Is compressing your files even worth it anymore?

[stonesfan99]

I am asking for a friend who is consulting with me about whether or not it's more cost-effective to buy a couple of 10TB HDDs and run Plex or if it just makes more sense to buy a Blu-ray player and burn discs. I have to wonder if it's worth the effort to run a server since a 50pk of BD-25s can be had for around $40 off of Amazon and a 50pk of dual-layer DVDs is even cheaper. What do you guys think? I say if he doesn't mind buying binders and using shelf space, burning discs is easier/simpler. He almost always watches at home and just rents from VUDU when he wants to watch on a phone.

EDIT: I did blind test him with some demo material compressed to fit onto a BD-25 (also a BD-9) and the same thing compressed with the default x264 settings in Handbrake at CRF20 and he couldn't see a difference other than the BD-9 and compressed file looking slightly softer than the BD-25.

[TreeTops]

I, and I suspect most of the experienced users on this forum have stopped using DVD and BlueRay for video storage. Much easier and cheaper to use HDDs. But using a large drive like you mentioned may be an issue. If that drive fails, wow you loose a lot of video. I would use smaller capacity drives and back up to other drives. Just my opinion and you will get other responses, I'm sure.

But your thread subject says compressing not storing/saving.

[stonesfan99]

I, and I suspect most of the experienced users on this forum have stopped using DVD and BlueRay for video storage. Much easier and cheaper to use HDDs. But using a large drive like you mentioned may be an issue. If that drive fails, wow you loose a lot of video. I would use smaller capacity drives and back up to other drives. Just my opinion and you will get other responses, I'm sure.

But your thread subject says compressing not saving.

I think he is planning to get a couple of the Best Buy Easystores, which now come in 10TB, shuck them and run them in a PC as a sort of NAS storage.

[jagabo]

But using a large drive like you mentioned may be an issue. If that drive fails, wow you loose a lot of video.

You don't lose any video because you have a backup. And backing up from one big HD to another is so simple.

[cornemuse]

Ten Terabytes = 1700+ movies = a LOT to lose in 'one fell swoop'!!
I go with 1 T drives max, at first 3.5" drives but am going toward 2.5".
Stopped compressing years ago, &, mostly rip just the movie.