Blu Ray - Player vs Read/Write?

[Kitsune]

Planning to get a Blu Ray for my computer - Is it worth it to get a Read/Write there days?

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Depends on what you're planning to do, of course, but I purchased a BD-RW drive last time I upgraded my computer, thinking that I would make copies of hi-def movies or use it for file storage. In 4 years, I have yet to burn a single BD-R for either of those purposes. With HDD and flash storage being so cheap these days, I wouldn't personally bother with the writing capability.

[Kitsune]

Depends on what you're planning to do, of course, but I purchased a BD-RW drive last time I upgraded my computer, thinking that I would make copies of hi-def movies or use it for file storage. In 4 years, I have yet to burn a single BD-R for either of those purposes. With HDD and flash storage being so cheap these days, I wouldn't personally bother with the writing capability.

Kind of my thoughts. . . .Use a 3 TB internal storage drive and a second 3 TB external backup drive (Plus some other smaller drives that are used to pass files to my laptop and used for my TV server computer), not sure I would ever use the Blu-Ray to make disks.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

When I bought the BD-RW drive, I assumed I would indefinitely continue my then-habit of renting discs from Netflix and copying them (scofflaw that I was), but that I would transition to the Blu-Ray format. Between Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, and other streaming services, the idea that anyone would need to copy Blu-Ray discs these days seems downright quaint.

[JLTucker]

When I bought the BD-RW drive, I assumed I would indefinitely continue my then-habit of renting discs from Netflix and copying them (scofflaw that I was), but that I would transition to the Blu-Ray format. Between Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, and other streaming services, the idea that anyone would need to copy Blu-Ray discs these days seems downright quaint.

Audio and videophiles would because those streams, while adequate for most, aren't tolerable.

[Executor32]

Audio and videophiles would because those streams, while adequate for most, aren't tolerable.

This. Even for non-audio/videophiles the difference is noticeable, especially during dark scenes. Personal anecdote: I bought The Avengers on Blu-Ray but had never gotten around to watching it. It sat on my shelf for a few months, until I saw that it was on Netflix Instant. I started watching it there, but in less than five minutes I had busted out the Blu-Ray to watch instead because I knew it had to look better.

As far as the drive goes, the difference in price between a BD-RW and a BD-ROM/DVD±RW is only $20-$40, so it's just a matter of whether you think having the burning capability just in case is worth it.

[Kitsune]

I have netflix but I often work in places where my mobile broadband is not great.
As such, be almost impossible to stream movies combined with the fact that it would quickly eat up my monthly total if I did.
As such, I put DVD quality movies on an external hard drive. I buy the movies though.

One thought I have is that XP took up a CD, Win 7 and 8 use a DVD, will Win 9 require a Blu Ray?

[Executor32]

Unlikely, since neither 7 nor 8 fill even a single-layer DVD, let alone a dual-layer one.

[Wing Commander MAD]

Something else to consider is that IIRC BD have a longer overall life if properly stored and should offer better data density/cost. Good for archival purposes. It isn't magnetic tape, but aside from professional data backup who uses tape.

For those who don't know, the lifetime of the storage medium and data density/cost are significant considerations for archival and backup operations. In order from least to most desirable: flash, traditional magnetic platter drives, disks*, magnetic tape. More exotic methods of data storage will fall into various points along that range, but those are the most common.


Note *: This covers everything from floppies, to hard disks, to modern CDs, DVDs, etc.

[Kitsune]

Wanted to add that I went ahead and purchased a Blu-Ray player combined with a read/write DVD-Rom.
Found a refurbished one on eBay for $44.00 with a 60 day warranty.