Good Blue Ray Reader

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W.Feather

[H]ard DCOTM x4 & [H]DCOTY x1
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Nov 10, 2009
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Im looking to get a Blue Ray player for my PC, preferably $100 or less, needs to be able to burn DVDs as well(ive noticed that at the Egg most of the ones under Blue Ray Readers do not burn DVDs, atleast according to the specs)....any suggestions as to a good one ?
 
I hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure that if you want to burn DVDs and read blue ray, you're either gonna have two drives or buy a blue ray burner.
All the blue ray readers I've ever looked at were just that, readers. No burning capability at all on any format.
The cheapest burner they have is $149.99 with free shipping.
 
There is a samsung for $100 that does burning of DVDs and reading blu rays. I'd give the link but I'm on my iPhone and don't have it bookmarked. There was an LG one for slightly more.....
 
Samsung optical drives are generally good, so if you've found one that meets your requirements, then go ahead and get it.
 
here are the ones ive found:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151199 - the samsung, dropped $20 in the last 2 days

would it be worth the 30 bucks or so to get a retail drive such as either of these:

LG- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136185
LiteOn- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106292

the LiteOn confuses the hell out of me, no where on the Egg's specification area does it say write speed, but the pics show the faceplate which has the symbols for writing of DVDs and CDs

of these three, it seems the Samsung is the best deal ? i'm not brand loyal to anyone in the drives so i have no idea which is best.....the longer the warrenty the better I would assume(especially since my current DVD RW drive's DVD Laser part has failed 5 months after purchase....bad luck on my part i guess)
 
You'd save money by going with an OEM or bare-bones drive, but you'd only get the drive itself. An OEM/bare-bones drive doesn't come with any cables, software/CDs, or instructions.

NewEgg has a link to the manufacturer's page of most items. You should check out each drive's manufacturer page to determine which features each drive actually has.
 
I have the LG "Super Multi Blue" drive(also plays HD-DVD), and I've found it to be excellent. The exact drive I have is no longer available, but I'm sure the other LG drive will be just as good. If you buy OEM, you'll also have to pay for software to play Blu-Ray disk. Retail drives come with a stripped down software, but it's more than enough for basic playback.
 
i have no issues with cables(every motherboard i have it seems came with 2-3 SATA cables).....will have to look more at them, didnt realize it had the different links.......as for the software, i plan on just buying it if i dont get a Retail drive.....i figure getting the samsung drive, plus software will pull me around $100 total.....so thats probably the route i would go.......though getting HD-DVD would be nice since i figured i can pick em up cheap lol -- ill have to look at others i guess :) thanks for throwing that stick in the wheel...
 
I am in the same boat. Normally I would go OEM but the retail drive I'm ordering comes with blu ray software that I don't have any other "legal" access to and would cost way more ($90) separately.

I heard there's a free software player out there but that it's for DVD and even then pretty crappy?

What was so terrible about including the codecs in the OS? Am I asking too much here? :p
 
well including in the OS means microsoft has to pay for the rights


does VLC do Blu Ray yet ?
 
W.Feather said:
well including in the OS means microsoft has to pay for the rights


does VLC do Blu Ray yet ?
Click to expand...

Not yet. Just tired playing Dark Knight with VLC and nothing. There's a software program out there to decrypt Blu-Ray, but it's not perfect. Depending on how the audio is set-up, you might get stuck with the commentary track and no way to change it. Happened with Dark Knight or The Fifth Element, can't quite remember.
 
hmm....

thanks for that info


now i just see that the Egg has a 60 GB SSD for $134.....roughly what id pay for blu ray plus cheaper software.......decisions decisions decisions


on a side note, is the OCZ Agility series a good SSD?
 
W.Feather said:
... on a side note, is the OCZ Agility series a good SSD?
Click to expand...

Yup, nearly as good as the Vertex. The only difference is it uses slower memory chips, but for the savings, the performance difference is negligible, IMO. You can read the reviews at Anandtech and PC Perspective.

EDIT: oh yah, forgot my cut&paste for SSDs:
The Intel X25-M SSDs have fast small random write speeds, but have slower sequential speeds. Conversely, the Indilinx based drives have faster sequential speeds, but slower small random write speeds. When you setup the Indilinx drives in RAID0, the small random write speeds increase enough to more than compensate for the single drive's deficiency. Likewise, when you RAID0 Intel drives, the sequential speeds increase more than enough. Small random write speeds and access times/IOPS are more important for the avg desktop user than sequential speeds. For single SSD usage, the Intel is a better choice because of this. However, Indilinx based drives' small random write speeds and access times are still faster than mechanical drives, so even in a single drive config, it's still a good choice if you can afford it.
 
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thanks man, seems i have till the 12th to figure out if i can get it......
 
just pulled the trigger on the above mentioned drive......got it for $95, cheaper by $30 from other retailers(love that chrome extension :p)......and for the hell of it im finally replacing my CPU cooler LOL(hopefully the sunbeam core contact works as good as its been reviewed, for 25 bones its a step up anyhow :) )
 
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