BD25 Prices Continue Fall

[Beck38]

Some 'specials' this weekend for US customers (+free ship on some)

Meritline

2x BD-RE 25GB rerwrite Rikek 5pack $27+5 shipping ($6.40/ea)

4x RD 25GB Ritek hub printable (free ship) 25ea $53 ($2.12, lowest price ever seen)

[pepsipunk]

I'd say getting an HTPC with a terabyte drive is the way to go, and will save you money, frustration, and time in the long run

[Beck38]

I'd say getting an HTPC with a terabyte drive is the way to go, and will save you money, frustration, and time in the long run

Terabyte? What's a Terabyte?

Took receipt of my second Thecus N7700Pro last week, now my PCH boxes have 18+TB of Raid6 storage to suck on.

Hopefully, by this time next year, 3TB drives will be old hat (maybe 4TB?), and the next box will be a 24 drive NAS, 66/88TB and my current ones will move to the rear.

[UseNetLover]

The only reason I possibly buy BD is to make a backup copy of my BD collection.
About 8 out of 10 BD films I bought are BD50 GB
If you buy BD25 to store compressed MKV then that's okay but not for backup most BD films.

[Beck38]

Just like when I first started looking commercial DVD9 releases, the number of titles where the film itself (less the extras and maybe some non-English audio tracks) were under DVD5 sizing, the number/percentage of BD50 discs where the movie/audio itself is within BD25 size is pretty high.

Looking at pricing on DVD5/9's, the DVD5's went below $1/ea so long ago I can't quite remember when, and the DVD9's are still (the good ones like Verbatim) are around $1.25 in any quantity.

The BD50's are at best still above $12-15 ea, whereas the BD25's (and inkjet hub printable)are about to dip under $2/ez. I think the biggest size film I've see on Blu-Ray so far is around 35GB total; a few larger (size and time wise) are 'split' by the studio on the disc to part1/part2, with each part <25GB, so the work is already done for you, sans recoding, so to speak.

But certainly, recoding a 35GB disc to 25GB is FAR better quality wise than yanking it down to 15GB, or worse, to DVD9 sizing, as some have done. Certainly the pricing right now of $1.25/DVD9 v. $2.00/BD25 is (mathematically) $.75cents, The quality..... is in the eye of the beholder.

But I keep telling folks that yep, it looks good today on your 1st or 2nd generation consumer-level HD set, but will you end up tossing away those discs 5+ years from now when you get your next display...?

How many bad DVD5 recodes I d/l'ed in the very early days, cica 2001-2003 or so before I started doing my own recodes, I spent time/money redoing? LOTS. Not Again.

[Beck38]

Did a price check today, Supermedia has the Riteck BD25-R (4X) Inkjet Hub Printables, 25ea cakebox, for $48, includes $4 'instant savings' AND free ground shipping.

Thats $1.92/ea, so the $2 price point has been shattered. Any bets as to when $1.50 or even $1 will be met? So far, it's going at a rate of about 10-20cents/month downward, so....

[Beck38]

New Price Check!

Prices for BD25's (injet hub printable, ritek still seems to be the price leader) have fallen down another good chunk again.

Most places (Supermedia, etc) are around 1.90/ea in 25 packs (interestingly, larger packs are more expensive!).

But the price leader this week is Meritline, 25disc pack of Ritek BD25's/inkjet hub printable, at $39.99/6.60 shipping, or $1.87/ea.

Supermedia has the same package, but with 'free' ground ship, at $1.88, so it's a wash, except that Meritline is on 'special' while Supermedia is a 'standard' price (we'll see if it hold, though).

What's particularly interesting to me is, in following what's being posted on the newsgroups these days, is a flood of VERY small (DVD5 or under DVD9 sizing) for whatever reason. In most cases, this means past upwards of 80+% squeezing of the original material, extreme compression levels. Very few things in the BD25 range, even few in the 15GB range of where there used to be a LOT of things being posted.

Why the change is a bit beyond me...

[WHiKWiRE]

Storage is dirt cheap these days you can run a NAS even on a budget. I do understand the attractiveness of BD25 prices but it just doesn't seem justifiable when you work out the dollars and cents.

[Beck38]

Storage is dirt cheap these days you can run a NAS even on a budget. I do understand the attractiveness of BD25 prices but it just doesn't seem justifiable when you work out the dollars and cents.

You know, I keep running into folks who say that, yet can't prove it with the math.

Show me a NAS box that beats $2/25GB storage. Even without any RAID, or with minimal, at any price/storage size. So, show me what box, at what size, you're talking about, that beats that figure. This without bringing up the fact (with burnable discs) that it's an unlimited (and flexible) storage medium.

At $2/25GB, that would equal 40ea for 1TB, and so a 1TB disc would have to be $80 (or double that for a 2TB disc), and without a case, plus if a RAID array, without the h/w supporting that (and I'm not figuring that it'll actually be smaller due to formatting) plus of course more disc space needed for the type of RAID wanted.

Even if one ramps up the sizing to get the maximum price ratio, it doesn't work out. I know, as I have a 18TB Raid array. It's good for 'temporary' storage, but not for very long term.

[jalebi]

Storage is dirt cheap these days you can run a NAS even on a budget. I do understand the attractiveness of BD25 prices but it just doesn't seem justifiable when you work out the dollars and cents.

You know, I keep running into folks who say that, yet can't prove it with the math.

Show me a NAS box that beats $2/25GB storage. Even without any RAID, or with minimal, at any price/storage size. So, show me what box, at what size, you're talking about, that beats that figure. This without bringing up the fact (with burnable discs) that it's an unlimited (and flexible) storage medium.

At $2/25GB, that would equal 40ea for 1TB, and so a 1TB disc would have to be $80 (or double that for a 2TB disc), and without a case, plus if a RAID array, without the h/w supporting that (and I'm not figuring that it'll actually be smaller due to formatting) plus of course more disc space needed for the type of RAID wanted.

Even if one ramps up the sizing to get the maximum price ratio, it doesn't work out. I know, as I have a 18TB Raid array. It's good for 'temporary' storage, but not for very long term.

That really depends on what your setup is. My desktop PC is connected to my TV over my internally wired home network. Now, adding 1TB of storage is as simple as buying a 7200rpm (much faster than Blu-Ray) and attaching it. That HDD costs me about £40 (roughly 60USD including tax).

True, it BD25s may be beneficial depending on what setup you have. BTW, could you expand on your 18TB RAID setup? It's fascinating and I'm thinking of implementing it for my brothers home theatre system.