To the delight of creative consumers and professional authoring providers, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. today introduces its new BDR-2203 Blu-ray Disc®/DVD/CD internal computer writer. Delivering on the promise of a comprehensive solution for large file storage and high definition film functionality, the new device features an impressive 8X write speed capability for dual-layer BD-R Blu-ray Disc media. With the new writer, users can take advantage of ...

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My experience with Blu-ray movies has shown that even a small scratch, barely visible, can cause eratic playback on my player. So, I would be concerned about storing anything of importance on these. And, if I did so, I would feel compelled to handle it and store it with extreme caution. Further, I would want that data backed up on at least one other BD disk and on standard DVDs...

If I could trust this storage medium, it would be nice to reduce the stack of DVDs I now store my data on by a factor of 10.

What do others out there think about my concerns?

Do you think my fears about this medium are justified?

I think from a "cost per GB" standpoint, hard drives are a much more convenient back-up solution. You can get a 1TB (1000GB) drive for less than $100 now. Blu-ray recordable media is still selling at $5-$10 per 25GB BD-R disc. And that's assuming you only want to write once. If you want "re-writable" BD media, it's double that price.

1 TB @ $100 = $0.10 per GB
25 GB @ $5 = $0.20 per GB

I'm all for the Blu-ray format for High Definition movies ... but it is not a cost-effective storage or back-up medium.

- Shane