Internal Blu-ray Burners?

[Trevor Dennis]

Has anyone any thoughts on what to look for in an internal Blu-ray burner nowadays? I have more or less zero knowledge on what to look for. They seem to come with a long list of numbers, which I assume refer respectively to DVD and Blu-ray write speeds, but that's just a guess. Do they all use the same media?

This would be used mainly for recording HD footage to be viewed on the Blu-ray reader connected to my TV.

I have read a few links like this, but that is not about internal burners for a PC
How to Buy a Blu-ray Player | Roundup | PCMag.com

I've also checked out this link, but it's a year old!

TIA

[Ian Firth]

Hi Trevor,

no thoughts other than my personal method is to go to newegg and select the one with the highest consumer rating, where there are more than a small number of reviews.

However, why I responded was because I went through this path a while ago. I got into HD video and wanted to share and look at the results on my HD TV and thought Blu-Ray was the way. In the process, my TV turned out to accept video data streamed from my hard drive (a Samsung) over Ethernet with a small piece of provided software that allowed me to define what files could be routed to the TV. So I delayed moving into Blu_Ray. Then I discovered the ability in Premiere Pro CS4 to be able to make up a titled video and export it back to my HDV camcorder, save the final file at an intermediate stage just before it was output to the camera, and then play that file from my computer back to the TV. Finally I got fed up with the interconnect process and used a memory stick to play my trimmed files on my TV.

All to say I now what a lot of my videos on my TV without ever having gone via Blu-Ray and right now am still delaying the purchasing decision. If ever I have to get to full menus, scene choices and navigation, I may make the jump, but I haven't found the need yet.

Not sure of the driving reason behind your need, just offering a slightly different solution from potentially the same need.

Cheers, Ian

[Trevor Dennis]

Hmmm... Now you come to mention it, the Blu-ray player connected to my TV has a USB socket, and it works so well I have retired my WDTV media player, so other than gadget lust, I am wondering if I do need a burner.

[Panagiotis Raris]

I have 4 internal blu-ray burners; have had zero problems with all of them. 2 Pioneer 206-MBK and 2 Pioneer 206-MBK that burn to BD-XL discs. No read issues, and no write issues with Panasonic, Sony, or TDK BD-R's and BD-XL discs.

I have heard the LG's work well too, as well as Samsungs.

[Eric Olson]

Originally Posted by Panagiotis Raris

I have heard the LG's work well too, as well as Samsungs.

I have an LG WH10LS30 that I bought in 2010 and an LG WH14NS40 that I bought last week. Both work great. At our local discount store 2/3 of the shelf space is devoted to bluray disks while only 1/3 is devoted to DVDs. It appears bluray is no longer a novelty and will soon be an expectation.

[Ian Firth]

Hi Trevor,

so you prompted me to look at the cost of Blu-Ray media for recording and it now is only 2x a DVD, so cost is less of an issue. Not sure of reliability, so I will reconsider the number I would burn. Ithink that it is likely to be so small a number that I will be waiting for my DVD burner to give problems before I upgrade. I certainly am not in a rush with memory stick and D-Sub input on my TV.

Best of luck. Cheers, Ian

[Panagiotis Raris]

Originally Posted by Eric Olson

I have an LG WH10LS30 that I bought in 2010 and an LG WH14NS40 that I bought last week. Both work great. At our local discount store 2/3 of the shelf space is devoted to bluray disks while only 1/3 is devoted to DVDs. It appears bluray is no longer a novelty and will soon be an expectation.

*I mistyped the Blu Ray internal burners i have; they are actually 2 Pioneer 206BK and 2 Pioneer 206MBK (the MBK's burn to 100+ GB BD-XL as well) 12x Blu Ray internal drives. I have yet to burn a single BD-XL disk on the MBK's, though my partner has and my sister has on my machine without issues. They have Pioneer 207MBK and LG BH14NS40 internal BD-XL drives respectively. The Pioneers myself and my partner have are 12x; my sisters is 14x (the LG), and were under $90 shipped/unit.

That said, you can disregard the below entirely if you like. Most Pioneer, Sony, LG, and Samsung Blu Ray internal burners work great, and most of the (even older) Blu Ray players have no issues with burned disks (never tried with BD-XL's and dont really know, but again they are primarily for 100+ GB backup duty). The only issues i have encountered or dealt with for others has been newer Blu Ray movie releases (Red Box kiosks) and older (ie 2006/2007 with original firmware) Blu Ray players. I highly doubt most clients will need/want/know about BD-XL's; its mostly for data backups IMO. Feel free to PM me regarding this; i have a chart in the office with BD-R/BD-RE disc manufacturers, firmware, and older Blu Ray players that can have issues. The same disc may read fine 60% of the time, and the other 40% throw up problems. Again, its almost always firmware.

My parents now use an old (though updated with an SSD, more RAM, new Gfx card and fast HDD's) Gateway FX7020 from 2006 for their home theater/entertainment system, with an internal Pioneer Blu Ray player. They have no problems with BD-R/RE's like they did with their older Sony Blu Ray player (needed a firmware update, works fine now).

i deliver in various formats. Delivery formats for me have been a mess lately; clients have quite the mix of preferred devices. Some like finished work dumped on an HDD, DVD, Blu Ray, tape, or even memory cards. I deliver however the client prefers. However, for backups, i stick with Blu Ray's (24GB is more than enough for full writeups, original content, and delivered content in 1-3 discs). And for the 'consumer' clients, i mostly deliver in Blu Ray format, or on HDD's.

I don't buy new gear often, and when i do i usually try out a few combos, figure out what works seamlessly, and then kit out the remaining 2 editing systems with the exact same gear, down to drivers and software/hardware versions. Plus, prices are usually dropping by the time the 'new test machine' is fully vetted. I also build machines for friends/family and as a side gig, so i get to play with a lot of gear in my own machine before i would buy it.

That said, SOME of the older Blu Ray players do NOT play well with new Blu Ray discs; copyright protection and/or multilayer issues arise, and clients will inevitably complain even though this is a manufacturer/Blu Ray consortium issue and i suggest they update their firmware (which solves the problem 99% of the time). Personally, i despise Blu Ray for this, and for corporate clients i always ask for as much info on their hardware as possible or use the same TDK discs (NEVER had a read/write error).

I know this sounds weird, but ask the client about what hardware they will play it back on. For instance, i recently did a corp training gig that required 24 Blu Ray and 200 DVD discs. The DVD copying i outsourced, and did the Blu Ray's myself, they had all older Sony's, which for firmware reasons (i am sure they never updated them) don't jive with Verbatim BD-R's very well (learned this because i had bought my folks a Sony Blu Ray player and had burned old home videos onto said Verbatim BD-R and without a firmware update they would not read), though they play perfect in my Pioneer internals, but do fine with TDK and Memorex BD-L's so i delivered on TDK's, price difference was negligible. I hate Blu Ray for these reasons, and have friends that always ask why their Blu Ray player will not play a certain movie (firmware update is always the culprit).

Most the time its newer Blu Ray movie releases, but SOME older Blu Ray players will NOT work well with newer Blu Ray burners/discs etc. Its rare, but its a mess, and thus far in my experience 100% firmware related (though i suspect a BD-XL will not be read by a BD-R/RE player/writer, though i have not looked this up or experienced it myself).