Blu-ray drive vs. player

[Polaris]

Some cases have a 5.25" drive bay where I can stick in a BR drive. What are the advantages/disadvantages to doing this instead of buying a separate player? I do recall something about disc drives being unable to play protected content. Is this still true and is it a practical problem in India?

Thanks.

 

[baijuxavior]

I have tried both BD player and BD Drive. I found the BD Player to be more user friendly. It is plug and play and the remote control enhances the usability. A PC with BD drive is not easy to setup. You need a remote control, a compatible player and AnyDVDHD to decrypt the discs in addition to an equally powerful hardware. If you are patient enough go for BD drive. One use is that you can rip the disks to the hard drive. With AnyDVDHD, you can play any region disks. This is very useful since getting a region free BDP is not easy and is costly. A good BD writer will cost only 5K if imported from the US.

 

[reignofchaos]

You have much more flexibility with a bluray drive. First of all thanks to free rippers like makemkv and anydvd hd, there's no issues with region encoding. Secondly you can keep a dump of the file on the hdd and not use the disc. Thirdly, it is super easy to get very high quality output via madvr which compares very favorably to absolute top end bluray players.

Once you build an HTPC with a bluray drive, if you had a bluray player, it'll gather dust - like what is happening to my ps3.

 

[Polaris]

@reign: But you do need to rip the discs before being able to play them, right?

@baiju: What do you use the writer for? Rip, write (region free), and store?

 

[baijuxavior]

No need to rip the disks. Just run anydvdhd in the back ground. Insert the disk and start the bd player like TMT5 or WinDVD11 or PowerDVD. I am using WinDVD11 for 3D movies as I have some problem with TMT5. With anydvd in the background, even XBMC can play blu-rays, but it will not display the blu-ray menus.

I ripped a few movies which collected from another FM to mkv format using makemkv. AnyDVDHD can be used to copy the disks in ISO format removing region and encryption. I don't have any blank writeable disks so I didn't test the writing capability of the drive. The drive is LG WH14NS40.

 

[reignofchaos]

Yep! Ripping not required but I prefer doing it anyway .

 

[Polaris]

I don't have any blank writeable disks so I didn't test the writing capability of the drive. The drive is LG WH14NS40.

So, why do you then have a writer? I can just get by with a read-only, "right"?

Also, any idea if the same thing can be done on Linux? Perhaps under Wine?

Thanks for the assistance

 

[baijuxavior]

The price difference between BD Writer and BD ROM is not much and writer seems future proof. The LG drive cost me 5.4K only including shipping. I bought it through ishopinternational. 25GB BDR disks are available in ebay for around 90Rs for a piece where as 50GB costs over Rs.400. Most movies need 50GB disks and that is why I didn't bother to buy BD-Rs now. The point is that a 2TB HDD will cost around 5.5K only where as 40* 50GB BDRs will cost like 16-20K at current rate. It is better to buy original BDs and copy to HDD. You can sell the BDs later.

10 National BD-R 4x Blu-ray 25GB Blank Media Silver Discs NEW | eBay

Verbatim Blu-ray BD-R 50GB 2x 1Pcs Jewel Case | eBay

 

[k2max6]

I am thinking of getting an external blu ray writer. Have looked at Samsung SE-506BB and LG BP40. Both around Rs.7,500.Which one to go for?
I'll connect it to my laptop. Both of them are USB 2.0 though- is USB 2.0 sufficient to rip movies. Any other recommended drive?

 

[manniraj]

I am thinking of getting an external blu ray writer. Have looked at Samsung SE-506BB and LG BP40. Both around Rs.7,500.Which one to go for?
I'll connect it to my laptop. Both of them are USB 2.0 though- is USB 2.0 sufficient to rip movies. Any other recommended drive?

External blu-ray writers are costly because of the casing and all. I would suggest you get a slim blu-ray writer and replace your existing drive from your laptop to this and it will give you the dual purpose and also the portability which you will miss in the external one.

Thanks

 

[sud98]

External blu-ray writers are costly because of the casing and all. I would suggest you get a slim blu-ray writer and replace your existing drive from your laptop to this and it will give you the dual purpose and also the portability which you will miss in the external one.

Thanks

Is this easy to do? I have a crappy dvdrw drive in my dell studio 15, can I replace that with a slim bdrw drive and will it need serious tech skills (other than opening up a few screws and connecting the leads?

 

[manniraj]

Is this easy to do? I have a crappy dvdrw drive in my dell studio 15, can I replace that with a slim bdrw drive and will it need serious tech skills (other than opening up a few screws and connecting the leads?

Yes it is pretty easy and depends on the laptop model. I was not sure how to go about mine (HP - 2011 model), hence went to the laptop clinic (or doctor) some service center and just paid 50/- to change the same. When he did I realized that it was damn easy to change. If you have the skills then you can do it yourselves or else you can take my route and does not cost much.

Thanks

 

[k2max6]

Its pretty easy. A 2 minute job. But where can i buy an internal blu ray drive for my laptop?

 

[manniraj]

Its pretty easy. A 2 minute job. But where can i buy an internal blu ray drive for my laptop?

You can try ebay, itdepot, primeabgb.com sites or your local stores.

 

[k2max6]

You can try ebay, itdepot, primeabgb.com sites or your local stores.

None of them have it. I could find only one on ebay for 6300, that too was a bluray reader. I enquired casually once in Nehru place as well, but only external ones were available.I suppose external would be fine then? After the warranty ends I can remove the casing and install it in my laptop if the need arises.

Although international sites have listed readers for 70 USD. If i can find them for such a price in India then it would be fine. I can do without a writer then.

 

[k2max6]

Deleted. Duplicate post.

 

[manniraj]

None of them have it. I could find only one on ebay for 6300, that too was a bluray reader. I enquired casually once in Nehru place as well, but only external ones were available.I suppose external would be fine then? After the warranty ends I can remove the casing and install it in my laptop if the need arises.

Although international sites have listed readers for 70 USD. If i can find them for such a price in India then it would be fine. I can do without a writer then.

Hmm...

Even I have brought mine for around 6k in 2011 thru ishopinternational.com over amazon site including shipping. Now the price looks high because of the Rs/$ rate. Try to find a good deal online in US and try your luck whether the same can be shipped to India from Amazon or else try any courier agency (this will be high cost).

Edit: Here is one which is available for shipping to India over Amazon. As this is a seller on Amazon I think the import fees is not calculated upfront. You can try your luck as majority of the computer related items are not levied any customs. The price in amazon excluding customs is coming to $78 looks like a good buy.

Thanks

 

[k2max6]

Hmm...

Even I have brought mine for around 6k in 2011 thru ishopinternational.com over amazon site including shipping. Now the price looks high because of the Rs/$ rate. Try to find a good deal online in US and try your luck whether the same can be shipped to India from Amazon or else try any courier agency (this will be high cost).

Thanks

Won't i be better off buying the external writer then? Has warranty as well. Just a 1000 bucks more than the internal one.

 

[manniraj]

Won't i be better off buying the external writer then? Has warranty as well. Just a 1000 bucks more than the internal one.

Yes I agree that buying here you will have the warranty but with the external writer you will loose the portability, otherwise no issues if you are able to get at the same price as in US even for a internal or external writer.