Blu-Ray Media?

[Brian Boyko]

The price of a blu-ray burner has dropped to the point where I really should consider picking one up. The problem is, BD-R media hasn't. Any BD-R in bulk deals? Spindles of around 50 or so where the price might drop to $2.50 or less per disc?

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Brian Boyko

The price of a blu-ray burner has dropped to the point where I really should consider picking one up. The problem is, BD-R media hasn't. Any BD-R in bulk deals? Spindles of around 50 or so where the price might drop to $2.50 or less per disc?

Dual Layer DVDs are about $3.50 each in bulk. They rate at 8.5GB So price per gig is $0.41

BluRay's on spindles are around $7 a disk. They hold 25GB. So price per gig is $.28

Single Sony BluRay disks are about $16. Price per gig is $0.64.

MiniDV tapes are about $3.50. DV takes about 13GB per hour. So miniDV costs are about $0.26 per gig.

People keep talking about how expensive BluRay disks are, but the math shows they are cheaper per gig than DL-DVDs which we all keep buying to do our movies on now. And on spindles they cost about the same as our miniDV tapes which we happily buy.

The media price will continue to drop, but our unrealistic expectations are really hurting us in the end.

[Brian Boyko]

Originally Posted by Perrone Ford

Dual Layer DVDs are about $3.50 each in bulk. They rate at 8.5GB So price per gig is $0.41

BluRay's on spindles are around $7 a disk. They hold 25GB. So price per gig is $.28

Single Sony BluRay disks are about $16. Price per gig is $0.64.

MiniDV tapes are about $3.50. DV takes about 13GB per hour. So miniDV costs are about $0.26 per gig.

People keep talking about how expensive BluRay disks are, but the math shows they are cheaper per gig than DL-DVDs which we all keep buying to do our movies on now. And on spindles they cost about the same as our miniDV tapes which we happily buy.

The media price will continue to drop, but our unrealistic expectations are really hurting us in the end.

True.

My problem is that while BluRay is $.28 per gig, hard drives are $109.99 per TB, or .10 per gig. Even buying two of them to make sure you have a backup, it's still cheaper than BL media.

DVDs are more expensive, but they're small, portable, can be used anywhere, and inexpensive enough that if you lose one, you'll just burn another. Because BR can't be used except in other BR drives, utility is limited.

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Brian Boyko

True.

My problem is that while BluRay is $.28 per gig, hard drives are $109.99 per TB, or .10 per gig. Even buying two of them to make sure you have a backup, it's still cheaper than BL media.

Yep. But these are complaints only heard from the hobbyist/SD centric user. People are comparing their former consumer SD price points to Full HD professional format prices. It's comparing apples to apple trees. If you compare BR prices to REAL pro HD media like HDCam, HDCamSR, DVCProHD, etc., then it looks darn near free. HDCamSR, which is one of the VERY few formats that can actually write a full 1920x1080 to tape, is $110 per HOUR for tape, and the VTRs are north of $80k. The daily rental would buy a BR recorder and a days worth of disks to go with it.

Hard drives don't like being transported. They are a PITA to hand off after a job, and you can't buy a player at BestBuy for $200 and hook it to your TV. Just depends on how you want to use the technology you have.

Originally Posted by Brian Boyko

Because BR can't be used except in other BR drives, utility is limited.

I remember hearing the same things when DVD was replacing CD. And again when Dual Layer was making older DVD recorders and players obsolete. And earlier still when CD was replacing vinyl. It's a non-issue. In 2 years, BD will be as cheap as DVD is now, and they will be standard on home PCs. We're right on the top of the curve. By the summer, things should be shaking out.

[David Moody]

I just paid $6 each for individual Panasonic ink jet printable BD-r on sale from Frys.

That is half of last year.

The Pioneer 202 burner is 299, down from 650 last year.

$199 players and $99 computer drives were just announced.

I seems that Bluray is finally gaining momentum. I predict that media prices will be cut in 1/2 by next year.

[Tripp Woelfel]

Pre-digital pro equipment and consumables were bloody expensive. Pro digital equipment is still quite dear and will stay that way because they sell a couple of hands full of them a year.

In the consumer digital realm, we all live under Moore's law and its corollaries. Prices for BD-R media will drop as we buy more of them and the manufacturers learn how to reduce manufacturing costs.

Prices always have to do with burdened cost and demand. Six months from now the media will be cheaper.

[Marcelo Lima]

I bought an BD writer on a travel. (the blank discs cost quite good comparing with Brazilians price..here one 25Gb -R disc can cost u$30-40 easily) but i only use RE discs, so i can re-use.... For now i am happy with results, and i learning how to encode, author the next (?) hd video standard...


its just wait, month by month the prices was dropping... (i hope ehehhe)

[Chad Dyle]

I have been using the Verbatim 2x Inkjet printable (Verbatim (96661) 2X Blu-ray (BD-R) Single Layer Write-once DataLifePlus White Inkjet Printable 25GB Blank Media on Spindle) discs for 6 months now with no problems. I purchased an LG 2x burner from SAMS Club last summer. There was a pricing error in my favor ;) I also purchased the external enclosure from OWC with USB/Firewire 800. This way I can move it from my PC to my Mac.
If you dig around on Meritline, they have some nice Blu Ray cases as well.

-Chad

[Tom Roper]

BD is only cheaper if you're using all of the space on the disk. Are your HD projects 2+ hours in length? It's too slow for just data.

[Desmond Sukotjo]

Anyone else know a place selling cheap printable Blu-ray disc? Meritline still too expenseive though. At $13 each for a pack of 25.

David Moody, $6 for printable BD-R is a damn good deal. I wonder if we still can get it around that price.

[Tripp Woelfel]

I'd love to see $US6 BD-R media. Since the nearest Fry's is thousands of miles away that's not going to be cost effective for me.

B&H have it a bit cheaper than Meritline for Verbatim | BD-R Blu-ray DataLife Plus Inkjet Printable | 96661. They're $US225 for 25 burnable at 2x. 4x are a bit more.

As long as the Japanese yen stays strong, and it is currently very strong, I wouldn't expect big price changes for several months. If the yen gets closer to 100:1 to the US dollar, you might see some price drops. Predicting when this will happen is nearly impossible in these uncertain times.

[Mitchell Lewis]

Everyone probably knows this already, but you can burn Blu-Ray to standard DVD-R's. Not sure if you can burn Blu-Ray to DL-DVD's though (my guess is yes).

Perrone: Western Digital makes a device that you can connect a USB hard drive to which will convert the video on your hard drive to HDMI for play back on flat-screen tv's.

Sorry if this is all old news..... :)

[Tom Roper]

Mitchell, most people feel safer following the established route with BD-R however with anything subject to change, safe is a state of mind.

[Perrone Ford]

So I had to order more Blu-Rays this month. One Verbatim Spindle of 10 for $74,but saw spindle prices putting single layer disks below $5.50. I ordered 15 Dual layers today. Prices are hovering around $30, but saw some at $27.99.

So the tale of the tape is my single layers are 33 cents a gig, and my dual layers are 60 cents a gig. In terms of actual purchase price, single layer disks are now cheaper than master quality DV tape. I am actually SAVING money on media over shooting and archiving SD. And that is on a per unit cost. In cost per gig, Single layer Blu-Ray is just over half the cost of master quality DV tape.

People talk about the recorder cost. My DV deck was $1600.

Today was a milestone for me. Shooting HD is now cheaper than shooting SD.

Wow!

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Tom Roper

BD is only cheaper if you're using all of the space on the disk. Are your HD projects 2+ hours in length? It's too slow for just data.

Most of my SD work was event filming. 2-8 hours at a time. With mpeg4/VC-1, I can now put that on Blu-Ray instead of tape, at comparable quality.

As for slow, I am writing 25GB disks in just over 30 minutes. This week I brought all of my file based video archive forward. Tape will stay on tape until I can justify costs to move it.