End is Near for BD/DVD Drives?

[dped91]

With Sony's closing of their DADC plant in Terre Haute, IN and Sony BD/DVD distribution chains closing in several European cities, I wasn't too surprised when someone here said that Pioneer and LG are the only brands left who are actually making these drives, says poster # 32 here.
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/sony-to-stop-distributing-discs-in-....379410/page-2

Will multiple SSD NAS or servers be the only personal storage device left to us? The one I'd have to build would have to enormous just to store not even 1/3 of my TV and movie collection. And how much of my time and how many drives would die on me before I even ripped that much to my servers?

No wonder the club.myce.com forum died; there's next to no BD drives to review anymore.

This planned catastrophe will render home video libraries, which millions of collectors have spent thousands of dollars and countless hours amassing, absolutely useless.

[lordsmurf]

And I mentioned this at least 15 years ago.

People always worried about how long CDs, DVDs, BDs would last. They worried about the wrong thing. The real question was how long the drives to read would last. And the answer has always been lousy. Optical drives have finite lifespans, sometimes a mere 2-5 years at most. So who cares if the disc lasts 25, 100, or 500 years? Moot point.

The goal for optical was to not get an immediate coaster, which was common. Good burns will outlast players and drives, it's just a fact. (Marginal burns in marginal drives was a big issue, still is.)

I read a lot of CD/DVD patent documents in the mid 2000s, and this exact situation was sometimes mentioned.

Optical lasers cannot be compared to magnetic heads, so you cannot compared VHS player lifespans to DVD readers/recorder/player lifespan. Not the same.

I had people argue this with me in years past, but I will be correct longer term.

I ripped my DVDs to ISO at least a decade ago. I've migrated those files twice now. In more recent years, I started to rip/encode to MKV H.264, to view on the DLNA. But some are just cold storage backups of the disc, which makes me wonder why I ever bother. If I've not watched those in the past decade, will I in the next decade? I've never liked being a digital hoarder.

[dped91]

And I mentioned this at least 15 years ago.

People always worried about how long CDs, DVDs, BDs would last. They worried about the wrong thing. The real question was how long the drives to read would last. And the answer has always been lousy. Optical drives have finite lifespans, sometimes a mere 2-5 years at most. So who cares if the disc lasts 25, 100, or 500 years? Moot point.


I ripped my DVDs to ISO at least a decade ago. I've migrated those files twice now. In more recent years, I started to rip/encode to MKV H.264, to view on the DLNA. But some are just cold storage backups of the disc, which makes me wonder why I ever bother. If I've not watched those in the past decade, will I in the next decade? I've never liked being a digital hoarder.

It's hoped among collectors and JRiver and VLC player users that before or shortly after LG (who likely also makes drives for Pioneer) ends BD drive production that small firms in China and/or Eastern Europe will get licensed to continue making BD drives, though which may sell at higher retail prices due to demand and/or OEM supply chain costs. But that presupposes Sony will even grant licensing. However, I'd still find it hard to believe that BD drives will go the way of VHS. I think the niche market will remain strong enough to prevent that for another decade. But what do I know?


So the hoarding I'd have to think about doing soon is hoarding BD drives.

[lordsmurf]

Drives can fail, used or not.
So hoarding is sometimes just pissing away money.

[dped91]

Drives can fail, used or not. So hoarding is sometimes just pissing away money.

True, electrolytic caps can dry out and/or change value if they haven't see voltage for years and are then not soft-started. And unless schematics are available there's no way to do component level troubleshooting and repair. Will just have to hope that demand remains strong enough for BD drives, especially for reading data.

[Skiller]

The oldest drive I possess is a basic LG DVD read-only from 2004. Still works, just needed a replacement belt a couple of years ago because the drive could no longer open the tray on it's own. Followed by a BenQ DVD writer I bought in 2006 that I still use regularly to burn my discs.
My oldest DVD-player I possess is from 2003, still works. I have another one from 2004, also still works.

While I wouldn't be so naive to assume a new bought drive in 2023 is going to last as long, currently I am not worried at all about not being able to read my optical media for the upcoming decade. I have a total of four working drives spread across two desktop PCs, and drives are plenty and cheap on eBay. But sure it's going to be a problem eventually, as with any obsolete media.

[lordsmurf]

The transparency in the optics fogs over. Laser weakens. Nothing to do with caps.