Is Blu Ray and HD DVD only different on disc?

[DVD Maniac]

May seem like a nutty question but there is good reason! Looking at the price of blank HD media I have decided to hold off buying a burner for now and am going with the cheaper option of a Reader for now. I intend to store all my backups on hard drive for now.

I have invested in a dual format ROM so I can in theory backup Blu Ray and HD titles. So when it comes time to invest in a burner I will go for whatever looks the best option. Now lets say my "source" was a Blu Ray disc and now I want to burn onto a HD blank disc - will this work? (Or vice versa for HD source and Blu Ray destination disc).

I have assumed that Blu Ray and HD DVD are just different physical level differences on the disc (similar to +R and -R)?

[Doom9]

There's a lot more than just the physical differences.. e.g. the container, or the supported codec properties (GOP length and the likes), the menu format, interactive features, etc.

[DVD Maniac]

There's a lot more than just the physical differences.. e.g. the container, or the supported codec properties (GOP length and the likes), the menu format, interactive features, etc.

Hi there thanks for replying.

So the file structures are basically different, so it needs to go back to a blank disc of the original format?

[Doom9]

Yes, or you're in for a major reauthoring.. you might even be forced to re-encode even if space isn't an issue (placing a 30+ GB file on a recordable HD DVD would also be quite difficult..).

[DVD Maniac]

Yes, or you're in for a major reauthoring.. you might even be forced to re-encode even if space isn't an issue (placing a 30+ GB file on a recordable HD DVD would also be quite difficult..).

Oh well, I will just have to choose a format to stick to for now. I am very pleased with results from my Toshiba HD ROM drive. Been able to backup to hard drive and play back from that once I had got the right graphic card and driver!

BTW, do you think blank disc providers are aware of the following economics?

750GB SATA drive = £170 (30 Backups approx)

Cost per backup = £5.60

25GB Blu ray blank = £10

Cost per backup = £10:rolleyes:

[Doom9]

You know.. that's what I keep telling people who argue that Blu-ray is better because you can record up to 50 gigs. In today's day and age, and especially with sensitive and new technology (blue laser, dual layer), your data is a lot safer on a harddisk. I'll wonder if either BD-R (DL) or HD DVD-R (DL) will go the way of DVD-R (so becoming quite cheap) or go the dual layer route and remain pricy years after their introduction. I guess only time will tell.

[DVD Maniac]

I had a very interesting little chat with someone "close" to the blank disc industry and some very interesting things came up! It is "alleged" that certain parties "requested" the likes of Verbatim etc to maintain high prices for dual layer DVD+/- R to discourage piracy. However, the blank disc industry forecasts its volumes at least 3 years hence, and what is the most significant chunk? Yes - you guessed it, movie backups and even "illigetimate" usage. Whats the odds this is / will happen again I wonder!

If enough people do the above calculations and realise its cheaper to simply bung in a high capacity hard drive to their system then blank disc suppliers are going to struggle. Look at prices for external drives which presumably can stream HD material quickly enough and you have a pretty much infinite storage option via hard drive.

Why ever bother with all the hassle of burning to those pesky disc thingies (endless coasters, bad batches, quality decay, etc etc) when you can have it all stored neatly in a far more relaible media????????

Will be interesting to see what happens!

P.S.

External USB 2.0 Hardrive 500GB = £70
Approx backups = # 20
Cost per Backup = £3.50

Cost per Backup on Blu Ray Media = £10

Am I missing something or is this a total no brainer!!!!!!!

[HyperHacker]

The only problem I can see there is that using a hard drive means putting all your eggs in one basket. However, you probably buy multiple recordable discs at a time and keep them all in the same place, so the odds of e.g. a defective batch or a disaster destroying them all must be about the same anyway.

[Doom9]

The only problem I can see there is that using a hard drive means putting all your eggs in one basket.However, weigh that against the MTBF of modern harddisks - especially if you're using an external disk that you shut down when not in use, and a harddisks ability to recognize sectors that turn bad and move the data to another sector.
And if you're really concerned, you can always go RAID-1.

[DVD Maniac]

Has anyone tried playing an HD title straight off an external hard drive connected via USB 2.0? In theory the transfer rate should be quick enough but I'm wondering whether you need Firewire to be sure of it working.

[casio7131]

well the xbox hddvd player connects via usb, so i guess that playing from a hdd should also work.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Agreed. FireWire isn't really any faster per se, it's lower latency and has less CPU utilization when implemented properly. That's why Lockheed standardized it as the interconnect between components on the F/A-22 Raptor :)