Help a newbie with BR burning... please.... :)

[mefistofel_666]

I've been burning DVD's forever... but now i kind of feel that it's time to switch to backing up BR movies as well. I have no hardware for it though and that is where you guys come in, so please help....

I'm thinking of getting a nice internal BD-burner with an enclosure to make it into an external one. I will use it to back-up the disk onto my HD and then copy it to a blank BR disk. Any suggestion as to which one is a good burner and which disks are good for PS3 playback? Thank you very much!

Mef.

[Baldrick]

Moving you to our blu-ray writer section.

[redwudz]

I don't know anything about PS3's, but you would need a BD burner, which I assume will work over USB 2.0. You may have to buy an external case with a SATA>USB adapter built in. Then you need a BD decrypter program. Depends what a PS3 can use for format, and that may determine your software. RipBot may be one choice. You can use ImgBurn for burning.

Something like this would work for the external burner case: http://www.cooldrives.com/index.php/essibay5cdop1.html It does have eSATA capability, which would be much more reliable than USB for large data transfers. It's about $45US.

BD burners range from about $130 - $230US at NewEgg at present: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010100600&bop=And&SpeTabS...ue&Order=PRICE

Then you need a BD decryption program. AnyDVD HD is the only dependable one at present. Around $100, depending on the license.

So that puts your project up around $275 - $375US or so. The encoding and burning software is mostly freeware. It would be cheaper to buy a BD set top player. I would also use eSATA if you plan to use a external BD burner. USB may be marginal for this purpose.

[mefistofel_666]

Thanks redwudz;

I was also hoping to get an advice on which BR burner is good and has a good track of burning readable BR disks. Thanks.

Mef.

[titot4u]

If you're looking to backup to bluray disk then yes, a bluray burner is needed. If you're looking to backup your bluray movies to DVD-r disk, then only a bluray reader is needed for the task. I've always used Plextor for all my DVD needs so I recently upgraded to a Plextor bluray reader. My Plextor has never failed me in the past so I swear its a good product.

[redwudz]

I've been happy with my Pioneer BDR-205BKS. But the LG seems to be popular also. I've only used Verbatim BD discs and no problems so far. But I don't burn BD discs that often. $$$

[ricoman]

I second the Pioneer BDR-205. As Redwudz said, you will need AnyDVD for decryption. However, if you use the free BDRebuilder, you can compress the BD files to fit a DL disc with almost no discernible PQ loss. This would not only same money with bluray media, but you could actually get away with just buying a bluray reader, a lot cheaper than a burner. I burned Star Trek, movie only, to a DL disc and it looks great. Also, I burned Casino Royale to a regular DVD5 (called a BD5 due to the bd files) and that still looks great. Just remember, that you still need a bluray player that accepts AVCHD discs to play them because they are still BD files.

[ocgw]

I second the Pioneer BDR-205. As Redwudz said, you will need AnyDVD for decryption. However, if you use the free BDRebuilder, you can compress the BD files to fit a DL disc with almost no discernible PQ loss. This would not only same money with bluray media, but you could actually get away with just buying a bluray reader, a lot cheaper than a burner. I burned Star Trek, movie only, to a DL disc and it looks great. Also, I burned Casino Royale to a regular DVD5 (called a BD5 due to the bd files) and that still looks great. Just remember, that you still need a bluray player that accepts AVCHD discs to play them because they are still BD files.

I 3rd the Pioneer BDR-205BKS recommendation, but be forewarned, attempting to shrink blu rays to fit on a DL-DVD is extremely time comsuming unless you have a nice quad core cpu, and can be problematic, even for seasoned veternan videophiles

imo

ocgw

peace

[ricoman]

So far it's been very easy with BDRebuilder, but it does take around 8 hrs. even with my i7 Quad. Not a problem for me as I start it at night or before I go to work so I don't tie up the 'puter. As ocgw says, you need a bluray player that takes AVCHD format, presently late model Panasonic, Sony, Oppo and possibly LG players. One person said that the LG won't play AVCHD from disc only from a media player, but I'm not sure about that. Anyone know for sure?