BluRay ISO A Go Go, Or A No No, Or a Slow Slow..?

[Beck38]

All of this has been at the top of my agenda for many months, and will continue due to:

YES - BR blanks (25G or dual layer 50G) are WAY too expensive, although the burners are fairly reasonable (~$200). A quick check of a couple of my favorite vendors (that I've bought DVD5/9's from for ages) shows that the going price on BD blanks is between $10/ea for inkjet printable 25G, and 50GB at just about double that. One can fine the cheapies at a bit less (say $7 or so, maybe $6 on sale), but...

It's all like DVD5's were just about 10 year ago. Sure, the prices will come down, but how fast is always the question.

As to hard drive prices and using some kind of MASSIVE storage unit (I'm having an unRAID box built as I type this), and running a Popcorn Hour box to interface the HD set, the fact of the matter is, that if one recodes the HD/BR disc down to DVD9 sizes (utilizing h/x.254), unless you've got a $20K display, and REALLY good eyes and ears (not to mention that $20K 'hd' 7.1 surround sound system!), the difference between it and the 'full' blu-ray disc are minimal at best, and in double-blind tests pretty much a wash. You'll find on usenet the sizing of recodes is all over the place, but there are three distinct camps, one that tries to do them to DVD5/9 sizes, another that targets the bit rate (10,000bps seems to be the favorite), and another that doesn't seem to care WHAT size/rate they end up with. The best (quality) recodes I've d/l'ed have been 'The Dark Knight' (dts), and 'Fifth Element' (dts). I'd put up each of them against the original BR disc, and I'll bet you couldn't tell the difference; and both are DVD9 sizes.

So, the cost analysis is that even with drive costs continuing the downward spiral (I'm watching the 2TB drives with particular interest, as now that Seagate has their drive out, the WD 2TB price has fallen off a cliff, over $100 less than just a month ago!). the fact remains that any array you care to build is going to cost some 2.5-3 tims more expensive per Gigabyte than removable, burnable, DVD5/9 discs.

Not that I don't burn up some drive space on someting that looks interesting. But until 1TB drives get below about $30, or BD Blanks lower than $1/ea, I'll hedge my bets.

Now, I'm still trying to figure out just exactly how many drives I'm going to fill that server up once it arrive on my doorstep...

[2slick4u]

Skiz is right that is the cheapest way

[Beck38]

I don't think Popcorn Hour is the best solution in this instance.

The cheapest solution is what I do, running your sound and HDMI through the wall directly from the PC, though I don't know what his layout looks like so I'm not sure that's an option. I will say though that my audio cable and HDMI cable plus wall plates totaled me about $40.

What you haven't added into your cost, is the player program (commercial or otherwise), AND the cost (and grief) of getting all the add-on tweaks and hacks to get the pc player program to work properly with the various formats, BOTH BR AND recodes, from AVCHD to MKV.

Frankly, I gave up after running into several BR discs that the studio's managed to complete munge up. About $700 later jumping though various graphics cards, various cable 'fixes', and other hoops, I bit the bullit and bought the PCH. Best **** money I ever spent. It has played everything I've thrown at it, runs just fine on both cat5 and 802.11n wireless (great for feeding other rooms in the house), and of course the computers are sitting in a room away from the home theatre; just wish I'd gotten it sooner!

The only 'problem' is that it is fairly insatiable as to content. That's why I'm building a 20TB Raid box.

[SonsOfLiberty]

I'm wishing the price of BluRay-R wud cum down quick, and give that scene a boost......

There's been a couple of BluRay releases here recently, .. Watchmen, Coraline, which i think are BD 25's......... (Just under £10 for a Verb, or 5,6,7 Punds for a "lesser" brand...... if these BD-25 ISO's are "burn" and play, like DVD5 ISO Movies, i wanna get a little BluRay thing going........... all this playing on PC or what ever dont grab me...........

I like to chill on the sofa, in front of big TV/Plasma etc.... and drop in the DVD5/DVD9/ BD25, Is the BluRay ISO's gonna let me do this>?

The scene still would not change, they still rip in 2 CD format even though the DVD has been around for a long ass time.

[EyeBaller]

I'd agree with Becks38, don't download anything more than 1080p mkv encodes and get a popcorn hour and off you go. Running an HDMI from the pc to the tv isn't difficult, but it seems like the OP doesn't want to do that.

[Skiz]

I don't think Popcorn Hour is the best solution in this instance.

The cheapest solution is what I do, running your sound and HDMI through the wall directly from the PC, though I don't know what his layout looks like so I'm not sure that's an option. I will say though that my audio cable and HDMI cable plus wall plates totaled me about $40.

What you haven't added into your cost, is the player program (commercial or otherwise), AND the cost (and grief) of getting all the add-on tweaks and hacks to get the pc player program to work properly with the various formats, BOTH BR AND recodes, from AVCHD to MKV.

I didn't add it b/c there was nothing to add.

CCCP codec + Core Media Player = every single file type and every single resolution I choose to play, plays with 100% perfection and looks beautiful. There is nothing more to say...

[tesco]

What you haven't added into your cost, is the player program (commercial or otherwise), AND the cost (and grief) of getting all the add-on tweaks and hacks to get the pc player program to work properly with the various formats, BOTH BR AND recodes, from AVCHD to MKV.

I didn't add it b/c there was nothing to add.

CCCP codec + Core Media Player = every single file type and every single resolution I choose to play, plays with 100% perfection and looks beautiful. There is nothing more to say...

And for the odd file that won't play, VLC will surely play it.

[SonsOfLiberty]

Or GOM or Kmplayer Or if you using Windows 7 you can play them in Media Center now (I think)

[Skiz]

I gave GOM and KMPlayer both a fair chance on the recent suggestions of a few members. Neither was able to consistently handle streaming 1080 movies to the TV. I gave Core a try and haven't looked back.

[drokk54]

Sony is holding onto BluRay prices........ keeping em high to keep piracy down......
HD DVD blanks are like, $2...... but there landfill......... noone interested........