Why didn't Blu-ray writers became as popular as DVD writers

[james_bond]

Before Blu-ray discs reached the market when DVDs were the most popular optical media almost all desktops/laptops here in my country had a DVD writer.

 

Then came Blu-ray discs which can hold much more data in comparison to a DVD even when compared to the dual layer DVDs.

 

But I hardly know anyone in my friend circle who have installed a Blu-ray writer in their desktops or laptops. All are using usb flash drives, external spinning HDDs, or external SSDs.

 

When it comes to watching movies almost everyone here is using a FireTV stick.

 

Why do you think Blu-ray writers failed to gain market share in comparison to DVD writers ?

[akio123008]

Because by the time Blue-ray became a thing, optical media in general had already passed its peak.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Expenses.

Discs cost way more (initially),... drives cost way more (initially)
People were expanding their DVD libraries/movie rooms and didn't want to migrate it all over (plus the cost of doing so)

 

Common for Pirated copies to be placed on Mass Storage HDD's, no need for discs anymore.
Common for DVD owners to just stick with what they have and know...or burn their own movies really cheap.

"Can DVD be too popular for Blu-ray to become adopted?" IMO Yes.

[Arika]

1 minute ago, james_bond said:

Why do you think Blu-ray writers failed to gain market share in comparison to DVD writers ?

you kind of already said it

 

1 minute ago, james_bond said:

All are using usb flash drives, external spinning HDDs, or external SSDs.

why spend the time to burn a blu-ray when you can put the same file on another storage media that can be played in pretty much any device? most TVs for the last few years can play directly off a USB drive.

 

There is no benefit to blu-ray unless you're buying the blu-ray for the content already on it

[Spotty]

High cost of the drives and discs as well as the lessened appeal of physical media as online streaming services (and online movie piracy) gained popularity.

[minibois]

8 minutes ago, james_bond said:

Why do you think Blu-ray writers failed to gain market share in comparison to DVD writers ?

1. Optical media was being replaced by HDD's being cheaper and SSD's existing, giving people two ways of storing their data (where-as previously there was one way to store it: on a HDD and optical media (CD, DVD)).

That's the "2" in the "3-2-1" of backup. 2 different media types and when CD's and DVD's were a thing, the other option was HDD's or expensive flash storage. Blu-ray just wasn't an alternative for backing up that DVD was.

 

2. The discs were expensive, compared to DVD

 

3. With the DVD encryption being broken so fast, basically every media player on PC could play DVD movies. That is not the case with blu-ray movies

 

4. blu-ray just didn't catch on as a media format for movies in the mainstream, at least not to the level of DVD or VHS. That is why people on PC also didn't bother with getting one, together with the reasons listed above.

[Master Disaster]

Flash media also doesn't rot over time. Not sure if BD discs suffer from bit rot or not but CDs do and DVDs are starting to now as well.

[mousesnob]

32 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Flash media also doesn't rot over time. Not sure if BD discs suffer from bit rot or not but CDs do and DVDs are starting to now as well.

I though flash storage wasnt all that reliable over time. Im fairly sure most optical media had some for of organic dye and thats why theyre failing. M-disks dont have that and they supposedly last for many decades minimum.

[Master Disaster]

41 minutes ago, mousesnob said:

I though flash storage wasnt all that reliable over time. Im fairly sure most optical media had some for of organic dye and thats why theyre failing. M-disks dont have that and they supposedly last for many decades minimum.

Flash on storage devices only dies if its being constantly written to and even then, it still lasts longer than most people think. Yeah the cheapo £10 for 128GB from Amazon ones will probably die inside 12 months but if you get a good branded one and you don't hammer it with loads of writing it will last indefinitely.

[Commodus]

To elaborate on what others have said:

 

CD and DVD burning made sense when those were new, as hard drives were both small and relatively slow. Burning a 4.7GB DVD could amount to backing up all the important files on your hard drive, and the speed wasn't so much slower that it'd be a pain to retrieve that info. It helped that everyone had an optical drive on their computer at the time.

 

By the time Blu-ray writers hit the mainstream, hard drives were much larger, much faster and better able to keep up with evolving media demands. It was much easier to get, say, a 150GB external hard drive (or even a 128GB flash drive). Throw in the shift to disc-free laptops and streaming services and there's just not much of a use case for Blu-ray writers in the mainstream.

 

Hell, there isn't much need in the pro field. If you need backups in the professional world, you're probably using either tape or external hard drive/SSD arrays, including networked storage.

[dalekphalm]

4 hours ago, Master Disaster said:

Flash media also doesn't rot over time. Not sure if BD discs suffer from bit rot or not but CDs do and DVDs are starting to now as well.

I'd like to point out that there is a difference between the Flash Media failing (similar to a CD physically rotting), and having Bit Rot.

 

Bit Rot does occur on Flash Media - the cell itself changes state due to electron leakage. This is more common, the more states each cell has (eg: SLC vs MLC vs TLC vs 3D NAND TLC, and so on).

 

So if you store something on Flash and leave it in the closet for 15 years, it's quite possible some of the data will become corrupt over time due to bit rot. The drive itself would probably still be fully functional (in the sense that there's a data error, not a physical problem - so you could reformat the drive and keep using it as if nothing was wrong).

 

If you're archiving something really long term, Flash could present just as much problems potentially as say, a CD (they're just different problems).

[Sarra]

As an avid CD and DVD burning enthusiast, back in the day, I can share my own reasons for not getting a Blu Ray burner.

 

Aside from the fact that hard drives were getting stupid cheap (I remember throwing a party when 7200RPM drives dropped below the magical $1/gigabyte mark), as well as getting massive boosts in capacity, DVD burners were fairly mature, but the 'cheap consumer goods' effect was hammering them. I bought a CD burner that was absolutely indestructible, however, DVD burners were flakey and often times felt like they were designed to last a very limited amount of time before it would stop working, and you would have to purchase a new one.

 

This turned the market a little bit negative. Then, Blu Ray came out. The battle between HD DVD and Blu Ray was intense, but the capacity was insane (compared to DVD). I wanted one so bad. I wanted to replace my DVD burner with it's janky AF firmware with something new, better, not designed to fail after 2 years of light use.

 

Then, Blu Ray players, not burners, players, hit the market. And they were EXPENSIVE AF. I remember looking at a DVD burner Blu Ray player that was $400.

 

So I waited. Blu Ray burners were expensive, and stayed expensive. Harddrives became cheaper. In the end, for me, it would have been far cheaper to buy a second hard drive for every drive I owned, and literally back up my data from HDD to HDD, than it would have been to buy a Blu Ray burner, writable BR discs, and back stuff up that way. After around 2 years of waiting for the price to become palatable, I just moved on. I gave up on BR burners.

 

It was only around a year ago, in 2020, that I actually purchased a Blu Ray burner. It's a USB3 external drive. I've used it three times? I used it to install windows on my laptop, fix windows on my laptop, and install windows on my new desktop. That's it. I don't even own a blu ray disc, and unless win 10 starts coming on them, I won't.

 

Sony 'won' the blu ray vs hd dvd battle. But they lost the war, because hard drives won. I think that even for SOHO, medium business, and moderate regional business, it was literally cheaper to buy hard drives than BR burners and media for them. You could buy a single burner and blank disc for the same cost as a hard drive that had 10 times the capacity, was reusable, had a better warranty, was quieter, easier to setup and use, and they were easier and more durable for storage.

[Zodiark1593]

Blu Ray is still surprisingly pricey today. I keep a BD drive (not burner) for the occasional movie or series rip, and burning the occasional CD for someone’s older car, but it seldom sees use. Having to update MakeMKV all the time is a bit of a turn off unless I’m ripping a lot of discs at once as well. 

[Spindel]

Because affordable external HDDs became a thing. And NASes for home use. And USB flash drives for files you want to move around.