coasters for coffee mugs.

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.

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.

If you have a BluRay player most will read BluRay content burned to a DVD (a.k.a. BD5), and others will do AVCHD (a related but more simple format). You'll be much more limited in terms of space obviously, but you can still put video on there at far better than DVD quality.

Also if you're like me and have a rotating set of games you install and uninstall, you can copy installation backups to a series of DVDs. Steam even has a built-in option to break installation backup files into 4.3 gig files specifically for burning to DVD.

!discgolf@lemmy.ml

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!

Hang them on your berry bushes, they scare away birds

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.

Position them at the perfect angles, and you can light up your whole house by just turning on one light bulb

I have seen people hang them from string in fruit trees to ward off birds. 😆

Backup photos. Burn Linux isos. Shoot with a shotgun. Maybe donate to a school or library?

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?

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.

Coasters and craft projects

You can do backups that span many disks. Optical Media is much longer lasting than magnetic media.

You can put them in a microwave and watch cool designs appear as you destroy them. I remember my siblings and I used to do this with old demo discs that were destined for the trash anyway.

(Disclaimer: this is more of a joke, not an actual recommendation)

1080p movies can be encoded down to < 3 GB

kinda nice to just pop a disc in the bluray player and know that you won’t be shown ads, recommendations for the latest capeshit, or be upsold to the next tier… just the movie and nothing else

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.

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. ;)

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.

Use some Loctite Fun-Tak Mounting Putty (or similar) and put them, shiny side out, on a wall for free mirrored decorations.

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.

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.

Hold on to them and sell them in the future when scarcity makes them valuable again.

I used them as extra photo backups in case my device and server and backup were to be destroyed. They are cheap and provide an extra option just in case. They are not great for really long but ive found if taken care of they can last for years and they are cheap too so why not take advantage.

frisbee

Yes, they can still be used in a variety of ways:

1. Data storage: You can still use them for storage of your files, photos, or videos. They're excellent for backup purposes. Especially in the case of important documents or cherished pictures, having a physical copy can be more lasting and more resistant to loss caused by computer malfunctions.

2. Home video or audio disc: You can use the DVD to store old recorded home videos with a DVD burner for Mac or Windows, or create a music disc for vehicles or players that still have DVD players.

3. DIY projects: Some people use them as coasters, window deterrents for birds, or even as part of a Halloween costume.

Although DVDs may feel like a thing of the past, there are still a number of uses you can repurpose them for.

Frisbee