On Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:20:00 +0100, UtNut <utnut@utternutter.org>
wrote:
>On 17 Feb 2011 14:12:49 GMT, JB <no@mail.org> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>>whether these Criterion BDs are region-free?
>>
>>Yes: originally Region A, turned into region free, w/o AACS and/or BD+ shit.
>>
>>>any software that allows viewing Blu Ray rips with menus etc.
>>
>>No idea about Macs, but full BD playback on PCs support Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre Platinum (folders and
>>images) + Nero ShowTime (folders and images) Cyberlink Power DVD (only images). Pretty much any latest
>>version of popular software players (MPC, VLC, XBMC, Zoom Player FLEX, etc.) will play BD files, but not
>>menus.
>>
>>>Does anyone have any experience with external Blu Ray burners?
>>
>>For now it's cheaper (and faster) to store BD50 on HDDs. Burning BDs is currently an expensive hobby and
>>might take 1-1.5 hours per disc.
>>
>>PS --
>>
>>http://alternativeto.net/software/arcsoft-total-media-theatre/?platform=mac
>>
>>J
>
>Totally agree with this, dunno abt Nero so much, but TotalMedia is
>superb for playing BD's on your PC including menu's. Good advice also
>is to use (external) HDD's, their prices have gone down as much to
>make other media costly and slow.
>My best advice would be to get yourself a good media box supporting BD
>wt menu's, with a decent sized hdd of 1TB, USB connected, hooked up to
>your tv set. The pq is just astonishing and the effiency is so much
>more than burning Blu-Ray disks. The alternative is to play it from
>your PC to your tv set, mixed feelings about that, it's all depending
>on your Apple/PC powers and moreover your video card..
>
>UtNut
Just starting to get into this myself now. I appreciate having JB's
complete untouched BD's like here and in the other group (and Bugzzy
was doing for awhile) even though I can't really collect them the way
I have with dvd's. Afterall, only 40 of these 50GB BD's will fill up
a 2T HDD. Considering the number of DVD's I have, there's no way to
be able to collect these BD's at the same rate with the current costs
of media.
But there are other ways to do it, like:
1. Watch them at the 25 or 50GB size off the hdd, for awhile. and
then.
2. For those I have to have, I can either reduce to 25GB BD single
layer at appx $1 US or
3. Reduce them even further to "BD5" or "BD9" which are still
significantly high quality vs. SD dvd (1080p or even 720p's are much
nicer looking than even untouched DVD's). The h264's being mpeg4 can
be compressed without the blockies you get with mpeg2 compression
since the format is more foregiving in that regard.
There is the free beta software BD Rebuilder, which will compress BD
to 25, 9, or 5GB with or without menus. Good thing came out of this
for me-- having tried it -- it makes it apparent I have to get a new
computer -- it took several days to Compress the single layer "City
Girl" to BD9 with my present cpu.
For those who don't realize it, BD5 and BD9 are actually blurays
written to DVD5 and DVD9 respectively using either a DVD or BD
burner. They will not play on DVD players. They only play on BD
players or on the computer DVD drive. But the point is you don't need
a BD burner to create them and the media cost is dvd media cost
(though BD burners are now starting to drop under $100. and BD media
seems to be dropping in price also.
4. Keep them on HDD.
And keep in mind if the current usenet retentions continue, these
posts should still be available to burn to media when the price of
media drops to reasonable levels.
Free Agent
PS. I guess one indication BD media prices are starting to drop is
that DVD media prices have really dropped recently (now paying about
15 - 16 cents apiece for dvd5). I was starting to think about
storing files on HDD but with the drop in dvd5 prices, HDD storage is
still more expensive for me at the cheapest 2T drive still over $100
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