BD media opinions?

[camaroguy1998]

Does anyone have any opinions on the available BluRay blanks on the market?
Ones to avoid or definitely buy?
Also where do you buy your discs from?

Mostly to be used for movie backups.

Happy New Year to everyone here at LR!

[bubba]

Oddly enough the BluRay burning I do is not for movies, rather data backup.

I have been running Verbatim 25GB disks http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817130156

With a Pioneer BDR2208 drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827129072

What are you using to burn your disks with? I run CyberLInk Power2Go software, it works, but I'm always open to options.

[camaroguy1998]

Oddly enough the BluRay burning I do is not for movies, rather data backup.

I have been running Verbatim 25GB disks http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817130156

With a Pioneer BDR2208 drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827129072

What are you using to burn your disks with? I run CyberLInk Power2Go software, it works, but I'm always open to options.

I have a Pioneer BDR-209DBK So far no complaints
I have used a couple RiData discs and like you Verbatim!
I see Newegg has the SmartBuy brand, do you know if they are any good?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 69821C2359
For data back up I also use the Cyberlink software, for movie back up I use BDClone. Both seem to work well.

[bubba]

Haven't tried the RiData or SmartBuy.

When I made the jump to BR for data backups last year I read through all kinds of media reviews. All pointed to Verbatim for reliability and no coasters. Using it for data archiving here at work, didn't feel like playing around and doing "what if".

Looks the SmartBuy disks are half the price of the Verbatim's.... Not sure I would trust them to something sensitive without some testing.

I know with the research I did when I made the switch BR burners are like DVD drive when they came out. Little picky as to the media you put in them. Check the compatibility.

[camaroguy1998]

I bought a new bd burner an LG. Installed it and tried to back up a movie today. It didnt even complete the read. Yes i was using the same unit to do both the read & write. Do you know anything on the LG burners? So far im not happy with LG.

[bubba]

Don't know anything about them, check LG's site or the manual that came with it. See if there is a "suggested media".. also try to slow the burn speed down.

[camaroguy1998]

Could not slow the burn down, The burn never happened. I'm not sure if you're familiar with movie backup. In a nutshell the BD rom reads and creates an image on your HDD, then burns that image to the disc. My problem is the read was failing to create an image. I had another identical unit and it did the exact same thing. So I figure the drives are not compatible with the software. Already RMA'd them!

2nd time LG has let me down!
Going to stick with PIONEER!

I'm going to keep experimenting with different media and see what happens!
Thanx Bubba!

[KnightRid]

If ever in doubt, buy Verbatim.

Thats my old saying that has worked for me ever since cdr's - if you have the funds at the time lol

[camaroguy1998]

If ever in doubt, buy Verbatim.

Thats my old saying that has worked for me ever since cdr's - if you have the funds at the time lol

I agree! Been a Verbatim fan like you since CD days!

[bubba]

I used anydvdHD (for BR and DVD) to rip the disk to an image file on my HD. Then burn the image back to a disk if I want it on a disk. Which is rare.

99% of the time I'm ripping the files to disk via anydvdHD, convert via handbrake and putting it on my NAS lol.

[KnightRid]

I used anydvdHD (for BR and DVD) to rip the disk to an image file on my HD. Then burn the image back to a disk if I want it on a disk. Which is rare.

99% of the time I'm ripping the files to disk via anydvdHD, convert via handbrake and putting it on my NAS lol.

I was using MakeMKV for a while when it was free beta but I have not converted any of mine to mp4, I kept the full uncompressed dvd or bluray. I am going to have to compress as all my dvds/blurays will not fit on my NAS uncompressed though

[lolsith]

For brand for DVD/DL i use only shintaro out of Taiwan - in AU its the same price as LG for DVDs but i have never had a failure at 16x/18x with over 300burns. With LG i would typically experience 1-2failure per 50 spindle at 16x.

For BD25/BD50 i used to use shintaro and once again never had a failure burning at 6x(25GB) or 4x(50GB) , but recently due to a big price difference i have switched to Imation 25GB with 50 successful burns so far, zero fails.

For software i use IMGBurn, UDF 1.02 (this format is supported by my older bluray player)

[sbohdan]

I have bought an Asus BD writer couple of years ago but it did not record any kind of BD that I threw at it. I did read around the internet and the solution turned out to be the upgrade of the firmware. Now it records anything I try

So I would suggest firmware upgrade.

[bubba]

I was using MakeMKV for a while when it was free beta but I have not converted any of mine to mp4, I kept the full uncompressed dvd or bluray. I am going to have to compress as all my dvds/blurays will not fit on my NAS uncompressed though

I compress everything. I don't have a massive TV, and I'm cheap so I don't have the coin to throw at a 16+TB raid setup to store a BR disk images (or DVD for that matter). So I get buy with a little 5 disk RAID. and rip all my movies to MP4 and keep them in the 1GBish range. Don't need chapter skipping or the extras so hassling MKV has no benefit for me. If I want to see the extras (rare) I'll dig the original disk out.

[KnightRid]

I was using MakeMKV for a while when it was free beta but I have not converted any of mine to mp4, I kept the full uncompressed dvd or bluray. I am going to have to compress as all my dvds/blurays will not fit on my NAS uncompressed though

I compress everything. I don't have a massive TV, and I'm cheap so I don't have the coin to throw at a 16+TB raid setup to store a BR disk images (or DVD for that matter). So I get buy with a little 5 disk RAID. and rip all my movies to MP4 and keep them in the 1GBish range. Don't need chapter skipping or the extras so hassling MKV has no benefit for me. If I want to see the extras (rare) I'll dig the original disk out.

I get rid of extras too!! I was thinking of doing like camaro and backing up to bluray discs but it is just easier using the NAS (I just have the 1512+ with 5 3TB Red drives in Raid 5 leaving around 11TB). I was worried about my 50" plasma with doing mp4 and in the future I want a projector also. Guess I could always use the physical disc for the bigger displays and the NAS for smaller.

Camaro - do you backup everything? Compress for more than 1 movie on a disc? Ever had a backup disc that wouldnt play in any device you put it in?

[Aida Archer]

I always keep the uncompressed DVD file in ISO image, and sometimes Video_TS folder with all the extras using [https://www.winxdvd.com/dvd-ripper/]WinX DVD Ripper and something that for future use. It takes some space but the storage device is cheap nowadays. I will convert them into MP4 when need to play on a size-limited device.