How to Burn Hi Def Movies with a Blu-Ray Burner

With the right software, it’s quite simple to use a Blu-ray burner to burn high definition DVDs. You can also burn backup discs for your existing Blu-ray DVDs which is always advisable in case you accidentally damage the originals. This also saves you the cost of replacement.

Step 1 - Understanding Blu-ray

Blu-ray is the next generation of DVD. It’s ideal for storing high definition video and it’s also highly compatible with the PS3 gaming console. By using a shorter wavelength than normal DVDs, Blu-ray discs allow for up to 6 times more storage on a single disc. Although the first Blu-ray DVD appeared in 2003, it wasn’t until 2006 that Blu-ray really became commercially viable.

At first, it received plenty of competition from HD DVD, but by 2008 Blu-ray had emerged victorious thanks in part to the fact that Sony decided to make all its PS3 games consoles capable of playing Blu-ray discs while functioning as DVD players.

Although standard DVDs will function on Blu-ray players, Blu-ray discs need a special player. Initially very expensive, these have come down rapidly in price in recent times.

Step 2 - Finding a Blu-ray Burner

To burn high definition movies, you need the right Blu-ray burner. This is software you buy for your computer and use to transfer regular DVDs into Blu-ray format. You can find these in a store selling computer equipment or by looking online. Many options are available, either on disc or to download.

The best burners will be able to burn to all the different world TV standards and also to 5.1 surround sound. They should be able to create high definition Blu-ray discs from all video formats and several different resolutions, and also burn onto Blu-ray discs including the single layer 25GB discs and the dual-layer 50GB discs.

Step 3 - Burning Your Disc

In order to burn a disc you’ll need to have a DVD burner, either in your computer or as an external device. you'll also need the software installed on your computer, a BD-R or BD-RE disc and the content you want to burn stored on your hard drive. Different software works in different ways so you might need to consult the instructions in order to make it work properly.

In most instances, once you open the software and insert a disc into your computer’s DVD burner it should read the disc. You should be able to drag and drop the folder containing the item you want to burn into the software, which will then read it to check whether it can fit on the blank disc.

From there, it should just require a single click to start the burn. Before it begins, however, you might be asked a series of questions, depending on the software you use, such as whether the disc needs the UDF file system (Blu-ray discs do) and a confirmation of the volume label.

After that, the burner will ask you to verify the settings. Once you click “OK” the burn will begin. Expect the burn to take around 45 minutes depending on the amount of information on the file. Once it’s complete, you can check everything is there by opening the file.