What's the outlook on BD drives?

With BD more or less winning the format war, I'd kind of like to get a notebook that has a BD drive in it, particularly since I'm hoping to get something that will last a few years.

I'm kind of let down by the current options, the 15.4'' and up seem to have them but it seems like the only 14.1'' around is the Inspiron 1420. I haven't ruled the 1420 out by any means but it'd be great to have more options available

Are BD drives something that I can expect to see in the next round of hardware refreshes or are they still a good six months to a year off before they trickle down into some of the smaller systems?

 

Frankly, there's not much news about BD drives getting into smaller and thus slimmer system like the 13" and 12" laptops. The last time I've heard of anything about slim BD drives was late last year, and I still don't see the option on slim type laptops like T61 for example. Lets wait for a while and maybe we'll see something.

Another thing is, if you check Lenovo website, the thinkpad R series, they have 14" with BD drive. I believe if you shop around you might find a few more.

 

Wow, thank you so much for the reply! The R61 might be just what the doctor ordered. I'll have to look into the Quadro and see if it can handle some of the apps that I want to run on it but it seems to be just the kind of notebook I had in mind.

 

Yeah, I would get the R61 too except that it doesn't have HSDPA. It seems that most of Lenovo offerings do not offer HSDPA anymore.

 

Frankly, I think getting Blu-Ray is still to early for a couple years for the market/supply to warrant it.

 

No need to rush: Few notebook screens offer a native 1920×1080 resolution, so your high definition video is being scaled to fit. On my 17" notebook, HD DVD movies look good, but so far I've found the actual quality improvement versus standard DVD to be pretty minimal unless I connect the computer to a larger display via HDMI cable. And this is kind of a fuss because between Vista and nVidia's software, I have to manually set the scan area and reroute the audio through HDMI--the software doesn't seem smart enough to recognize the TV again and automatically apply the same settings I used the last time.

But I do already own a number of B-D movies and may eventually install an Optiarc B-D drive for convenience's sake.

 

outlook is bleak for smaller notebooks, youll have to buy the BD drive aftermarket

 

But you have to be careful, optical drives come in two form factor, 9mm and 12mm. The after market BD drives that I know of are all 12mm. Smaller notebooks usually use 9mm type optical drive, so the after market drives might not work.

 

Do you want a Bluray drive to simply watch movies? Like was said earlier, notebook resolutions and screen sizes are too small to even notice the difference between BluRay and DVD. By the time Bluray becomes popular enough for mainstream daily usage which I think is years away, aftermarket drives will be much cheaper. That being said, I definitely wouldnt base my notebook purchase or whether or not it has a Bluray drive right now

 

Yeah...if I care about picture quality then I'll watch my movies on my big HDTV with my PS3 and HDMI cable.

I want the BD drive mainly because I've got a few movies on BD only. Don't plan on buying the regular DVD equivalent and expect to buy many more on BD only in the next couple of years. The prices I've seen on the drives hasn't been too absurd. (Well, at least not when one factors in Dell coupons...)

So you guys are saying I could get an aftermarket drive without to much difficulty? I don't really want to install it myself though :/ My hands are to big for me to easily work with my laptop like that unfortunately

 

I tell you what Algus you could easily convert the Blueray movies into a digital format and store it on your HDD, or put them on a DVD if you take the time. I would rather buy a nice external hdd, convert my movies over and have like 50+ movies on that little external hdd than buy a blueray drive for 600+$ for a drive that I really dont need.

You own the movie so your legally entitied to backup the movie in any way you like, so if you want to burn it to a dvd or put it on your harddrive so be it. The equipment to do this would be tons cheaper than a BR drive.

 

I'm actually not opposed to doing that Vicious. The notebooks I've been looking at that come equipped with BDs aren't my favorite choices.

Do you mind if I ask what kind of equipment I'd be looking for to back up my BDs? External HDD I know (actually I could use one anyway...so this might be a good excuse to finally pick one up) What else would I look for? From what you say I assume I actually don't need a BD-ROM drive in one of my systems to do the burning

 

Yeah you would still need a Bluray drive to the burning if you wanted to do the ripping/saving. And also a Bluray compatible ripping program if you dont already have one

 

Ohhoh, well there I am then. I don't have a BD drive on my desktop yet so I could either spend the money to get one for that, or get it in my notebook.

Oh well :/

 

blu ray is kind of pointless still. limited film selection and very very expensive media.

give it another year.

 

If you are into high quality video editing (e.g. AVCHD) BD hardware and software are a must.

 

Thing is, like what masterchef341 said, getting blu-ray now is pointless. Who's ever seen a 20Gb movie, or a 20Gb game? Except for pr0n, nothing uses this much space on a CD.

Wait one or two years.

 

Huh?

20GB movie? I've seen many of them; I have a rack full of them in both HD-DVD and BR format. Whether you notice the difference depends on your personal level of IQ tolerance.

It's like saying can you tell the diffeence between a 1K, 2K, and 4K projector at a theatre, or 480/720/1080P image on TV. Some can, some can't.

Having seen both, I much prefer a good HD transfer to a good upconverted DVD transfer (even if Superbit derived), especially for a movie worthy of it like Lawrence of Arabia or Lord of the Rings, both of which are eagerly anticipated in updated format despite their quality DVD copies. But by the same token some HD transfers are terrible and offer nothing compared to a good DVD copy, the best example of which IMO is the Fifth Element, which looks arguably as good in SuperBit as it does on it's single layer 25GB BR copy. Hopefully someday it'll be re-done in dual layer properly restored. Really it's not before it's time, it's just pricey, and the studios aren't helping anything by delaying the release of titles that would get things moving like Lawrence, LOTR, Aliens and StarWars (which was shot in 1920x1080/24 and was just shown in HD on Spike last month). It's worth it to some, but whether it's worth it interpolated on a 1280x800 or 1440x900 screen is another question.

As for 20GB game, there are some, whether or not it's necessary or makes a difference compared to a 9 GB game pretty much doesn't matter, because for PCs you simply put it on anohter DVD or Two, and likely still for less than one BR disc. For consoles it matters more to reduce the installation requirements and allow uncompressed (or less compressed) textures should you need them.

Yeah I don't think you want HD in pr0n, it's not like they've been on the cutting ege of improved detail, they're the masters of softening images to hide stretch/track marks. Skip HD and straight to VR for pr0n that's where they should be focused.

 

There will be further changes made to the format.

 

What changes that a PC based BR drive can't handle?

 

Yeah the biggest change was to 2.0 and any further updates just require an internet connection

 

Yeah, and BD 2.0 is already supported in PowerDVD8, the PS3, and supposedly the upcoming LG firmware update (already went to 1.1 in april) for their set-top players (their PC based ones are already there due to PD8 being the player not the drive).

Some dedicated players are limited to what they can do, but nothing matches a PC based BR player/burner for 'future-preparedness' (future-proofing is a myth).

 

I was just saying that the reason I want a BD-ROM is because I've got some movies, like Live Free and Die Hard, that I bought on BD to go with the PS3 I bought in December. Obviously it'd be nice to watch these when I'm traveling, hence a BD-ROM drive for my new notebook. I'd rather not buy movies I own on BD a second time just to watch them on my laptop.

Anyway, I honestly think I'm leaning towards passing on the BD-ROM drive for now. Pick up a Vostro instead, then down the road get a BD drive for my desktop and do the ripping like Vicious suggested.

I understand what you mean by BD not being needed from the perspective of making 50 G data discs or getting computer programs/games on BD but the movies are here and it looks like they're to stay so I'd have an immediate practical use for a BD-ROM drive if I were to get one.

Anyway thanks for the replies guys. I think this thread helped me in figuring out what kind of notebook I want to get.

 

You're very welcome. All the best for your decisions

 

In that case, why not get an "internal" "desktop" BDR drive and then put it in a USB/Firewire enclosure and then you can use it to rip to the laptop or desktop, and either take it with you (if you have space) or leave it at home.

Basically a $200 option with burning support that you can jump from computer to computer without having to get another one each time.

 

You do not have to buy a BR drive for your laptop or desktop since you already have a player at home right? Just use its video out and do an analog capture of the video, or it may even have digital out.

Get a decent tv card or capture card for your pc or laptop and just use your existing player. You do not need to burn them to BR disk in full resolution, the process of putting them on your hdd or on dvds would make it a good idea to lower the resolution to save space since chances are you will not have a laptop screen that is even capable of full 1080p resolution and the sheer screen size makes it a mute point even if you could.

Basically rip them from your BR disk and save them in DVD quality, then you can have the full fledge BR when at home but the DVD when on the road.

 

I like the way you guys think. The sad thing is, I should have thought of your suggestion on my own Vicious since I've used that method to create digital copies of some VHS tapes I've got. Yeah, I do have my PS3, it mgiht have some sort of lockout, I don't know...but it's a solution worth a try...something I can do right now if I so desire. And if it doesn't work, I could always go with TheGreatGrapeEscape's method as well.

+rep to you guys. I think I'm absolutely gonna pass on the BD-ROM drive then, it'll give me more options for what kind of notebook to get.

 

It probably will have HDCP block on some movies, but there is software and stuff to get around it, plus since you would be doing analog instead of digital if its your PS3 it may not even ecript it at all.

 

Analogue pass through is fine but you are limited to 1/4 resolution, but that's to be expected from a TV capture card. HDCP shouldn't stop you it's primary function would be to reduce the res / degrade copy, which is kinda what you expect. Macrovision might play a part, but that can easily be defeated to and cleanly for $10 worth of hardware (video filter).

You could do HDMI capture but that more expensive and really primarily desktop since the laptop solutions require either compression or else an expressCard to PCI-e adapter.

 

An alternative might be to buy a notebook which is equipped with HDMI now, and consider adding a B-D drive at your leisure. You may be able to do this even if such a drive was never offered for the model in question.

In the case of my HP, it looks like I just remove a single screw, pull out the existing HD DVD drive, transfer the mounting brackets and bezel to the new B-D drive (I think there's SOME standardization in the way bezels are attached) and hopefully HP Quickplay already has the necessary B-D movie playback support, else I guess I buy PowerDVD.

BUT..! What I've heard so far says that B-D drives suck a lot of power when the blue laser is in use, and that this was expected to greatly improve in the future. As long as B-D drives with ATAPI interfaces continue to be made, I guess I can wait for the next generation of drives from Optiarc. Meanwhile, I've got this HD DVD drive, and have quite a few movies in that format too, some of which aren't available as Blu-Ray yet.

 

I just wanted to post and say that I decided on a Vostro 1400. Thanks for all the help you guys gave me. Come one to two years from now I might regret not having BD in my notebook but I think that with the kind of travel I do, I'll be happier with a business notebook over a consumer notebook.

Got 3 GB of RAM...and the processor is a bit flashier then the old E6400 in my desktop so the notebook will actually be better then the desktop for a little while until I buy some upgrades for it. I'll probably end up doing what you suggested Vicious to back up some of my BDs. I've got most of the equipment to do that on me now.

Thanks so much guys.

 

Good luck with it.