What should I consider when buying an external blu ray burner

[Alexander Nt]

Hi guys,

I understood that I need a 3rd party tool to create DVD menus and to burn them on disks. However, I am a newbie and I am wondering what are the things I need to consider when buying an external blu ray burner. I am on a mac and I plan to burn 4k videos - sometimes it can vary though. I have no idea what encoding like H.264, H.264 Blu-ray or MPEG2 etc. I have to use / be aware of.

I don't need top notch hardware for hundreds of euros because it's for personal usage. For example when I am old and want to watch vacations from the last decades 🙂 

Looking forward for any tip. As I am a newbie I have troubles to determine what exactly I have to google for - I tried some but the result was not satisfying.

Alex

[Stan Jones]

You're actually looking for a Ultra HD burner, not BD.

Even though I still make BDs, I gave up worrying about burning UHD. I load them up on my home NAS and stream to the TV.

Stan

[Alexander Nt]

Thanks for the response. Yeah, while streaming does has it's advantage, it relies on having a good connection and cannot be shared that easily. Advantage I see in using disks is that I can burn them either once, for my own or if necessary for family & friends when we travelled together. I am aware that it's possible to provide a setup that allows others to watch from own systems but this needs to be maintained. Plus the more content I have, the more disk space I need.

In regards of UHD burner vs. BD, makes sense. Thanks.