help with picking a new dvd burner

[Bill_Bright]

i mean as long WINDOWS recovery functions based on this kind of hardware i will always have this in stock.

That, but I also have over 600 music CDs and around 300 movie DVD and Blu-ray disks.

i bought a case and one of the to-kill-reasons were having no slot for an internal DVD drive

That may be fine for you but having an externally accessible 5 1/4" drive bay is not just for optical drives. Some users my want a fan controller, for example. Or combination card read and USB hub.

 

[plastiscɧ]

Some users my want a fan controller, for example. Or combination card read and USB hub.

i see! so one more reason for case manufacturers not to offer just the closed ones.

having about 1000 of these silver disks is SOOOOO old fashioned.

 

[lexluthermiester]

its time i replaced my old internal sata dvd burner

trouble is i have no idea whats happoened in this catagory in the last 10 years so what should i, can i, get

i want the latest tech i can get naturally but have there been any improvements in these things at all?

when i look in storag section its only about SSD drives and the system builders page isnt showing anyone listing dvd burners so im confused as to what to get

your help is greatly appreciated TIA

Pioneer. They still make the best, most reliable drive on the market.

Amazon.com: Pioneer Electronics BDR-212DBK 16x Internal BD/DVD/CD Writer Supports Blu-Ray & M-Disc Format, Drive-RW/DVD-RW Only : Electronics

Buy Pioneer Electronics BDR-212DBK 16x Internal BD/DVD/CD Writer Supports Blu-Ray & M-Disc Format, Drive-RW/DVD-RW Only: Internal CD & DVD Drives - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

$70 Shipped
Bluray Combo drive with DVDR/CDR functionality.

Amazon.com: PIONEER Electronics BDR-2212 Internal BD/DVD/CD Writer Supports Blu-ray BDXL & M-Disc Format, 5X DVD-RAM 12x BD-ROM : Electronics

Buy PIONEER Electronics BDR-2212 Internal BD/DVD/CD Writer Supports Blu-ray BDXL & M-Disc Format, 5X DVD-RAM 12x BD-ROM: Internal Blu-ray Drives - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

$105 Shipped
This one can burn everything, BDR/DVDR/CDR and will burn the MDisc archival quality media.
With this drive you can do BDR single, dual and quad layer discs, for 25GB, 50GB & 100GB. This allows for plenty of room to do data backups.

I do BDR backup all the time.
Don't listen to the nay-sayers. Buy the technology that makes sense for what YOU want to do.

 

[Regeneration]

All optical disc readers/burners eventually die.

Get a cheap Blu-Ray X16 burner from Amazon and be done with it.

Amazon.com: LG WH16NS40 Super Multi Blue Internal SATA 16x Blu-ray Disc Rewriter : Everything Else

Buy LG WH16NS40 Super Multi Blue Internal SATA 16x Blu-ray Disc Rewriter: Everything Else - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

Amazon.com: Pioneer Electronics BDR-212DBK 16x Internal BD/DVD/CD Writer Supports Blu-Ray & M-Disc Format, Drive-RW/DVD-RW Only : Electronics

Buy Pioneer Electronics BDR-212DBK 16x Internal BD/DVD/CD Writer Supports Blu-Ray & M-Disc Format, Drive-RW/DVD-RW Only: Internal CD & DVD Drives - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[sepheronx]

I have a few 5.25" dvd burners. One I have sitting in front of me is a model sh-216.

If I find more, I can send a bunch out to you. You will have to pay shipping of course. I wont charge anything for the drives.

 

[Shrek]

I just got an Lite-On iHAS124 (< $25)
Amazon.com: PLDS Lite-On Super AllWrite IHAS124-04 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive (Black), Bulk - Bulk: Computers & Accessories
as I like to have a hard copy of Windows installs

 

[Bill_Bright]

having about 1000 of these silver disks is SOOOOO old fashioned.

Then we won't talk about my collection of nearly 700 vinyl LPs! Or my reel-to-real. At least I got rid of my cassettes and 8-tracks.

 

[sam_86314]

thanks guys, thats why i love this place, lots of smart people who are always willing to help and teach

i agree about LG apliances though, every one we ever owned had issues, but on the flip side the LG electronics i bought were always great

i would like larger capacity to burn bigger files so i guess i need to get the blue ray for that

LG's drives are actually a joint operation between Hitachi and LG (HL-DT-ST), and I believe the BD drives that Asus sells are also manufactured by them. I've had a bunch of HL-DT-ST drives; they're all great.

I primarily use BD-R's for backing up things like important files, GOG games, and more. The two drives I mentioned also support writing to M-Discs, which are intended for long-term archival purposes.

I also back up movies to my server so I can stream them via Plex. I currently have around 150 movies totaling 4TB of space. All of the issues I've had with backing up Blu-rays have been software-related, again, not because of the drive. I did, however, need to downgrade the drive's firmware in order to be able to back up 4K Blu-rays.

I'd share the software I use, but I don't know if it might be against forum guidelines. I'll say its name has something to do with creating a certain video container file.

EDIT: Guess it's fine to say it by name; it's MakeMKV. As @Regeneration said, they also have modded firmware for the drives I mentioned. But you can also just downgrade to 1.02 if you don't trust modded firmware. It even has a library that can even be used in VLC so you can play Blu-ray movies.

 

[lexluthermiester]

All optical disc readers/burners eventually die.

That would not be any more or less true if we were talking about any other example of electronics. I have a Turbo Grafix 16 with the CD addon drive that still works perfectly. Same with my Turbo Duo and my Sega CDX.

Some times things die, true, but that doesn't mean they always do..

Let's not be alarmist..

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
I have a acer dvd burner from 2009 still working lol
Sure it doesn't want to slide open at first press but it will eventually

 

[Bill_Bright]

Some times things die, true, but that doesn't mean they always do..

Agreed. But they will - eventually. Unless, as is usually the case, they are retired before their time. And even then, eventually, time will take its toll and cause something to deteriorate enough to self-destruct or fail to operate next time power is applied. Time always wins - eventually.

 

[delshay]

Has anyone edited/modded they Bluray firmware so it can play any disc from around the world?

 

[windwhirl]

Agreed. But they will - eventually. Unless, as is usually the case, they are retired before their time. And even then, eventually, time will take its toll and cause something to deteriorate enough to self-destruct or fail to operate next time power is applied. Time always wins - eventually.

In the meantime, however, I don't think a good drive (provided there are no fabric defects and that it is well kept) will last anything less than a good 15 to 20 years. Same with the optical media.

 

[sam_86314]

Has anyone edited/modded they Bluray firmware so it can play any disc from around the world.

I downgraded my WH16NS40 from 1.03 to 1.02 because 1.03 patched an exploit that my ripping software uses to back up 4K Blu-rays.

My drive now reliably reads all Blu-ray discs, regardless of region and size (only when using the software in question).

As an example, we bought the Pirates of the Caribbean series on Blu-ray, but we didn't realize it was the EU version. Fortunately, the software I use couldn't care less about region locks on discs, so while our official Blu-ray player refused to play them, my downgraded WH16NS40 backed them up with no issue. I'd rant about region locking in general, but that's beyond the scope of this thread.

The maker of the software also has modded firmware if you want to go that route.

 

[Shrek]

All optical disc readers/burners eventually die.

Get a cheap Blu-Ray X16 burner from Amazon and be done with it.

I have 4 DVD drives I was unable to bring back; I guess they overdrive those lasers.

 

[Regeneration]

I have 4 DVD drives I was unable to bring back; I guess they overdrive those lasers.

That would not be any more or less true if we were talking about any other example of electronics. I have a Turbo Grafix 16 with the CD addon drive that still works perfectly. Same with my Turbo Duo and my Sega CDX.

Some times things die, true, but that doesn't mean they always do..

Let's not be alarmist..

Most drives have a cheap mechanical design with rubber that dries up over time.

The laser lense gets dirty over time and just die. If you have a dusty environment (smoker or live in a desert), it dies even faster than normal.

The trick is to keep it sterile clean, below 25c, dry place (without humidity). Make sure all discs you insert are sterile clean.

I've been told the best way is to use external drive and to keep it in a closet until you need it.

Has anyone edited/modded they Bluray firmware so it can play any disc from around the world?

There is a big community on MakeMKV that have unlocked firmware for the most common drives.

Custom firmware pack with LibreDrive patches - www.makemkv.com

forum.makemkv.com

If its just to play region-locked DVDs, you can just use AnyDVD or DVDFab. No flashing is required.

 

[QuietBob]

i back up everything on disk that i can so if i have a drive fail, i can protect most of my files

what is the need for a blue ray burner and what would i be using it for any way?

If long-term backup is your primary concern, you should definitely get a Blu-ray combo burner. I'd recommend a drive which supports both BDXL (Blu-ray Disc XL) and M-DISC media. That will enable you to store 100 GB on a single disc with superior archival longevity.
I got an H-L BH16NS55 for myself only a few days ago.

my system (the one in my specs) couldnt even run blue ray

All you need to play Blu-ray is a dual core CPU and appropriate player software, which often comes bundled with the drive.

 

[Shrek]

Most drives have a cheap mechanical design with rubber that dries up over time.

The laser lense gets dirty over time and just die. If you have a dusty environment (smoker or live in a desert), it dies even faster than normal.

First thing I do is clean the lens and change the belt if needed; I have also seen the switch that tells the mechanism it has closed fail, but some silicone oil in the switch mechanism brought it back.

 

[sam_86314]

There is a big community on MakeMKV that have unlocked firmware for the most common drives.

Custom firmware pack with LibreDrive patches - www.makemkv.com
If its just to play region-locked DVDs, you can just use AnyDVD or DVDFab. No flashing is required.

MakeMKV's libmmbd.dll file can be used in VLC so long as MakeMKV is activated. When I tried it a while ago, menus on discs didn't work; it would just start playing the largest file on the disc. Not sure if they work now.

EDIT: I guess now the integration features are now under the Integration tab in preferences. Just tested it in MPC-HC, it skips all the menus and other nonsense and just starts playing the movie from the disc.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Worst thing about dvd movies is all the delays from actually watching the darn things.
Need software to extract and just get the movie lol

 

[Regeneration]

Hi,
Worst thing about dvd movies is all the delays from actually watching the darn things.
Need software to extract and just get the movie lol

And the noise during playback. I have LG BD and its really loud.

 

[plastiscɧ]

Then we won't talk about my collection of nearly 700 vinyl LPs! Or my reel-to-real. At least I got rid of my cassettes and 8-tracks.

this, Sir.... is very cool tbh !
It requires some knowledge to handle them correctly and they are undying objects and witnesses of our cultural being since more than 100 years. its not JUST plastic...

 

[lexluthermiester]

Has anyone edited/modded they Bluray firmware so it can play any disc from around the world?

Why would you do that? Just use a software player that can do that.

 

[Regeneration]

Why would you do that? Just use a software player that can do that.

Its required to restore UHD disc playback, unlock ripping, and region locks.

How To Restore UHD Playback In Latest Blu-Ray Drives

I don't know if you guys and girlettes are aware, but latest internal Blu-Ray drives (and its firmware) cannot read UHD discs. If you bring in a movie, you may face an unpleasant surprise. It appears that hardware vendors have begun blocking UHD within the drives' firmware. The Blu-Ray drive...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[delshay]

Its required to restore UHD disc playback, unlock ripping, and region locks.

How To Restore UHD Playback In Latest Blu-Ray Drives

I don't know if you guys and girlettes are aware, but latest internal Blu-Ray drives (and its firmware) cannot read UHD discs. If you bring in a movie, you may face an unpleasant surprise. It appears that hardware vendors have begun blocking UHD within the drives' firmware. The Blu-Ray drive...

www.techpowerup.com

It's a shame it does not cover Pioneer SATA drives, but I think I can work it out.

Let's face it, a dedicated home player is not lock, at lease mine is not lock & that's from Panasonic, so why lock PC drives. I know the first thing that comes to mind & that's copyrights..