actually it's a combo cd/dvd/hd dvd/blu-ray drive, but calling it an hd dvd drive is just funnier i think

anyway it's like the best quality of life improvement i've made to my computer since i decided i'd had enough of intel graphics. the dvd drive i had in it previously it was loud, kept seeking at random times, and had weird intermittent problems playing discs which could only be solved by rebooting. it also kept retracting the fucking tray while i was fiddling with swapping discs, which i thought was just windows being shit with disc drives nowadays, but apparently it's a firmware issue with the drive itself.

the new drive is like a proper name brand one, and it just has the vibe of being a way better quality product. which, seeing as it's around 15 years old and probably was really fucking expensive back in the day, you'd hope it would be. the 'clunk' sound it makes when it retracts the tray is just absolute perfection, it's just so elegant compared to the sad mutters of the old drive. also the drive is totally silent, or at least not audible over my heat pump, so i probably won't have to get up and turn my computer off because the drive randomly decided to spin up at 3 am

most importantly, the previous owner didn't remove the plastic film on the tray, so i got to do that myself.

back in the day, i used to just order the cheapest drive with the features i wanted (lightscribe, which i never actually used once), because i figured they were all the same. turns out that isn't the case. so if you're one of those nutters who uses discs in your computer in 2023, i highly recommend getting a drive of good quality. idk if any of the newer ones qualify, it seems to me they've been cost-reduced to shit.

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devtesla wrote on December 14, 2023 at 1:30 AM (edited on December 14, 2023 at 1:32 AM)

Anything to do with physical media tends to get so much worse over time, it's really depressing. Like there's something of a resurgence of records and cassettes and you can't get a decent one of either of those, they just stopped making them. So yeah probably happening with disks too, at least ones for computers

emma OP wrote on December 14, 2023 at 1:38 AM (edited on December 14, 2023 at 1:48 AM)

Anything to do with physical media tends to get so much worse over time, it's really depressing

I saw people on twitter discussing whether they'd get the physical release of gta vi or not, as if the game's actually gonna be on the disc lol

Anyway I should have mentioned my two drives are from around the same time period. So although I briefly mention how bad stuff has become, the topic is really the quality of a product they put their name on vs that of one they were too embarrassed to put their name on

neku wrote on December 14, 2023 at 4:27 AM

what sort of discs are you using regularly in your pc in 2023?

emma OP wrote on December 14, 2023 at 7:28 AM

Films and tv shows on dvd.

I could do blu-ray now, i guess, but i've yet to see shelves full of them in charity shops, where i can get dvds for cheap. Also i have no idea if they'll play in vlc without any fuss.

Dogmantra wrote on December 14, 2023 at 12:08 PM

I still have the dvd drive that came in my first "my own" rather than the family's PC when I was 13. I don't use discs enough to upgrade but it saved my life when I had to reinstall windows 7 for reasons since it was the only way to get data onto the computer other than physically removing a hard drive that was recognised by the OS without drivers. DVDs are good. I like them a lot.

winter wrote on December 14, 2023 at 6:37 PM

hd hdd

flabberghaster wrote on December 15, 2023 at 2:24 AM

I haven't had any physical media in years; I just have a file server I put my media on.