Is a Blu-Ray Burner a Waste of Money vs. DVD Burner?

[bapc]

I'm building a computer and was thinking about putting in a Blu-ray reader/writer, but after reading reviews I'm thinking maybe just to put a regular DVD burner and save money.

From my understanding, blu ray burners don't copy blu-ray's well and you can't play it in standalone players.

So what good is it? Backup? Instead of 25GB, you can instead buy a flash drive or external hard drive.

My concern is whether future software will be on blu-ray discs instead of DVD's.

What do you guys think? Are people building with blu-ray drives or not?

Thank you.

Edit: Just read that you can't watch blu-ray via DVI cable, you need like an HDMI compliant montitor... so I guess it will be a huge waste of money. I'm still interested to see other people's thoughts on this.

 

[LordConrad]

Blu-ray burners copy Blu-rays very well IF you have an unencrypted disc, or a program to decrypt the encrypted discs.

NOTE: Keep in mind that purchased or rented discs are encrypted, and decrypting them is considered Piracy.

Blu-ray blank discs are still pricey and cost almost as much as buying a Blu-ray movie.

You could always get a BD-combo drive which reads Blu-rays and writes DVDs. Programs like BD-Rebuilder will take unencrypted Blu-ray discs and shrink the content for burning to a DVD. These AVCHD DVDs are playable in most Blu-ray players.

 

[mortonww]

I watch Blu-ray movies with this drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151199&cm_re=blu_ray_drive-_-27-151-199-_-Product

I got it from amazon and it came with playback software. It works on my setup and I don't have an HDMI connection to my monitor. Cyberlink has a software you can download to check your system and see if everything will work.

That drive with software was only $80. It plays the movies and still has the ability to burn CDs and DVDs, so I feel good about it.

 

[Twoboxer]

A DVD/CD read/write optical drive costs $20. If you don't know whether you need BluRay, buy that. Wait until you need BluRay and add it then. Total "waste" = max $20. Total potential savings = lots

If you want to buy DVD/CD + BluRay read only to play your BluRay disks, go as Morton suggested.

LordConrad got it right about the economics, ability, and ethics of making BluRay copies.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

I think at this point, blu ray burners are a waste. If all you wanted it for was backups, you can get a nice external hard drive for probably less than a blu ray burner. Also, yeah, how many home movies are on blu ray?

My opinion, save your money. Maybe grab a reader. And eventually, cost should fall. I mean look at DVD burners now. Used to be when cd burners were first coming in, they were like 100 bucks, now dvd burners can be found for under 30 bucks. Even under 20 many times.