Sub Hundred Dollar Blu-Ray Drives

[† L4ugh]

I've been looking into getting a Blu-Ray drive for a while now, and I would like to know if any one, that has one, bought a sub hundred dollar drive like the ones on newegg. I would like to buy as cheap as possible but I don't want to get crap. If you have a more expensive one that works really well, I would like to know what brand and model it is. Also how loud the drive is when reading a disk. I have an HP dvd-rom drive that sounds like a turboprop engine when reading a disk, and I would like to avoid this if possible.

I've been seeing mixed reviews online about some of these drives, saying that they don't support some blu-ray disk or that the laser goes bad after a few months. I would appreciate any info anyone is willing to offer.

[Koby]

I need one myself. I've checked Bestbuy and their cheapest one was like $150 though. Honestly I know nothing about them to give any advice. ster0ic or TheChaosLegion might be able to offer some advice though.

[† TheChaosLegion]

Finding a well preforming BD drive can be tricky since there are alot of mixed reviews that come out of the people that buy them. If you are simply looking for a drive to read disks, here is what I suggest:

The first is:

SAMSUNG Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model SH-B123L LightScribe Support - OEM $69.99

The is the one I have myself and have purchased for several customers in the past. It's decently quiet in comparison to others i've seen in the past. It also burns cds, dvds and has lightscribe support, which has worked very well for me in my tests.

The second I would suggest is this one:

LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Disc Combo Model UH10LS20 LightScribe Support - OEM $69.99

I've also used this in several builds and it seems to be a good performer as well. I've had a very good track record with LG's drives in the past and would suggest them to anyone in a heartbeat. The only reason I got the other one listed above is because it's panio black and matches with my case

Those are my two suggestions for read-only drives. Both are decently cheap and provide good results as BD readers/DVD, CD Writers.

[RikuoAmero]

L4ugh

You also need to worry about getting a Blu-ray video player program. I bought my BR-drive half a year ago thinking something like VLC would play my movie discs, but you need a commercial program. It has to do with the HDCP, the content protection built into the discs. Theory goes that you install the drive, connect by HDMI to a HD monitor and then pay for a program. I have heard that new drives come with these programs on disc, but then you need to update to the latest version, and 99% of the reviews I have heard say it rarely works.

Learn from my mistake - just get a PS3 or a decent brand standalone blu-ray player and hook it up to your TV. If you go for a standalone, don't go for the cheap option, get one that has internet connectivity; that way the manufacturer will have updates (yes, updates over the internet just to watch a fucking movie.

In case someone here says just get a cracked version of a Blu-ray movie player program, I got 3 different programs and tried all my Blu-rays on them. Avatar played just fine, but I could never get Heroes Season 1 to work - got a completely unwatchable image.

[† TheChaosLegion]

Yeah, thats the other thing I forgot to mention: Playback.

It's best not to use the crap that comes with the drive when you get it. Sometimes it almost looks as if the playback software that comes on the disk was rigged to rob you of your money, and from what i've read, seems to work most of the time at doing just that.

In my experience, WinDVD Pro 2010 has always worked the best for me with playing BDs without any problems at all.

I would be willing to bet that Windows 8 will have native blu-ray playback once microsoft gets around licensing issues with BD technology.

[† L4ugh]

Thanks for the info guys, the LG was actually the one I was originally looking at buying, then I started reading the reviews. How long have you had that drive ChaosLegion, some of the reviews said the laser goes bad after a while. AnyDVD HD should remove the copy protection, but I would most likely rip and encode any blu-rays before actually watching them. That's what I do with all the dvds I get now.

[† TheChaosLegion]

Thanks for the info guys, the LG was actually the one I was originally looking at buying, then I started reading the reviews. How long have you had that drive ChaosLegion, some of the reviews said the laser goes bad after a while. AnyDVD HD should remove the copy protection, but I would most likely rip and encode any blu-rays before actually watching them. That's what I do with all the dvds I get now.

The LG is just fine is that's the one you want to get. I've been including BD drives in computer builds by request for about two years now and only 1 out of about 15 has failed, which isn't bad at all (About 6 were LG and all are still working according to the people that I got them for). I've had mine for about 6 months now and it's still working like a charm.

Let me say this: The reviews that you see are only a fraction of the people that have bought the product. From my experience, hundreds, if not thousands of people buy these things and only a small number get flawed hardware, which isn't uncommon or odd. This is true of most all hardware.

Just take the jump and buy one. Oh, and don't bother with AnyDVD. DVDfab is a much better product IMO.

[† L4ugh]

DVDFab is what I use to rip now. I read that AnyDVD HD was suppose to allow you to watch the blu-ray on your computer with out having to worry about the copy protection, or ripping it first. I haven't used any of slysoft's software in a long time though, so I'm really not sure how good it is. I will most likely just rip and encode where my computer is concerned.

Thanks again for the info on the drives, it's pretty much between the LG and an HP I found. The HP drive I have now really it's all that great so I probably won't go with them again.

[RikuoAmero]

DVDFab is what I use to rip now. I read that AnyDVD HD was suppose to allow you to watch the blu-ray on your computer with out having to worry about the copy protection, or ripping it first. I haven't used any of slysoft's software in a long time though, so I'm really not sure how good it is. I will most likely just rip and encode where my computer is concerned.

Thanks again for the info on the drives, it's pretty much between the LG and an HP I found. The HP drive I have now really it's all that great so I probably won't go with them again.

Don't bother with AnyDVD. I tried a cracked version about 2 or 3 months ago, and it popped up saying it had to get an update because I was trying to rip Evangelion 1.11 (obviously my cracked version wouldn't be allowed to update). So I could pay for a BD-playback program that would have to connect to the internet to get the proper copy-protection updates...or I could pay for a program that supposedly bypasses copy-protection, and still needs updates from the internet.

It's just my gripe with the Blu-ray industry. I already paid for the HARDWARE, but they've got their greedy paws out for the SOFTWARE.

[seirachan]

Finding a well preforming BD drive can be tricky since there are alot of mixed reviews that come out of the people that buy them. If you are simply looking for a drive to read disks, here is what I suggest:

The first is:

SAMSUNG Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model SH-B123L LightScribe Support - OEM $69.99

The is the one I have myself and have purchased for several customers in the past. It's decently quiet in comparison to others i've seen in the past. It also burns cds, dvds and has lightscribe support, which has worked very well for me in my tests.

The second I would suggest is this one:

LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Disc Combo Model UH10LS20 LightScribe Support - OEM $69.99

I've also used this in several builds and it seems to be a good performer as well. I've had a very good track record with LG's drives in the past and would suggest them to anyone in a heartbeat. The only reason I got the other one listed above is because it's panio black and matches with my case

Those are my two suggestions for read-only drives. Both are decently cheap and provide good results as BD readers/DVD, CD Writers.

That Samsung one is the one I currently have and it's fine. I like going with Samsung cause they always get good reviews

I also have a Thermaltake chase but mines a bit different and cheaper "Thermaltake V4 Black Edition ATX Mid Tower Case 4X5.25 1X3.5 EXT 4X3.5 INT Front USB Audio No PSU"