So my family has a few containers of unused blank dvds that are just lying around collecting dust. i know dvds are almost useless because of streaming, but can they still be used. Theses dvds can only be written to once and they only have like 3 gb of storage on them, can they still be used?, do they have a use?
If ya got a DVD player that can read MP4 or Mkv files I'd drop an entire season of 1080p encoded TV shows on a disc. Something that isn't High Def to begin with like DS9 or old shows so you aren't missing out on pixel quality.
My mom's standalone Blu-ray player can read discs with a bunch of files on it and play it and so does my Xbox a bit. Just figure out what it likes and try to download that OR re encode it with Handbrake or something.
Put em in a CD binder for a rainy day when the Internet is out or don't wanna pay for streaming for a bit.
Something that isn't High Def to begin with like DS9
Dont mind me, I'll be crying in the corner here with my dashed hopes of DS9 ever getting re-mastered.
You will need to double check the specific DVDs you are working with. They can be useful for backups and if you don't store them in sunlight or acid or something they basically last forever. You can copy your important data onto a DVD and leave it in your closet for the rest of your life. Of course, as with all backup strategies, you need to test it very regularly.
Edited to add nitpicks: if you decide to do this back up across multiple DVDs and use encryption. Borg is a fantastic tool for encrypted backups and if you are just mounting your DVDs as cdrom0 and such it can handle that as easily as any other block device.
When I was a kid we used to hurl them as high as we could straight up in the air. The fun was trying to avoid being hit by it on the way down!
You can use them as bootable devices. For example you can create a DVD to run Gparted if you ever need to partition or format a drive.
I feel like Windows is closer to ~8GB so I don't think it'll work for that but you could probably use a few Linux ISOs.
I'm pretty sure this one specifically requires a DVD-R, but you can burn FreeDVDBoot and insert it into most PS2 models, will allow you to boot whatever you want.
Backup photos. Burn Linux isos. Shoot with a shotgun. Maybe donate to a school or library?
They make excellent bird-scarers. Stick of bamboo, thicker end shoved firmly in the ground, slip a disc over the thinner end, shiny side up.
Drinks coasters also. Maybe an abstract art installation.
This is what I've seen them used for! My FIL scares the crows away from his figs like that. But crows being smart as fuck, I think they know now and just ignore them. Other birds might still be scared though
You can put some gnu/linux distribution iso on it, if you have dvd drive on your pc. It might be useful to do some operations on hard drive that are not possible from OS that is currently running on it.
I remember making a mirror/disco ball back in the day with all AOL and other trash disks that would come in the mail or cereal boxes.
I have seen people hang them from string in fruit trees to ward off birds. 😆
If you have a DVD player or your desktop and/or laptop has a disc drive (or you got a USB disc drive) you can turn them into CDs if you are feeling retro.
Or if you happen to have some videos, you can use some DVD authoring software to make a DVD of them. It's good if you happen to somehow have the episode files for your favorite TV show. ;)
I haven’t bought a CD in well over a decade but I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to think of CDs as retro lol
Considering there are children out there that don't know what a CD is because of streaming, I'd assume that DVDs and CDs are old enough to be retro.
And I only know there are some that don't know what a CD/DVD is because of r€ddit posts.
Not really for you unless they are unopened and still in their original packaging but engineering compsnies still use Floppies, CDs, and DVDs, for some of their equipment. I have had requests for floppies and DVDs for oscilloscopes for example.
Until I finally traded in my last laptop and didn't realize the new one wouldn't have a disc drive, I still used them to test Linux distros. Other than that, maybe burning actual movies to, for something to watch should the Internet go out? Get a portable DVD player (do these still exist?) to take camping?
Hard copy of your favorite pornos, to be given out as stocking stuffers for Christmas?
If Aerosmith’s Revolution X taught me anything it’s that cds are explosive when fired by uzi, so, that. DVDs are somewhere between cds and laserdisc, so I’d say you can expect a moderate explosion.
