+ cd's for their games. Up until then DVD version sales were in the toilet across the board for PC games. What is sad is that they have been talking about the holographic disks that smoke Blueray for storage. Currently not feasible but may be by then. Time will tell.
 
Last edited:
Joe Average said:
Making an actual bit-for-bit backup of a retail Blu-ray movie (dual layer, 50GB media) is impractical and god awful expensive, hence the rising popularity of programs like HandBrake which use x264 to encode the original content down to something far more manageable (resulting in an h.264 file with the full audio soundtrack, subs, you name it).

At such ridiculous prices for the media, taking a retail Blu-ray movie - that's typically 25-40GB as a single file (the original Transformers movie is like 42GB as a single file, insane) - and crunching it down to something in the DVD9 range (8.5GB or so) at the same resolution with nearly the same image quality (and with all that audio too) is the way most of the backups are accomplished.

Makes it far easier to set up home theaters with media centers these days, and the MKV container tends to be the standard for such end results.

But the full process is slow, even on the most monster of machines as h.264 encoding is a real beast in terms of number crunching and power to do it efficiently. Still, it's worth the time for most people because it's the only practical solution to make a "backup" of the original media.
Click to expand...

I'll vouch for the good image quality of
a BD-9.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
Both the OEM and Retail version of this drive have been deactivated on NewEgg's site????? :eek:

Does this mean that LG is discontinuing the drives??
 
^It is discontinued by LG, at least here in India. Got one on clearance in December last year for 120$.. 6,000 rupees. It's been replaced by an 8X BD-R/RE drive, the BH08LS20N.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top