Value of burnable media - General

I was browsing the GD forums when I came to the "5 Decades of CES Hits and Epic Flops" thread and the last entry talked about blu-ray disks. I realized that I've been using outdated burnable media for the longest time now, and I think I know why. There's just no incentive for someone who uses DVD-R's for general storage purposes to invest in moving to BD-R media. Consider these calculations. I'm using the prices for meritline, the place I typically buy my writable media, to compare pricing. I typically buy 50 packs of Verbatim DVD-R's for general archiving. The 50 cake box is dirt cheap at $13, but I was wondering since BD-R's run laps around DVD-R's in terms of storage per disc, if the much higher cost BD-R's would still give them an edge on DVD-R's. I found that Verbatim BD-R's were [I]significantly[/I] more pricey than other brands, so to give BD-R's a fair chance I compared it a brand with the lowest price with five star average rating, as the Verbatims I buy also have a five star average rating. BD-R recordable media: [url=http://www.meritline.com/memorex-4x-blu-ray-write-once-single-layer-32020013358---p-30856.aspx]Memorex (97854) Blu-ray (BD-R, BDR) 4X 25GB Branded Blank Media Discs Single Layer in 15 Cake Box[/url] 15 Pack cake box for $30. This averages out to $2 per disc, resulting in a storage of [B]12.5 GB per dollar[/B]. --------------------- DVD-R recordable media: [url=http://www.meritline.com/verbatim-16x-dvd-r-media-branded-95101---p-18400.aspx]Verbatim (95101) DVD-R 16X Silver Branded Blank DVDR Media Discs 4.7GB on Spindle[/url] 50 Pack cake box for $13. This averages out to be a little over a quarter a disc, resulting in storage of [B]18 GB per dollar[/B]. But it gets worse than that. The investment required to purchase a BD-R compatible burner is much more of a hefty investment than a regular Super-Multi burning drive. I own a [url=http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-WriteMaster-SH-S222L-22x-DVD-RW-Drive-Lig-/310247161618?pt=PCC_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item483c2bff12]Samsung Super-WriteMaster SH-S222 22x DVD Burner[/url], and I found an identical model for $30, about what I paid for it at Microcenter. However, [url=http://cgi.ebay.com/Pioneer-BDR-205BK-12X-DVD-Blu-Ray-Burner-BDR-SATA-Drive-/390277300331?pt=PCC_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item5ade57006b]the most dirt cheap BD-R burner I could find[/url] was $85. In my opinion, this just isn't worth it for general storage/archiving. Even though you can fit 5.3 DVD-R's into a BD-R, it isn't worth the extra cost for media and the investment for a new burner, imo. Discs do not take that much space at all if you use minimalist plastic cases to store them like I do. Blu-Ray may be much better for playing video on players, but it just isn't economic for general storage.

Some gigantic files (such as super high-definition movies) really need to be contained on a single disc. This makes the blu-ray format ideal for that specific application, though for general storage I would agree that DVD-Rs are still more efficient.

Yeah and I'm pretty sure they have to be uncompressed to work on a BD player. For larger regular files you can just split them up.

I have been using DVD's for years to put data on pretty good deals for big packs too

What the hell is 'meritline'? [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817607025[/url]

I expected you to be making some angsty rant against books and magazines, but I was pleasantly suprised. I shall never again question my purchases of Verbatim DVD-R 50packs, which I use as well.

This thought just occurred to me out of nowhere, so it could be completely off base, but bare with me. Does the fact that BD-R storage, being the newer, shiny technology have anything to do with this? I would like to see the same sort of cost/storage comparison for DVD-R /CD-R now, and also what the same comparison was when DVD-R storage was as new as BD-R.

Or 'ye can just get an external hard drive, those really small ones that have about 500 gb-1tb, they're about 80 euros now.

I just use my hard drive, for everything! [editline]6th January 2011[/editline] No discs.

[QUOTE=broo20;27231657]I just use my hard drive, for everything! [editline]6th January 2011[/editline] No discs.[/QUOTE] If it fails, you're fucked. It's good to have backups.

[QUOTE=a-k-t-w;27231929]If it fails, you're fucked. It's good to have backups.[/QUOTE] I have around 20 Hard drives, including a lot of externals, for backup and extra space.