Why are PC Blu-Ray drives so scarce and expensive?

[DarKWateR]

I was thinking of buying one for my friend as it's her birthday soon but it seems these things have fallen off the map since I last checked.

I would prefer an internal one (does not have to write BR) and a few years ago pretty much all major online stores like Takealot, Kalahari, etc had these available... and for cheapish like R699 region.

Now however that doesn't seem to be case any more. Most places don't sell them and those that do are asking some really awkward prices.

Did I miss some memo? Am I looking in the wrong places?

I thought with BR being more mainstream now (you can get standalone players for like R500 on specials these days) ...that it would be easier and cheaper to find these things.

 

[Sonic2k]

I think they are scarce because they don't want them in the field where people can hack them and make pirated copies of blu-ray movies. I might be wrong.

I am currently using a BD-ROM drive from a Philips Blu-ray player. They mistakenly think the average Joe is stupid out there. Even the XBOX 360 has a SATA BD-ROM drive that can be hooked up to a PC easily

 

[dualmeister]

Never needed to burn a blu-ray disc (and I don't burn CD's or DVD's anymore either).

Digital media has been killing off disc based media for ages already so if its not selling then its not going to get stocked.

 

[Raru]

I bought a new PC two weeks ago and could not get a Blu-ray drive for it. Had to settle for a standard DVD drive. The BD drive shortage does seem strange.

 

[Polymathic]

I bought a new PC two weeks ago and could not get a Blu-ray drive for it. Had to settle for a standard DVD drive. The BD drive shortage does seem strange.

To be honest bluray players themselves aren't that popular these days, most people opp to stream which could be a factor. I just want one to back up all my media

 

[TJ99]

Never needed to burn a blu-ray disc (and I don't burn CD's or DVD's anymore either).

Digital media has been killing off disc based media for ages already so if its not selling then its not going to get stocked.

Uhm, discs are digital.

 

[dualmeister]

What Is Digital Copy?

Digital Copy is a special product, bundled with your recent DVD or Blu-ray™ purchase, which provides you with a digital version of the movie. You may transfer your "Digital Copy" to your Mac®, PC and iTunes®-compatible devices (such as the iPod® touch, iPhone® and iPad™) or redeem your Digital Copy with one streaming on-demand movie service (such as VUDU or Amazon).

Universal

 

[Joker]

Supply and demand, who needs external storage when internal is so cheap. Streaming to your TV is also far less hassle than burning a bluray to disc.

 

[Polymathic]

Supply and demand, who needs external storage when internal is so cheap. Streaming to your TV is also far less hassle than burning a bluray to disc.

A lof of People are buying external hard drives. Personally in terms of long term storage I feel disc based storage is the best option

 

[Sonic2k]

If streaming and external hard drives are so cheap, then why are DVD writers still available and cheap?

 

[DTBA]

If streaming and external hard drives are so cheap, then why are DVD writers still available and cheap?

I think people are more saying that Blue-ray drives are $$$$ and disc are even more $$$$

DVD's vs Blueray price

 

[Space_Chief]

I had to import. Got a nice Pioneer quad layer drive. It's region free too, at least for Blurays. So can watch my US and Japanese imports as well as local/EU discs.

 

[Fudzy]

Compared to the progression of CD-ROMs to CD writers to DVD-ROMs to DVD writers, the BD is almost a non-PC standard. Optical media just isn't the dogs bollocks it once was.

 

[DarKWateR]

I had to import. Got a nice Pioneer quad layer drive. It's region free too, at least for Blurays. So can watch my US and Japanese imports as well as local/EU discs.

From where and how much?

 

[Alton Turner Blackwood]

I think they are scarce because they don't want them in the field where people can hack them and make pirated copies of blu-ray movies. I might be wrong.

I am currently using a BD-ROM drive from a Philips Blu-ray player. They mistakenly think the average Joe is stupid out there. Even the XBOX 360 has a SATA BD-ROM drive that can be hooked up to a PC easily

You sure about that?

 

[Drifter]

You sure about that?

Was gonna ask the same. PS3 has BluRay , Xbox does not.

 

[Space_Chief]

From where and how much?

I got the Pioneer BDR-XD04, from OutletPc.com by airmail. It was over a year ago and they don't sell it any more. They do have others though such as Buffalo's:
http://www.outletpc.com/drpbrxlpc6u2b.html

You can get the same Pioneer drive on Ebay now:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313&_nkw=pioneer+bdr-xd04&_sacat=0&_from=R40

 

[Sonic2k]

Was gonna ask the same. PS3 has BluRay , Xbox does not.

I haven't tried it yet to be honest. I will check it out though.
However, the BD-ROM drive was taken from a Philips BDP-???? (can't remember exact part number) player and that works...

 

[TJ99]

I haven't tried it yet to be honest. I will check it out though.
However, the BD-ROM drive was taken from a Philips BDP-???? (can't remember exact part number) player and that works...

They mean you are wrong. The Xbox 360 most definitely does not have a Blu-ray drive.

 

[Rickster]

BR Reader

BR Writer

@OP it would be silly to get a BR drive instead of buying her a external Hard Drive, imagine one day someone asks her to copy a whole lot of files (series/movies) since that someone doesnt have internet.

She copies it to a BR Disc and hands it to him, he looks at it with a WTF face...see the problem?

EDIT BR Blank discs arnt cheap either. For the price of a BR drive you could get a nice 2TB external.