Are there any Blu-Ray changers (5-disc or Mega)? - Page 2

I agree. OTOH, Sony showed a 400disc BR player and that serves(!) a different purpose as it can hold a significant collection for immediate access.

I happen to prefer the 5 disc because many of my DVD's are 2 disc sets. The 5 disc is ideal for me. I don't need one that stores 400 because I like to keep them in their cases. I have no plans on replacing all of my DVD's (100's of 'em) with Blu-Ray, so I'd like to keep using them and to use a 1 disc changer is just plain inconvenient.

Some people seem to imply that someone who likes a multi-disc is just lazy and doesn't want to get off their ass...let's see YOU go without the use of your remote for a while & see how quickly you go running back to it!

just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that everyone isn't out to get you... i really doubt that they are sitting around in the boardroom saying "let's screw jefzilla"...


wholly flawed analogy...

I'm not paranoid...I'm realistic. To imply that I think they're trying to screw 'me' is pathetic. If you don't think they're a bit greedy by trying to squeeze out as much cash from us (not just me) as possible, you're being naive.


Not a flawed analogy at all. The whole idea of a remote control is so we don't have to 'get off our ass' & continuously press buttons on our DVD/Blu-Ray players. The same idea goes for not having to get up and change a disc. It about convenience, plain & simple.

re-read your first post as if you weren't the person who wrote it, and you'll see how i came to that conclusion... your post can be summed up as this, "i'm not getting what I want, thus it's corporate greed at work"...

and (being careful, because i don't want to open up a larger philosophical discussion here), most corporations in today's world care more about their bottom line "today", not 2 years down the road... i'd be a much happier investor if this wasn't true...

the fact is, the market for such a player would be limited... does that mean you won't see one somewhere down the road? no. but the fact that there isn't one today has little (if anything) to do with corporate greed. sometimes corporations poorly judge the marketplace, but i think it's unlikely that any believe that there's going to be a bonanza for them 2 years down the road if they release carousel players...

interestingly enough, i use a remote for many other things that my bdp... also, to compare using functions on your player vs. getting up once every 2 hours to swap out a disk is a bit of a stretch...

however, you may believe what you like...

well, i want it!

Yes, I feel the same way about premium channels on cable boxes. Your remote control shouldn't be allowed to work when trying to change channels from HBO to Cinemax or Showtime. We ought to be required to set our remote controls down, get up off our asses and cross the room to change between those channels on the actual cable box after the movie is over.

I know I'm resurrecting an old thread, but I'm asking the same question - where the heck are the 5 disc Blu-ray changers? I'd love to retire my old Panasonic CP67 in favor of one device, but it seems no one is making these!

I have netflix and my media rack is neatly stored in my basement. So everytime my wife says hey watch a movie it would be nice not to have to go down three levels just to change a disc. After all this work to set up a media server rack it seems antiquated that i have to walk downstairs to change a old fashion disc.

Exactly how would a '5 disc' changer solve the problem of having to go down and change/get a new disc? If you have hundreds of discs like many of us here do there are only two solutions. A massive capacity changer system (100 discs) with potentially multiple changers chained together.

Or a media streaming system where-in you rip all of your BD/DVD discs to ISO, etc, store them on a server and then deliver them to a media streamer over a home network.

The whole 5-disc changer concept for BD players makes little sense in the market we see today.

From $1800 to $599

It still makes perfect sense for watching multi-disc TV collections on disc, for shows that aren't ripped. And sometimes you want to watch extra features or alternate audio tracks that aren't brought over when just the main feature is ripped.

You can easily rip individual shows to MKV and set them up for organization via your info manager of choice.

Or, you can buy a high capacity changer and put all of your series in that. There are plenty of series that would not fit in a 5 disc changer, as I'm sure you are aware.

I suppose you could go down and change the discs every time you decide you want to watch Lost instead of House or want to watch House season 2 instead of House season 1, but it's still a PITA and nothing is really fixed with a 5 disc machine.

Either get a high capacity changer or rip your discs and stream them. Problem solved!

I ran into the same thing years ago when I had a CD changer and wanted to get a DVD changer to replace it. I couldn't find any so I just purchased a single DVD player and kept my CD changer for CDs. A few years later DVD changers were plentiful and a few years after that CD changers(and CD players in general) were gone, since DVD players can play CDs. I'd expect the same thing will happen with BR players someday.

Well, there is not much difference in bringing 5 discs to your player and watching them one at a time than if you filled a 5 disc changer with them instead. how much time is actually saved by opening 5 cases and loading a changer or loading one disc at a time.
Of course streaming the movies doesn't involve buying or loading discs at all.

Did you by chance see (you did quote it, after all) the part where I said "...for shows that aren't ripped. And sometimes you want to watch extra features or alternate audio tracks that aren't brought over when just the main feature is ripped."

High capacity changers are a PITA compared to a simple 5-disc carousel. They're simple, and they work. With CDs and DVDs, they sold enough of them to justify many models over many years. Apparently no manufacturers think people will want them for blu-ray, too? (And surely no one would ever want to play DVDs or CDs in those BR changers, right?)

I've converted nearly everything I own to stream. But that doesn't get me any extra features, and doesn't help me when I rent or borrow physical discs.

Why do I want a 5/7 disk player ? I like to put the entire set of disks from a tv series. Am I lazy ? Perhaps, or maybe its because its tough for me to get to my DVD player and I'd rather put a bunch of stuff in all at once.

1. I don't want one of the hugemongous 400 disk players because they scratch disks
2. I don't want to have something that potentially would allow a thief to take most of my collection ALL at once.
3. I have more than 400 DVDs in total anyways.

Will I get a standalone Bluray player, probably (but I will wait since I do have a PS3).

Oh, c'mon. I doesn't make sense that there isn't a 5-disc blu-ray player sitting on Best Buy's shelf by now. Nobody that I know of only plays blu-ray discs on their blu-ray player. They also play standard DVDs on it. And CDs. And the world is still full of standard DVDs that come in two or more disc sets with lots of bonus material on the second or more disc. And that doesn't even count the number of multi-disc blu-ray sets that are in my library.

Right now I've got a single-disc blu-ray player stacked on top of my 5-disc standard DVD carousel changer. Pain in the butt. It means I have to devote two HDMI inputs to my disc viewing/listening and switch from one to the other when necessary. Some knock-off Chinese manufacturer is missing a bet by not competing with the slow-witted marketing departments of their competitors on this feature.

I'd donate both of those players to my neice and nephew and pay $250 to the first manufacturer that comes out with a decent 5-disc blu-ray player that, naturally, also upconverts standard DVDs and plays CDs. If I can make it region-free, I'd pay another hundred for it. But I haven't found one on the 'net.
They go from single-disc...to FOUR HUNDRED discs and the size and weight of an industrial strength microwave oven, with nothing in between! Ridiculous.

It is nutty.

Once you have the mechanism for reading the disc, the changer mechanism should be a pretty easy add on.

Maybe now that single disk players have hit $100 and less there will be some movement toward Blu-Ray changers.

Just like with any technology, you're at the manufacturer's whim. Right now,they don't see the desire for this, so it's not being made. Give it 5-10 years, and you'll see something.

Want it done faster? Hey, here's a novel thought:
finance and produce the thing yourself

I get a kick out of the silly comments about not needing a 5 disc blu-ray changer, as if blu-ray were the only thing to be played on it.

Do I need to load 5 DVDs? Not really. Occassionaly I'll load two (LoTR).

However ...

I routinely load my player with multiple music CDs for continuous music during parties, or just hanging out around the house.

The only reason I don't buy blu ray DVDs is because I can't yet replace my current changer with a blu-ray version.

Doug.

No matter how much people would like it, I doubt you will ever see it.

With MP3, WMA, and Itunes formats taking the forefront. Then almost every movie is coming with a digital copy now. And you can rip all your old CD's to MP3.

The manufacturers will be moving and pushing people towards digital storage, rather than disc changers. Sony and Kenwood both have already done so with Hard Disc attachments for Home Entertainment Systems.

I've currently got a 5 disc dvd player. I generally fill it with:
1 movie
1 sit-com tv show
1 drama tv show
1 animated tv show
1 collection of animated shorts

I use the memory function to remember what episode of the disc I'm on without having to sit through all the opening trailers and company logos. I can watch a couple of episodes of a tv show (frequently there are 6-8 episodes per disc) or two, then watch a couple of cartoons (usually dozens on a disc), and then the next day continue on with tv shows easily without losing my place or wasting a TON of time on jumping past the disc start-up junk.

Now that more tv shows and even animated shorts are coming out on blu-ray, I'd REALLY like a multi-disc player without resorting to a 500 or even 100-disc monster. It's awesome that the new Loony Tunes bds have 25 shorts per disc, but I don't want to have to watch all 25 in a row or try to remember what I last watched if I take a week-long break in the middle. So every 6 months or so I look to see if there's any news on a multi-disc player, and so far every time I'm disappointed.

Wow those are expensive... I think ill just get out of the chair lol

They didn't used to be expensive... that's the whole point. Now that Blu ray players are under $100 (or around $150 for a pretty nice one), it's absolutely retarded that no one has gotten around to making a changer. I think I paid $300 for my last DVD changer, when it was new and nice, and I'd happily pay that amount (or even a bit more) for a blu ray changer! The 100-disc monsters are just too big, more bulk than I'm looking for. The 5-disc changers were perfect!

It's even crazier that retailers haven't demanded that manufacturers produce a 5-6 Blu-ray disc changer by now. As it was with every similar convenience feature going all the way back to television remote controls and LP record changers (all of which triggered the same "How lazy are you? Can't you just walk across the room?" accusations) the reasonable, broadly marketed multi-disc Blu-ray player's time has come.

Now that we've got Blu-ray players with all the previously premium major features included like fast load, wi-fi, 3-D, etc. racing to the retail price point bottom, fighting over which one can be moved for the lowest price (below $100), retailers' profits are shrinking, their ability to up-sell the customer is virtually non-existent and they're allowing themselves to become little more than the low-cost warehouse for the manufacturers' goods.

Maybe it's a sign of where the power position has shifted due to the Internet, but there was a time when retailers had enough say in the process to demand, or at least ask nicely, that manufacturers start adding bells and whistles to their products so their products can compete on factors other than the lowest price.

An ordinary 5-disc changer would be a logical next step. Followed by a 6-disc changer. Followed by a 5 disc cartridge pack-style changer where you could buy empty cartridges to pre-load with themed or serial content, suitable for labeling and storage. Followed by a double cartridge pack-style changer where the customer could load up to 10 discs in advance...and on and on. In addition to giving the retailer a story to tell and features to sell (at a greater profit), it would open a door to an entirely new category of accessory purchases.

It's the retailers who are dropping the ball on this the most, allowing manufacturers to ship them a pallet or two of supposedly "everything" Blu-ray players and laughing while the retailers devote all of their manpower, warehouse and floor space to competing against the next guy over who can flush their profits down the drain fastest at near zero profit margin.

You must of had a Sony changer? The only problem I see with a BD changer is other than Oppo I've never seen a BD player with a multi-disc resume function My older Panasonic BDP will remember one disc but as soon as you eject the disc the placement is lost
If someone made a inexpensive BD changer my guess is it wouldn't have multi disc resume and therefor not really suit your needs anyway

Disc changers are absolutely pointless, and I'm glad manufactures are smart enough not to put this junk out. People that want something like a 5 disc changer are trying to force 1980's technology into 2011, which is ridiculous. What we SHOULD have now is the ability to easily rip BD's to ISO and have them stream to a standalone player where you also have the ability to insert and play a single disc. If they produce a multi-disc changer (carousel or cartridge) it should only be used to help load BD's in bulk to a movie vault. That's it. For CDs, seriously, that should all be ripped to a lossless codec and streamed. No point in actually playing a physical CD in this day and age. That's ridiculous.


IMO, disc changers are archaic and should not be allow to be reintroduced into the market. It is a step backwards in technology, not forward.


BTW, I had a 5 disc carousel changer in the 1990's and it was an absolute waste even back then.

For you. Someone who is clearly the sort of "person" who thinks everyone needs to do everything exactly the same way they do, and if they don't there is something wrong with them.

People can rip Blu-rays to ISO right now. Your passionate desire has been fulfilled.

What would you guess is the percentage of total Blu-ray/DVD consumers who have even considered ripping their Blu-rays or DVDs to ISO the way you think manufacturers ought to target? My guess is the percentage is far less than 1%. I'd say it's far less than the percentage of people who happily bought and used multi-disc DVD/CD players throughout the years.

So much for your passionate desire taking the country by storm.

Don't worry. Your hobby of sitting and ripping Blu-rays and DVDs to ISO won't be threatened or interrupted by other people who simply want to load 5 discs into a player to watch tonight and not necessarily archive them into a hard drive that might or might not crash and wipe out their entire library some day.