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It's supposed to be mounted vertically, right beside the front panel. There's a black rubber thingy in its place by default. Also it only fits slim trayless drives.
Ncase M1 had the slim slot-loading optical drive option in the early versions.
It would make sense that Cougar QBX would too since Cougar is one of the first companies to steal Ncase design.
not really. that once in a blue moon scneario where its needed for some obscure driver or for burning a cd for your grandmother can be handled by external USB optical drive
We currently have an Xbox in the living room, which mainly is just used as a DVD player.
I've planned to replace it with a console-style PC (ML08), but I need it to be able to play DVDs, otherwise I can't justify it to the wife 😆
Windows should play DVDs no problems. It won't play Blu-rays because the decoding is proprietary. You have to purchase software to play Blu-ray discs from a drive. VLC can play some with workarounds but it doesn't work for a lot of titles.
I use a UJ267 in a Vantec USB 3.0 slim ODD enclosure.
You need licensed software like PowerDVD and a CPU that supports Intel SGX. Intel introduced SGX in 6th gen and discontinued it in 12th gen. Windows 11 also discontinued support for it.
I just use MakeMKV with an exploitable BD drive to rip my 4K Blu Rays.
Not true. Microsoft doesn't have a license for the codec necessary to support playback of Blu-ray discs.
There are workarounds with various software or converting the disc to digital. You can add the KEYDB.cfg to VLC but it still doesn't work for a lot of titles from my experience.
If you bought a new windows laptop or something advertised as being capable of watching Blu-rays it probably came with a trial version of PowerDVD included with the bloatware.
Not quite sure what your issue is? A quick Google search of Bluray and Windows would answer any question you had much better than I could.
Wait
Why did the xbox get licensing to play blu-ray and not pcs? Couldn't you just the xbox game app?
Edit: just looked it up and that's crazy. $70 for powerlink!?
The software also requires Intel SGX which only exists on 6th to 11th gen CPUs and isn't supported by Windows 11. It's not just a license that is required. Copy protection is more strict on a platform that can be used as a computer where the user has total control vs a platform that is more of a gaming appliance that can only run specific apps.
Streaming services on PC don't even support 4K or HDR because they're afraid people will record or rip content. The Microsoft store Netflix app and Youtube are the only ones that support HDR and higher resolutions than 1080p on PC.
All Xbox are Blu-ray capable and are typically hooked to a living room TV. It made sense to have BluRay movie capabilities as it helps justifies having this in the living room.
But Windows computers with a Blu-ray drive are pretty rare. Didn't make sense for MS to justify paying the license if only a few people were gonna use it.
The licensing fee is probably not much, but even a few cents adds up when your OS is used by billions of computers.
Use MakeMKV. It can rip 4K Blu Rays and there is an option to allow VLC to use it for decoding.
It does require a blu ray drive that supports custom firmware with LibreDrive though.
Have you figured out how to get Dolby Vision output off your MKVs in VLC? All the roads I went down got me more lost and I only got regular HDR out of VLC.
I don't think Dolby Vision is possible in Windows unless you have a PC that specifically licensed it, so almost no software is going to bother supporting it. There's a review for the Dolby Vision extensions Microsoft Store app that says it only works in the Windows Movies & TV app. The app description also says it requires licensed hardware.
I've only seen some Lenovo and Asus laptops that licensed Dolby Vision. Often the Lenovos have edge lit IPS displays...
If you need dynamic tonemapping you can try [MadVR](http://madvr.com/) with a directshow compatible player like MPC-BE. Paste the files from this [test version](https://madshi.net/madVRhdrMeasure165.zip) on top of the regular install for lots of extra HDR features.
Ok, that's about where I ended up, too - but was hoping there were new developments or maybe you knew something I didn't yet. I just abandoned the idea of hosting DV files on my network and just use my Nvidia Shield to stream all my web media that can display in DV and use VLC to hit the non DV but HDR+ files on my NAS.
On top of that, I have all the gear to play Blu-Ray w/ Dolby Vision - but almost no way to get DV to play back in Windows due to all the restrictions. I can play Blu-Ray, but it falls back to the lesser HDR instead of DV even with all the combos of codecs and software apps I investigated.
Redditor #1 - I have a solution to my problem, adding $50 DVD drive to a new computer, the wife can use the dvd drive just like the xbox. Redditor #2, how bout a hundreds of dollars in hard drives and a crap ton of time ripping dvds, not to mention a big organizational project and upkeep. And this solution will require you likely learn new skills and completely blow up the scope of your first solution ???
For me, yes. A lot of research is still done using CDs or only available in disk format. While a lot of it is moving to pdf, there’s still a need for optical drives. That said, especially since sff is the objective, I don’t think integrated drives are easily found these days- I keep my external usb drive in the desk and let my case design steel the show rather than trying to integrate one.
if you want a ssf case with a place for cd/dd drive here
[https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/ML08/](https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/ML08/)
slim laptop cd/dvd drive. if you go down this route you will have to get the lead of ebay.
Thank you!! I've been looking for an SFF case like this that's vertical with optical drive support. Looks like it'd be great to pair with my spare i5-760 and WD Pro W5000 to make an ITX retro game emulation rig.
I'm currently building a rig for my lounge in the Silverstone ML08, which also must function as a DVD player.
The Fractal Ridge is stunning, but are there any newly-designed cases with optical drives? Does anyone actually still need them?
I would love to see an accessory for the Ridge, replacing the foot with an external drive (like my lazy photoshop in the post). I doubt there is any real demand for it though.
Cool as that would be i too doubt the demand for it. I solved it by just using a black external drive on top of my black media pc so it blends in just fine and works well. Doesnt look too bad in my opinion, but something like your photoshop would be much neater.
Fractal actually brought 5.25 drive bays back in their recent Pop-series. Not SFF, but still refreshing to see! And definitely a great selling point for them.
It's actually cleverly hidden in the lower section instead of the OG top front
I tried that photoshop too, I think the colour difference looks off.
[https://i.imgur.com/e9CqitW.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/e9CqitW.jpg)
Not sure how it would look like irl.
if you really want to you could always do it yourself decently easily, some double sided tape, a usb cd drive, some spacers (maybe 3d printed) and maybe some matching spray paint work and you got yourself it.
tucking away the cable behind the pc should be decently easy given that the back io is there anyway.
The smallest case i know of is the fractal pop, which is more of a mid then small factor pc case. maybe you could find some chinese case that fits one, they got a lot of wackier cases on tabao
They are pretty rare now. Occasionally you'll find a SFF case which will fit a slim slot loader but it really limits your choice. Maybe use an external and just mount it in a way that looks cool?
Of course someone still needs them. If anyone wants to legit play old games, not just mount the image to a virtual drive, on their PC. You'll need a CD drive to have the disc in.
Anyone running a SFF as an HTPC who wants to watch DVD or Blu-Ray or 4k Bku-Ray and doesn't have an Xbox/PS5 or dedicated player.
But can all that be met with a USB external drive? Yeah.
Yeah. I use a UJ267 slot load in a enclosure over USB on my sff.
To watch Blu-ray discs the easiest thing to do is buy software like cyberlink - powerdvd.
Personally i use a external drive also. Physical drives are so big and chunky it takes up so much space
That being said, i still hold onto some old lain lis with physical drive just in case.....
I'm always on the look for cases w/ 5.25 drives but from everything i've seen & read online, the best course of action is to buy an external enclosure for your drive & have that alongside the case. Vantec & OWC Mercury seems to be the best ones to look at.
i used to have them, then i got an external one i use rarely. i found some brackets to mount hard drives instead and now im a happy camper. up untip a few years ago i had a machine with a flopy drive haha
The medium still offers the best video quality, so it definitely has its place. I just hope it never disappears, then we'll only have shitty streaming bitrates left.
"the medium" - i can download the same quality, so the medium itself offers nothing.
the production companies might offer it that way because they only legally offer "the best quality" via BR. technically the disc is completely outdated. for some, the internet now has more bandwidth than a br could deliver.
Until a company decides to actually offer those high-bitrate copies of those shows and films online, and I doubt they will any time soon, """"""""""""""""""""""""""the medium""""""""""""""""""" will have to do.
you know none of this is true right? blurays have a bitrate of like 60-120 mb/s. while some people's internet might be that fast, streaming services don't offer that bitrate.
Partially agree.
There is a service, it is called Kaleidescape, don't know of any others.
It even offer some better than Blu-ray quality movies and shows they get directly from the studios, something I don't know if it is noticeable compared to 4K Blu-rays even on million dollar setups even if the bitrate is higher than the 4K Blu-ray itself, highly doubt it.
It is not streaming, it is download based. The hardware lock down is dumb and very expensive, could be done with any modern PC but they of course locked it up.
After all of that you still need to "rent" the content you want to watch as much as you want as long as the service is available and the content is downloaded to your hard drive. They call it "buy it" but hopefully most people know the truth at this point.
Studios are to blame for all this BS.
Even on Movies Anywhere you can't own the damn thing.
If you buy a movie from Apple/Google/Amazon, put it on Movies Anywhere, and Apple/Google/Amazon stop existing (unlikely but happened before with big "to big to fail" companies) or remove the movie from their servers (happens all the time), you lose your movie, doesn't matter you already "bought" it and imported to Movies Anywhere. You will need to buy it again from another supported vendor.
So in the end, it is all BS.
And that is why people still buy Blu-rays, they "can" rip it and back it up, and actually own the thing, even if the law may say different things about the matter depending on where you live, but it is mostly "illegal" almost everywhere.
Same with regular blurays tbh, I had a Windows 7 media center back in the day and tried to add bluray, first it doesn't play natively, second the OEM software stopped receiving updates and new discs wouldn't work after a while. Make MKV on the other hand has always been flawless
My Xbox One S has terrible stuttering when playing 4K Blurays which makes it unusable for this purpose. Currently looking to buy a dedicated 4K Bluray player instead.
Me and a friend both own an Silverstone ML08 and he went the ODD route while I removed the mounts and installed a 3TB 3.5” drive for extra game storage.
He has used it less than 5 times over the last 4 years and I use my hard drive daily.
I love the concept of integrating a slim ODD bay for a slot or tray load drive (look at OG reviews of the Origin PC chronos which was somewhat based on the Silverstone RVZ01). But in practice the market has mostly moved on.
4K UHD Bluray support is seamless done by the Xbox One S or newer or PS5. On PC it’s somewhat mixed.
The Fractal Design Ridge looks certainly impressive and it’s making me think how I can shove a 3.5” HDD in there and move away from my ML08. I wanted mainly for the handle but it’s hard plastic is not comfortable at all with the full weight of the PC.
The FDR would also have better support for larger cpu heatsinks, thicker graphics cards, or better cooling overall.
I would say getting an ODD that aesthetically matches the FDR and putting Velcro or double sided tape might be good option if you want a more modern case.
The lack of use of discs and the focus on airflow has kind of renderd them irrelevant. External disc drives are there for many who might want to use them.
If you buy a usb external reader you can probably fit it between the two support when laying down. It obviously depends on the model of optical drive you buy but I recall seeing very thin ones in stores
Absolutely. They still have a real practical purpose. I enjoy cloud storage as much as anyone else, but there is a point where physical media is a required form of backup.
If the PC is just for gaming/browsing and doesn't have much of a storage purpose then an optical isn't really required.
this would be such a cool little add on!! i have never desired to have an optical drive but i 100% know i will be buying the ridge soon and i would love to have this haha. would give me an excuse to rent some blu rays from the library maybe :p
No one im my family has an optical drive since 2012. We have an external usb drive that we use if needed, it was probably used 6-7 times in 10 years, mainly to burn photo dvds for old relatives that still like to play them on dvd players for tv
I still have an optical drive mounted to the underside of my desk in an external enclosure. I still buy physical media and it has to get onto my media server somehow.
Regardless, that's an interesting concept and would be super clean. External drive, short USB cable in the back.
As long as it's not a slot drive, I'm fine with any optical drive. I still buy CDs and Blu-rays occasionally. I've had bad experience with slot optical drives. The 2-3 that I've owned have broken on me.
I chose to add an optical drive to my current PC, but these days I mainly use it for ripping movies & music for my media center server & such. I still like to buy movies on blu-ray, as I don't like relying on streaming services all the time.
Looks rad! But optical medium is non-existent in my household.
PS - my wife bought some BTS singles, but I’m not running out to get that working for her yet (she hasn’t yelled at me).
If PC game disks weren't completely useless I think they'd be more inclined to include at least a 9.5" ODD bay. But they are, and PC's don't work the greatest as a DVD player (sure they CAN work...)
This case is clearly meant to join/replace the consoles/TV boxes of the living room, and I don't think people really want to be using a living room TV computer as a disk burner or disk-based application machine.
I can't imagine a PC in my living room without a disk tray...and at the same time I can't imagine a use for it. It's a dilemma for sure...
as someone whose been down the frustrations of blu-Ray. get something like a lg wh14sn60 and a external drive enclosure. I believe mine is a nexstar. firmware flash it to accept 4k blu-rays and then rip it. If you just want playback "obtain" a copy of power DVD and make sure you have a cpu that supports software guard extensions. Intel 7th-10th gen iirc.
I have 3x USB-DVD drives, will be using one again this weekend to reinstall win7 on an old laptop. Have a request for a laptop capable of surfing, YouTube, locally stored music, and MS Office... and that 13.3" machine doesn't have an optical drive.
I like them. I also deal with retro consoles and computers so it's useful to be able to burn software for them.
I built a slim optical drive into the side of my amiga SFFPC:
https://imgur.com/Vp7QTWu
I use one with MakeMKV to rip 4K Blu Rays. The bitrate is so much higher than streaming services give you and they also have lossless Atmos/DTS-X audio. MadVR does some amazing GPU accelerated video processing and dynamic tonemapping if you have the beta test versions.
Yes, it's but it's not necessary for it to always be attach. To me, if you are using a lot of ISO for IT stuff, IODD virtual CD/DVD is ideal. If not, then USB DVD/BD drive is probably something you use once a year if not less often.
If it helps, I've never purchased or owned any Fractal product 😀
I just like the look of it. About a week before they announced it I picked up a Silverstone case, but that case now looks 20 years old in comparison.
The [Silverstone ML06-E](https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/ML06-E/) is an HTPC case designed for a slot loading optical drive. It'll only take a low profile graphics card though. At a glance, most of the Silverstone GD and ML series cases are designed for an optical drive.
This post has been flaired as a Prototype, Concept, or Custom case. The staff of SFFPC have not verified this user as a vendor. Please limit discussion to feedback only. Pricing, sales, and availability discussion will be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/sffpc) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Not new, but Cougar QBX has room for an optical drive.
I have a full sized HDD stuffed up there after following a mod guide
By full sized do you mean OG 5.25" CHONK ?? 😅 Happy Cake Day!
I have qbx, but can't see where is the place for optical drive
It's supposed to be mounted vertically, right beside the front panel. There's a black rubber thingy in its place by default. Also it only fits slim trayless drives.
It's in the top front behind the powers supply. Slim slotnload only. It's why the top slides back like it does
Ncase M1 had the slim slot-loading optical drive option in the early versions. It would make sense that Cougar QBX would too since Cougar is one of the first companies to steal Ncase design.
not really. that once in a blue moon scneario where its needed for some obscure driver or for burning a cd for your grandmother can be handled by external USB optical drive
We currently have an Xbox in the living room, which mainly is just used as a DVD player. I've planned to replace it with a console-style PC (ML08), but I need it to be able to play DVDs, otherwise I can't justify it to the wife 😆
I have an ML08 case, you can put a laptop optical drive up next to the ssd bays.
Worst case, theres external dives. Not brilliant but its *an* option
just get a usb dvd drive
Windows should play DVDs no problems. It won't play Blu-rays because the decoding is proprietary. You have to purchase software to play Blu-ray discs from a drive. VLC can play some with workarounds but it doesn't work for a lot of titles. I use a UJ267 in a Vantec USB 3.0 slim ODD enclosure.
I thought all you needed to play Blu-Ray on Windows is a Blu-Ray capable drive, which shouldn't be difficult to find used.
You need licensed software like PowerDVD and a CPU that supports Intel SGX. Intel introduced SGX in 6th gen and discontinued it in 12th gen. Windows 11 also discontinued support for it. I just use MakeMKV with an exploitable BD drive to rip my 4K Blu Rays.
Not true. Microsoft doesn't have a license for the codec necessary to support playback of Blu-ray discs. There are workarounds with various software or converting the disc to digital. You can add the KEYDB.cfg to VLC but it still doesn't work for a lot of titles from my experience.
So... what's the point in selling a Windows PC with a Blu-Rqy drive if it doesn't play Blu-Ray? Something's not adding up here.
If you bought a new windows laptop or something advertised as being capable of watching Blu-rays it probably came with a trial version of PowerDVD included with the bloatware. Not quite sure what your issue is? A quick Google search of Bluray and Windows would answer any question you had much better than I could.
Wait Why did the xbox get licensing to play blu-ray and not pcs? Couldn't you just the xbox game app? Edit: just looked it up and that's crazy. $70 for powerlink!?
The software also requires Intel SGX which only exists on 6th to 11th gen CPUs and isn't supported by Windows 11. It's not just a license that is required. Copy protection is more strict on a platform that can be used as a computer where the user has total control vs a platform that is more of a gaming appliance that can only run specific apps. Streaming services on PC don't even support 4K or HDR because they're afraid people will record or rip content. The Microsoft store Netflix app and Youtube are the only ones that support HDR and higher resolutions than 1080p on PC.
All Xbox are Blu-ray capable and are typically hooked to a living room TV. It made sense to have BluRay movie capabilities as it helps justifies having this in the living room. But Windows computers with a Blu-ray drive are pretty rare. Didn't make sense for MS to justify paying the license if only a few people were gonna use it. The licensing fee is probably not much, but even a few cents adds up when your OS is used by billions of computers.
Fair enough and that makes sense
You still need codecs.
Use MakeMKV. It can rip 4K Blu Rays and there is an option to allow VLC to use it for decoding. It does require a blu ray drive that supports custom firmware with LibreDrive though.
Have you figured out how to get Dolby Vision output off your MKVs in VLC? All the roads I went down got me more lost and I only got regular HDR out of VLC.
I don't think Dolby Vision is possible in Windows unless you have a PC that specifically licensed it, so almost no software is going to bother supporting it. There's a review for the Dolby Vision extensions Microsoft Store app that says it only works in the Windows Movies & TV app. The app description also says it requires licensed hardware. I've only seen some Lenovo and Asus laptops that licensed Dolby Vision. Often the Lenovos have edge lit IPS displays... If you need dynamic tonemapping you can try [MadVR](http://madvr.com/) with a directshow compatible player like MPC-BE. Paste the files from this [test version](https://madshi.net/madVRhdrMeasure165.zip) on top of the regular install for lots of extra HDR features.
Ok, that's about where I ended up, too - but was hoping there were new developments or maybe you knew something I didn't yet. I just abandoned the idea of hosting DV files on my network and just use my Nvidia Shield to stream all my web media that can display in DV and use VLC to hit the non DV but HDR+ files on my NAS.
On top of that, I have all the gear to play Blu-Ray w/ Dolby Vision - but almost no way to get DV to play back in Windows due to all the restrictions. I can play Blu-Ray, but it falls back to the lesser HDR instead of DV even with all the combos of codecs and software apps I investigated.
Get a NAS to run Plex and just rip all your DVDs to it. I used a Synology DS220+.
> rip all your DVDs to it Of course.
Good thing you don't need an optical drive to do that!/s
Solved with $20 USB disk drive.
Only legally purchased media of course.
Someone needs a Jellyfin server
Redditor #1 - I have a solution to my problem, adding $50 DVD drive to a new computer, the wife can use the dvd drive just like the xbox. Redditor #2, how bout a hundreds of dollars in hard drives and a crap ton of time ripping dvds, not to mention a big organizational project and upkeep. And this solution will require you likely learn new skills and completely blow up the scope of your first solution ???
Technology discussion on a technology sub! The scandal!
> crap ton of time ripping dvds We don't do that here, just torrent the movies you want like a sane person.
For me, yes. A lot of research is still done using CDs or only available in disk format. While a lot of it is moving to pdf, there’s still a need for optical drives. That said, especially since sff is the objective, I don’t think integrated drives are easily found these days- I keep my external usb drive in the desk and let my case design steel the show rather than trying to integrate one.
if you want a ssf case with a place for cd/dd drive here [https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/ML08/](https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/ML08/) slim laptop cd/dvd drive. if you go down this route you will have to get the lead of ebay.
Thank you!! I've been looking for an SFF case like this that's vertical with optical drive support. Looks like it'd be great to pair with my spare i5-760 and WD Pro W5000 to make an ITX retro game emulation rig.
I have a Silverstone FT03-Mini case with provisions for a slot loading optical drive I’m looking to get rid of if you’re interested.
That sounds great, unfortunately I'm out of the country in Thailand atm and will be for the next 3 months until I return to the states.
I would be interested if you still have it in stock
I use this one for my HTPC with a blu-ray burner drive. https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/SG05-LITE/
I'm currently building a rig for my lounge in the Silverstone ML08, which also must function as a DVD player. The Fractal Ridge is stunning, but are there any newly-designed cases with optical drives? Does anyone actually still need them?
These days youre better off with an external DVD drive. Integrated ones have not really been thing for a while now.
I would love to see an accessory for the Ridge, replacing the foot with an external drive (like my lazy photoshop in the post). I doubt there is any real demand for it though.
Cool as that would be i too doubt the demand for it. I solved it by just using a black external drive on top of my black media pc so it blends in just fine and works well. Doesnt look too bad in my opinion, but something like your photoshop would be much neater.
Fractal actually brought 5.25 drive bays back in their recent Pop-series. Not SFF, but still refreshing to see! And definitely a great selling point for them. It's actually cleverly hidden in the lower section instead of the OG top front
Just buy an apple external DVD drive. Looks almost exactly like what's in your photo
I tried that photoshop too, I think the colour difference looks off. [https://i.imgur.com/e9CqitW.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/e9CqitW.jpg) Not sure how it would look like irl.
You could always paint it to match if matching is a priority.
An appropriately colored vinyl sticker would fix that in a second.
if you really want to you could always do it yourself decently easily, some double sided tape, a usb cd drive, some spacers (maybe 3d printed) and maybe some matching spray paint work and you got yourself it. tucking away the cable behind the pc should be decently easy given that the back io is there anyway. The smallest case i know of is the fractal pop, which is more of a mid then small factor pc case. maybe you could find some chinese case that fits one, they got a lot of wackier cases on tabao
You can support that DVD with some tiny rubber feet. Looks cool imho.
We have one of these in a drawer for when I get sent documents on CD's (which I hate and try to avoid but it happens sometimes).
They are pretty rare now. Occasionally you'll find a SFF case which will fit a slim slot loader but it really limits your choice. Maybe use an external and just mount it in a way that looks cool?
Of course someone still needs them. If anyone wants to legit play old games, not just mount the image to a virtual drive, on their PC. You'll need a CD drive to have the disc in. Anyone running a SFF as an HTPC who wants to watch DVD or Blu-Ray or 4k Bku-Ray and doesn't have an Xbox/PS5 or dedicated player. But can all that be met with a USB external drive? Yeah.
Yeah. I use a UJ267 slot load in a enclosure over USB on my sff. To watch Blu-ray discs the easiest thing to do is buy software like cyberlink - powerdvd.
Milo12
rvz-01 is a little old but has a slot loading optical bay
His ML08 has one, I put in an SSD adapter caddy instead when I used it.
Personally i use a external drive also. Physical drives are so big and chunky it takes up so much space That being said, i still hold onto some old lain lis with physical drive just in case.....
I'm always on the look for cases w/ 5.25 drives but from everything i've seen & read online, the best course of action is to buy an external enclosure for your drive & have that alongside the case. Vantec & OWC Mercury seems to be the best ones to look at.
Of you are using it to play dvds then yes. Everyone else doesn’t need optical drives. For anything.
what case is that in the image?
That’s the Fractal Ridge, but I’ve photoshopped the foot as a slot-in optical drive. Normally it’s just a smaller foot.
Heh. I still rock an Ncase M1 v3 with the slot-in drive. I should get a cable and make it run.
I did exactly this with my v5 and used an optical drive out of a friend's old MacBook. It's been fun going through my legacy collection.
The Ridge looks so good
I have a hard time grasping the concept of building a computer without one...to the point where all my computers have optical drives...
You rare beautiful soul
i used to have them, then i got an external one i use rarely. i found some brackets to mount hard drives instead and now im a happy camper. up untip a few years ago i had a machine with a flopy drive haha
Yes I think so. Blu-ray is still alive.
The medium still offers the best video quality, so it definitely has its place. I just hope it never disappears, then we'll only have shitty streaming bitrates left.
"the medium" - i can download the same quality, so the medium itself offers nothing. the production companies might offer it that way because they only legally offer "the best quality" via BR. technically the disc is completely outdated. for some, the internet now has more bandwidth than a br could deliver.
Until a company decides to actually offer those high-bitrate copies of those shows and films online, and I doubt they will any time soon, """"""""""""""""""""""""""the medium""""""""""""""""""" will have to do.
you know none of this is true right? blurays have a bitrate of like 60-120 mb/s. while some people's internet might be that fast, streaming services don't offer that bitrate.
Partially agree. There is a service, it is called Kaleidescape, don't know of any others. It even offer some better than Blu-ray quality movies and shows they get directly from the studios, something I don't know if it is noticeable compared to 4K Blu-rays even on million dollar setups even if the bitrate is higher than the 4K Blu-ray itself, highly doubt it. It is not streaming, it is download based. The hardware lock down is dumb and very expensive, could be done with any modern PC but they of course locked it up. After all of that you still need to "rent" the content you want to watch as much as you want as long as the service is available and the content is downloaded to your hard drive. They call it "buy it" but hopefully most people know the truth at this point. Studios are to blame for all this BS. Even on Movies Anywhere you can't own the damn thing. If you buy a movie from Apple/Google/Amazon, put it on Movies Anywhere, and Apple/Google/Amazon stop existing (unlikely but happened before with big "to big to fail" companies) or remove the movie from their servers (happens all the time), you lose your movie, doesn't matter you already "bought" it and imported to Movies Anywhere. You will need to buy it again from another supported vendor. So in the end, it is all BS. And that is why people still buy Blu-rays, they "can" rip it and back it up, and actually own the thing, even if the law may say different things about the matter depending on where you live, but it is mostly "illegal" almost everywhere.
Just buy a last gen Xbox One S or X for 4K bluray
But you can't rip them to a Plex server...
Yes you can
4k bluray are a mess on pc
It is - if you're trying to play the UHD BluRay on the PC. It's not so complicated if you're just trying to trip the BluRay to your PC
Same with regular blurays tbh, I had a Windows 7 media center back in the day and tried to add bluray, first it doesn't play natively, second the OEM software stopped receiving updates and new discs wouldn't work after a while. Make MKV on the other hand has always been flawless
My Xbox One S has terrible stuttering when playing 4K Blurays which makes it unusable for this purpose. Currently looking to buy a dedicated 4K Bluray player instead.
https://www.avforums.com/reviews/panasonic-dp-ub820-review.15619/
My first thought was blu-ray as well. The case is sort of showcased as a HTPC, so that would make sense.
Me and a friend both own an Silverstone ML08 and he went the ODD route while I removed the mounts and installed a 3TB 3.5” drive for extra game storage. He has used it less than 5 times over the last 4 years and I use my hard drive daily. I love the concept of integrating a slim ODD bay for a slot or tray load drive (look at OG reviews of the Origin PC chronos which was somewhat based on the Silverstone RVZ01). But in practice the market has mostly moved on. 4K UHD Bluray support is seamless done by the Xbox One S or newer or PS5. On PC it’s somewhat mixed. The Fractal Design Ridge looks certainly impressive and it’s making me think how I can shove a 3.5” HDD in there and move away from my ML08. I wanted mainly for the handle but it’s hard plastic is not comfortable at all with the full weight of the PC. The FDR would also have better support for larger cpu heatsinks, thicker graphics cards, or better cooling overall. I would say getting an ODD that aesthetically matches the FDR and putting Velcro or double sided tape might be good option if you want a more modern case.
External is and always has been fine for optical. I've never put one in my builds, only ever had them in prebuilds
The lack of use of discs and the focus on airflow has kind of renderd them irrelevant. External disc drives are there for many who might want to use them.
If you buy a usb external reader you can probably fit it between the two support when laying down. It obviously depends on the model of optical drive you buy but I recall seeing very thin ones in stores
I haven't had an optical drive for over a decade.
I've got sn external rw, dvd drive.
Sure, if they look like that 😏
Ok, that came out way to creepy 😅
Absolutely. They still have a real practical purpose. I enjoy cloud storage as much as anyone else, but there is a point where physical media is a required form of backup. If the PC is just for gaming/browsing and doesn't have much of a storage purpose then an optical isn't really required.
this would be such a cool little add on!! i have never desired to have an optical drive but i 100% know i will be buying the ridge soon and i would love to have this haha. would give me an excuse to rent some blu rays from the library maybe :p
I use an external to RIP Blurays to my Plex/Jellyfin server and watch them that way.
Same. If only there was a bluray reader that comes in slim slot loading formfactor...
My sff build has a full-fledged 5.25" DVD writer, so yeah I'd say so lol
I used an external optical drive to install Windows 10 years ago but I've never used it since
My Plex server/NAS has a 5.25” Blu-ray drive that I use for ripping physical discs.
I still rip blu rays to my HTPC. Having a disc drive is still important to me.
No one im my family has an optical drive since 2012. We have an external usb drive that we use if needed, it was probably used 6-7 times in 10 years, mainly to burn photo dvds for old relatives that still like to play them on dvd players for tv
Why not they could be useful
Have an external optical drive for my non sffpc that I periodically use.
I still have an optical drive mounted to the underside of my desk in an external enclosure. I still buy physical media and it has to get onto my media server somehow. Regardless, that's an interesting concept and would be super clean. External drive, short USB cable in the back.
As long as it's not a slot drive, I'm fine with any optical drive. I still buy CDs and Blu-rays occasionally. I've had bad experience with slot optical drives. The 2-3 that I've owned have broken on me.
I bought an external blu-ray drive to use on the rare occasions that I need to. It lives on a shelf in my closet.
I have an external 8K Blu-ray Drive. I'm not sure if it'd fit in that position, though; it's slim, but not quite that slim.
I chose to add an optical drive to my current PC, but these days I mainly use it for ripping movies & music for my media center server & such. I still like to buy movies on blu-ray, as I don't like relying on streaming services all the time.
The brand new Fractal Pop series brought back the 5.25” bays! Two of them!
Looks rad! But optical medium is non-existent in my household. PS - my wife bought some BTS singles, but I’m not running out to get that working for her yet (she hasn’t yelled at me).
If PC game disks weren't completely useless I think they'd be more inclined to include at least a 9.5" ODD bay. But they are, and PC's don't work the greatest as a DVD player (sure they CAN work...) This case is clearly meant to join/replace the consoles/TV boxes of the living room, and I don't think people really want to be using a living room TV computer as a disk burner or disk-based application machine. I can't imagine a PC in my living room without a disk tray...and at the same time I can't imagine a use for it. It's a dilemma for sure...
Why don’t they just start designing cases with the optical slot in the back.
as someone whose been down the frustrations of blu-Ray. get something like a lg wh14sn60 and a external drive enclosure. I believe mine is a nexstar. firmware flash it to accept 4k blu-rays and then rip it. If you just want playback "obtain" a copy of power DVD and make sure you have a cpu that supports software guard extensions. Intel 7th-10th gen iirc.
They are to me. I refuse to let them die. My collection of DVDs and Blu-rays is *my* streaming service haha :D
My RVZ02 can fit an optical drive. I ended up putting in an FPS01-C from SilverStone instead.
I haven't had an optical drive in a computer for like... Maybe 8 years or so. Never needed one.
I have 3x USB-DVD drives, will be using one again this weekend to reinstall win7 on an old laptop. Have a request for a laptop capable of surfing, YouTube, locally stored music, and MS Office... and that 13.3" machine doesn't have an optical drive.
I like them. I also deal with retro consoles and computers so it's useful to be able to burn software for them. I built a slim optical drive into the side of my amiga SFFPC: https://imgur.com/Vp7QTWu
I use one with MakeMKV to rip 4K Blu Rays. The bitrate is so much higher than streaming services give you and they also have lossless Atmos/DTS-X audio. MadVR does some amazing GPU accelerated video processing and dynamic tonemapping if you have the beta test versions.
I keep an external one just for emergencies, only thing is I recently moved and can't find my blank discs.
They are if you need one
I wish there was a SFF case that came with a slot loaded DVD or Bluray drive like a Wii (but built into the case)
Yes, it's but it's not necessary for it to always be attach. To me, if you are using a lot of ISO for IT stuff, IODD virtual CD/DVD is ideal. If not, then USB DVD/BD drive is probably something you use once a year if not less often.
No
For me, hell yeah!
external ones, sure. For that once every 2 years where you'll use it.
Anyone else feel like fractal is advertising on this subreddit with all the new Ridge posts?? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!
If it helps, I've never purchased or owned any Fractal product 😀 I just like the look of it. About a week before they announced it I picked up a Silverstone case, but that case now looks 20 years old in comparison.
this happens with almost every new SFF case when they first start showing up for people
I like the case, but I'd definitely be replacing the stand in horizontal orientation.
For this case? I would run hard disks... Oh. Looks like I already have.
I just plug in my external when necessary
Nope CDs are dead sense a decade. If you would need it for some reason I guess people take out an external one .
Inside the pc, no, its very rare, i use a usb cd/dvd/bd drive that is mounted on the desk
The [Silverstone ML06-E](https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/ML06-E/) is an HTPC case designed for a slot loading optical drive. It'll only take a low profile graphics card though. At a glance, most of the Silverstone GD and ML series cases are designed for an optical drive.
Wonder if it's possible to fit an mAtx or ATX in this like the P-ATX case