Because it is dirt cheap compared to HDDs where I am, I will be storing my movie collection in Blu-Ray. And partially because I think spinny media is cool.

I currently got two secondhand options for the drive:

  • Pioneer BDR-209EBK
  • Panasonic UJ272

The drive will be plugged into my server (6th gen i5-6600, old desktop) via SATA. It will probably only read the disks I write so DRM is not much of a concern.

The disks will mostly be used as archival storage. Most of the time, they will be transferred to SSD a few days/hours before streaming, though sometimes they may be played straight from BD-R

Aside from that, most of the Blu-Ray writing software I found is GUI. So I’d also appreciate something I could control via web or CLI

  • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    4·
    7 hours ago

    Bluray drives have been working great in Linux for a long time. You can use xorriso or growisofs to burn disks from the CLI.

    Just keep in mind that burned disks are not reliable for long term storage. Cheap disks burned at high speed can degrade within a few years.

  • daggermoon@piefed.worldEnglish
    3·
    9 hours ago

    They work great! I have several. If you’re using MakeMKV it has some trouble with older Blu-Ray drives in the more recent version. The workaround is to download an appimage of the last working version so it can dump the firmware files of those drives. Then you can run the latest version without issue. It’s alot easier than it sounds. Let me know if you need any help.

  • RedWeasel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    23·
    16 hours ago

    The drives should work fine, for standard blurays and self wrote disks. There are a mature cli utilities and often the gui version is just a frontend for the cli tools. It is just an optical drive otherwise.

    Arch Linux Wiki : https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Blu-ray

    Check out makemkv, which has a cli option, and their forum for compatibility for 4K blurays. Newer bluray drives have additional protection for 4K if I understood correctly.

  • CarrotsHaveEars@lemmy.ml
    10·
    16 hours ago

    Check MakeMKV’s forum for drive models if your intention is to playback (with free software) or to backup.

  • renegadespork@lemmy.jelliefrontier.netEnglish
    8·
    16 hours ago

    Sounds like you’ve been listening to Linux Unplugged, ha. Drive support is generally good in my experience. If you’re going to buy one for writing, then I’d also recommend one that can be flashed with Libredrive. That way you can also rip encrypted BluRays and store them without DRM.

    I haven’t used burning software in a long time, but you may have issues getting them in a format that will just play back normally on players, especially if you put a bunch of movies on one disc. I think they need some sort of menu system, but maybe some burning software can build a rudimentary one? idk

    Optical archival storage is tempting right now because of the price, though it definitely is more of an archival solution. Good for long term cold backups, but not great for any data that needs to change, even infrequently.

    • daggermoon@piefed.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 hours ago

      You can rip and store Blu-rays without DRM without Libredrive, just not UHD Blu-ray’s unless the drive is on an old unpatched firmware. I have one such drive.

      To burn a playable Blu-Ray movie you need the dump from MakeMKV and ImgBurn running in Wine. Blu-ray movies require UDF 2.50 I think. You can then create an .iso that can be burned to a disc using K3b or Brasero or whatever.

      I’m happy to answer any questions as I have quite a bit of experience with this.

    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
      4·
      15 hours ago

      I got lucky and mine has factory libredrive mode support. They changed the drive inside the case now though, Pioneer to Hitachi-LG. That one needs flashing.

      And about archiving: it depends. Burnables, you can expect around 10 to 20 years in dry, dark places with stable climate. Though some charges have manufacturing defects, become literally spinning rust after a few years. Considering the duplicate for safety, or some expensive special archiving disk (if you believe the vendor), are they still cheaper?
      Also consider, that optical drives already get rougher mechnaically, because the fabrication chain from the 2000s is lost. And in software too, they go the path of legacy.

  • lordnikon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    16 hours ago

    Works great I write and read bluray discs all the time. I ripped my collection to my nas with no issues. Just have to get the keys setup.

  • juipeltje@lemmy.world
    1·
    14 hours ago

    I don’t have any experience with those drives, but i do have an LG BE16NU50 drive, which i already had when i was still on windows, and it worked on linux no problem. I also use it to play/rip CDs. I’m not sure if it’s any different for 4k bluray drives, since mine is older and 1080p only, but from my experience it just works.

  • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
    11·
    15 hours ago

    I was trying to do this recently and learned that, I guess certain bluray drives have been identified as compromised by the powers that be. As a result newer bluray disks ship with a list of those drives, and when your drive’s firmware sees that it is on the list, it will refuse to open the disk. I have an old bd drive from ~2008 that was ~60% effective at ripping my library.

    I also tried my best to use fully open source tools in combination with an up-to-date KEYDB.CFG, but never had as much success as just using makemkv.

    The most extreme route I found is to refer to makemkv’s list of drives that can have their firmware flashed to prevent it from refusing to read a disk. I haven’t gone that route, but would definitely consider it if I was looking for a drive.