Blue ray burners and software looking for upto date advise

quester12 · 09 Oct 2011

Good day all :). I am currently building a computer and am viewing some blue-ray burners . some come with software others , do not. I am looking at the following company's ..... Sony, asus, pioneer. all are sata and internal. the software is for the drivers that can allow the playback of blue-ray movies and allow the authorizing of the same in single layer type or duel layer blue-ray. any advise would be helpful. I have researched the forum and found data from 2010 and 2009.

thank you .

quester12

jumanji · 10 Oct 2011

Just google and search for the latest burners and the reviews on these. Otherwise people here will recommend whatever they have :). ( I have Liteon iHBS 112 - the latest when I bought it - on my desktop and an ASUS USB2 external Slim SBW-06C1S-U/DBLU/G - cheapest with a good discount when I bought it.:) )

quester12 · 11 Oct 2011

Jumanji; thanks for the info:). I apologize for not replying sooner. If you can answer for me ; what software package came with your liteon? does it freeze playing any movies? i have had constant problems with cyberlink products. again thanks for the info.

quester12

Wishmaster · 11 Oct 2011

Gneral rule of thumb.
The included software is usually a stripped down version (and often older version).

My LG BD Burner for example came with the Cyberlink suite. I believe it was PowerDVD9.

Granted, they will palyback Blurays discs, but are often only capable of stereo sound, and some may not even support DTS.
These usally are more problems than they are worth.

Features will vary, but in general the included software is not even worth using.

It is good for a discount towards the upgrade though.

IMHO, get a good burner that offers the features you a re looking for and do not consider the freebie software.
Then get a full version of the BD playback software you want.

I personally went with Nero HD platinum and very happy with it.

jumanji · 11 Oct 2011

As Wishmaster has stated most software bundled with the drives will be older, stripped down versions and you will eventually end up upgrading it.

You must primarily consider the drive only and not the bundled software - unless you are not in a position to spend an extra pie on it immediately.

The Liteon drive came with Cyberlink BD Solution - PowerDVD 9 BD, Power Producer 5, Power Director 7, Power2Go 6, PowerBackup2, LabelPrint 2, Instant Burn 5 - a fairly good complement for a beginner. (Eventually though I purchased the full version of CyberLink Media Suite 9 Ultra with PowerDVD 10.:) )

The ASUS external burner came with none - one reason why it was cheaper - and I didn't need one.

The Plextor PX-B120U external BDROM drive (Read only, not a burner) came with PowerDVD9 ( upgraded to PowerDVD 10 eventually)

As recommended, go through the reviews of the latest high-speed burners and these reviews usually state what bundled software comes with the drive.

Choose a high speed BD drive - BD writing takes a long time, sometimes so long that you don't feel like using it for data storage. You may prefer external HDDs for that.

The drives themselves usually will not cause video stutter/freeze. In most cases the system capability will be the cause.

quester12 · 12 Oct 2011

Jumanji; thanks . i was referring to the software as fa as freezing/stutter; however thank you for confirming that. Do you believe it may be the installed codecs on the particular system that can not handle the media?
I thank you all

for responding .
I am going to get the unit without the software and gonna check out wishmaster's suggestion on Nero HD platinum
quester12

Wishmaster · 12 Oct 2011

The software package jumanji mentioned that came with the LiteOn package sounds like the same one thats bundled with LG BluRay drives as well.
I got the BH12-LS38 LG MultuiBlu drive.
So far its been very good. No coasters so far of several burned DVDs, and its burned 2 BluRays (single layer) so far without issue.

Also, Ive tried a large number of Bluray discs and so far, it has been able to recognize all of them.
My previous BluRay reader did well, but there were occasional BluRays it simply would not recognize as a disc.

As per my suggestion, keep in mind I already had a Nero suite. So for me, it was just a upgrade to the HD version (much cheaper than buying the first time)

So if you prefer Cyberlink, you can upgrade from the included version cheaper than buying the whole package.

Nero is quite expensive the first time (All BD software is actually, not just Nero)
But as with all of them, once you are in the door, future upgrades are much cheaper.

For Nero the "HD" is the version is the one that has the BluRay and DTS plug ins, and can playback commercial Blurays.

If Im not mistaken, both versions will allow authoring and burning of BluRay discs, as well as DATA backup Bluray/DVD/CD.

I would suggest you look into them a bit. Everyone has different prefrences.
And don't get me wrong, personally I really like Nero. And there are many that agree.

But theres just as many who hate it. The same could be said about Cyberlink or Arcsoft too though.
It really a personal opinion, and what you want out of the HD suite.

I do agree, the budled software usually is good enough for to get by on at first.
But you will want to look into upgrading to the better version, or purchashing a different brand one.

---Oh, and make sure you at least check everything is BluRay capable.
If you are not sure what you should look for, Cyberlink has a BluRay advisor that can tell you if youll be OK or not.
http://www.cyberlink.com/stat/bd-support/enu/index.jsp

quester12 · 12 Oct 2011

wishmaster, then the hd version is the way to go ; thanks.

quester12

remember::: If you build it.... it might work!

jumanji · 12 Oct 2011

Currently it is Nero 11 Platinum that includes BD playback. But the worst part is the trial version of Nero 11 Platinum locks you out of BD playback. So you cannot try bluray playback. ( There is no standalone Nero BD Player)

(Personally I do not like the BD Player in Nero 10 Platinum and do not use it. As Wishmaster said personal prejudice . :))

You may download trial versions Power DVD 11 and Arcsoft Total Media Theater 5 and try. I do not know why Nero does not allow one to try the BD playback.

Now the paradox: If you go in for a performance-based drive, you are sure to be saddled with some bundled software.

If you go looking for one without the bundled software, you may have to give up a little on performance.

If you do get a good drive without any software, then you can start your search for the software. So keep looking.