ctlow

Q: Blu-ray writer quad-layer info request 2016-Jan

Hello, all. DVD burner becoming erratic on a 2009 24" iMac (10.9.5), and that's another question (blow out drive w compressed air, use a cleaning disc, it works for one or two data-DVDs then won't accept a blank DVD, re-clean and repeat; continues to read fine; I may take it in for repairs ...).

I wonder about a quad-layer Blu-ray writer. The much larger size would be very useful for archiving (not backing-up: "archiving"). Go big!

But it seems to be early days yet, and I'm not finding much about them here and around.

There's an LG BE14NU40, but it says "Windows" only.

There's an ASUS SBW-06D2X-U/BLK/G, Mac-compatible 4/5 stars on Amazon, only 7 reviews, 5 positive. $115 w shipping w/o taxes CDN at Newegg.

Questions:

  • hardware recommendations?
  • It seems that anything would require extra software. Like what? Cost? Software recommendations?
  • Is quad-layer Blu-ray for data here to stay? Will these things be readable by future drives? I think that the quad-layer ("BD-XL"?) discs are too expensive at the moment, but that will probably change.
  • Is something beyond Blu-ray on the verge? No need to get last year's eqpt. for something I hope to live with for a while.

 

Thank you.

Charles

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Jan 10, 2016 7:40 AM

Close

Q: Blu-ray writer quad-layer info request 2016-Jan

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by rkaufmann87,Helpful

    rkaufmann87 rkaufmann87 Feb 21, 2016 2:34 PM in response to ctlow
    Level 9 (58,115 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Feb 21, 2016 2:34 PM in response to ctlow

    Charles,

     

    If you want good direct, contact OWC (www.macsales.com), they have many Blue Ray solutions for you to choose from.Because they specialize in Macs you can be sure it will work. Let them know exactly what you want to do with it and they can help steer you to a solution that works for you.

  • by dialabrain,

    dialabrain dialabrain Jan 10, 2016 8:00 AM in response to ctlow
    Level 5 (5,845 points)
    Mac App Store
    Jan 10, 2016 8:00 AM in response to ctlow

    If you take a look at the various CES reports you will notice there are 4K UHD players coming. No doubt there will be players for computers as well. If you wait to get the "latest and greatest", you will never buy anything because there will be something new just about every year.

  • by ctlow,

    ctlow ctlow Jan 17, 2016 1:13 PM in response to rkaufmann87
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 17, 2016 1:13 PM in response to rkaufmann87

    Thanks, and with the US/CDN exchange, I'm looking around but of course quality and reliability trump everything, so let me know if you think the following does not make sense in that context.

    I see an ASUS USB 2.0 / USB 3.0 External 12X Blu-Ray Writer Model BW-12D1S-U LITE/BLK/G/AS available here for $140, well reviewed except of course there are always a few who find it horrible (always, for everything, it seems).

    Do you have any data or experience that would help assess that?

    Thank you.

  • by BillOnBelay,

    BillOnBelay BillOnBelay Jul 4, 2016 1:26 PM in response to ctlow
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Jul 4, 2016 1:26 PM in response to ctlow

    I would suggest not spending one penny on a Blu-Ray player for your MAC.  I have a BD Writer Model SE-506 and was using MacGo Blu-Ray player back in the Maverick days.  With each OS update the software got more and more flaky.  Now with El Capitan it doesn't work at all.  For a long time I thought it was the BD Writer.  One can find driver/fw updates for Windows, but I have yet to find one for Mac.

     

    MacGo was pretty useless in helping with the problems I was encountering with their software.  I am only using the BD Writer for a player with that software.  I even considered buying a different drive but MacGo said the drive I had was good; still nothing worked. 

     

    Then thinking the problem was the software and not the drive, I got Aiseesoft's player and the drive worked once.  It is interesting that Aiseesoft's player and MacGo's Blu-Ray player software look identical, and as of now neither work also neither software packages have had updates in months.

     

    One thing I wrote MacGo about was their poor tech support.  They will reply with cry-baby responses about being their for service, but in fact I have never had any actually technical support from MacGo.  I think they are just selling software to people unfamiliar of the Apple Blu-Ray player issue.

  • by woodmeister50,

    woodmeister50 woodmeister50 Jul 5, 2016 3:35 AM in response to ctlow
    Level 5 (5,500 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 5, 2016 3:35 AM in response to ctlow

    FWIW, unless you have the need for playback of movie or TV DVDs or CDs, it is

    much more cost effective these days to just go and by an external HDD drive.

    1TB portable HDDs can be had for around $60 at retail outlets and some what

    cheaper over the internet.