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BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Sun May 05, 2019 7:44 pm
by Peter Copestake
wanting to be able to make a compilation on a bluray disc as I can on DVD (which could include a Bluray film tho' obviously at a lower quaity) I was advised to get a Pioneer BDR-209EBK, had it installed and started on the project. OK with the DVDs but the Pioneer did not recognise a member's home made bluray, seeing it as a blank disc.
What make/model should have installed, please? Or will no comparable deck do what I want?

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Sun May 05, 2019 10:23 pm
by TimStannard
Peter, I have that very same BluRay re-writer (in fact it's the second one I've had - the other is in my "spare" PC. I've never had any issue reading Blurays from members of Staines or other clubs (I've never actually tried a commecrcial BluRay in it [EDIT: I have now and the PC reads it although I don't have any software capable of playing it!]). This model has been recommended for years and so it's unlikely to be a problem with the model.

This leaves several possibilities:
1. There's a problem with the driver or Windows recognising it properly (My WIndows 10 recognises the drive as a PIONEER BD-RW BDR-209M - I get to this information from Device Manager - therse are several ways to get ther, but typing "Device Manager" in the search box seems the most efficient)
2. Actually Windows recognises the drive/disk OK but the software you are using doesn't - you didn't tell us where the message about "blank disc" is displayed.
3. (Most likely IMO) The disk has not been burned correctly.
4. Your particular drive is faulty.

I'd start by checking out the problematic BluRay on another system.

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 9:24 am
by Peter Copestake
Thanks, Tim, but do your answers correlate with my brief statement "DVDs OK"? I used it to copy files from three or four DVDs to computer which did recognise it when installed. As for 3, are there different formats for home made Blurays? These discs play on two different Sony players to our club projector and our home TV.
The 'blank disc' message comes up on the computer's screen as recognition of the contents of the E drive.
The same computer recognised the disc on an LG DVD reader/writer and I was able to get the files into D drive by dragging -it wouldn't do it by 'copy' - and made a playable DVD.
Faulty drive or odd format bluray? I'll ask suppliers tomorrow. Unfortunately club member is away so can't ask him what burner he uses.
Will let this forum know what the outcome is.

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 12:03 pm
by Peter Copestake
Further to above his burner is a Liteon, don't know model but it is a few years old.

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 3:43 pm
by TimStannard
Hi Peter. Yes, each of my suggestions could also correlate with your statement about DVDs. Apart from the fact that they use the similar technology to read and write, they are not the same. (For a start DVDs use red laser light and BluRays use blue) so it is quite feasible that a DVD will be recognised when a BluRay isn't (and this could be for any of the reasons mentioned above).

Your exellent diagnosis so far appears to eliminate 2 and 3.

I'm somewhat confused by your statement "The same computer recognised the disc on an LG DVD reader/writer" If the disc is a BluRay, a DVD reader should not be able to read it!

Assuming that was a typo, my next steps would be (1) uninstall the BluRay writer in Device manager and re-install, and then update the firmware.

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 4:32 pm
by Peter Copestake
Explanation Found. The computer is using Windows XP which doesn't cope with Bluray. Our* fault for not reading specs properly, which say Win 7 & 8.
* = usually very helpful neighbour. I said "hadn't you better make sure computer is up to it?"
XP runs my old progammes adequately.
Sorry for wasting your time, Tim

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 5:38 pm
by Peter Copestake
"If the disc is a BluRay, a DVD reader should not be able to read it!" It's a mystery. As far as I remember it 'saw' the files on the disc, it wouldn't copy them, but I dragged them to the folder on my D (video) drive and Nero put them onto a DVD, along with others, which plays perfectly. My graduate computer engineer grandson, who pointed out the XP solution, has just reinstalled the LG and it does not now see anything on the disc. I have looked for another disc from the same source of the same film and cannot find one but that may mean I've given it back to him. I am afraid that at 86 it's all a bit too much and I may have misrembered something. I can only apologise again.

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 8:17 am
by TimStannard
Peter Copestake wrote: Mon May 06, 2019 4:32 pm Sorry for wasting your time, Tim
Absolutely not a waste of time, Peter. I missed out one of the possible causes (my fault for assuming you were running a more recent version of Windows)

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Wed May 08, 2019 4:06 pm
by tom hardwick
And anyway, my Windows XP machine reads and writes Blu-rays using its LG drive, so XP isn't the problem.

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Wed May 08, 2019 4:42 pm
by Peter Copestake
What model LG, Tom? Perhaps Pioneer was the wrong make to use.

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Wed May 08, 2019 6:21 pm
by tom hardwick
No idea, it was built into the pc case by DVC 9 years ago or so.

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 1:58 pm
by Peter Copestake
For some reason, probably because I didn't click submit, my last post hasn't apppeared. It said that the Pioneer deck installed on our domestic PC, using Windows 7 SP1, plays a Bluray disc but the computer shows the disc as having a capacity of 13.2 GB of which 13.2 GB is free which seems to me to say 'blank disc' as plainly as the XP computer did. I don't understand this but I am sure one of you will do! Is the deck faulty?

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 2:00 pm
by TimStannard
It seems possible. At this stage I'd take it up with Pioneer or your supplier.

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 2:07 pm
by tom hardwick
Even stranger as a blank BD is 25GB or 50GB as a double layer.

Re: BluRay reader/writer.

Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 2:28 pm
by Peter Copestake
I'll do that Tim.
There's 62 minutes of films on it. If it hasn't been finalised would there be 13 GB left free? But in that case it wouldn't play on computer or player would it, Tom?