Pioneer Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD Writer BDR-205BKS - OEM

Pros: None

Cons: *Only two successful burns out of 8.
*Can fit less than 22G on a disk when it should be 25G

Other Thoughts: BR disks are very expensive coasters. I bought a Pioneer because the brand is supposed to be solid, but this thing is horrible. It takes 3 hours to burn 22G at 4x, and still ends up coastering 3 out of 4 disks.

Pros: Plays standard dvd's just fine.
It may even have the capability to burn BD's (don't know, havn't tried)

Cons: Will not play a rented Blu-ray movie. Tried on 3 different mother boards and a number of OP's from XP Pro 32 up to and including Win 7 Pro 64. Also tried every conceivable BIOS configuration. Simply will not play a rented Blu-ray movie. By the way, I did try at least 3 different movies. Oh yeah, I have quality mobo's, audio cards and video cards.

Other Thoughts: If you want to watch a Blu-ray movie, buy a stand alone player. I also suggest you purchase a good quality top of the line name brand unit. I purchased a low end player that hangs and skips. Not enjoyable at all.

Pros: Worked great until it went out

Cons: Cheap quality and now wont even read a disc

Other Thoughts: What ever happened to the day things were built to last?

Pros: it burnt quick and good quality picture

Cons: it went bad after 1 day of use, I blew 4 disks.also the software it comes with,power to go, is outdated.I sent back to Newegg for replacement.I givei it an f for failure.buyers beware.

Pros: The specs of the drive are wonderful... if it worked for me as-advertised, I'd be very happy. (I paid a premium for it, after all.) I've always been happy with Pioneer products in the past.

Cons: I own two of these (bought due to exemplary reviews). Seems I must have gotten two bad ones. One is in my Home Theater PC, replacing a cheap Lite-on BD reader. The old BD-reader never had any problems ripping CDs, but since installing this device, I've gotten corrupted audio files on EVERY SINGLE DISK I'VE RIPPED. Oddly, the drive seems to "read ahead" of the rip process, so that it stops spinning before the rip is done. The bad rips have regions that just... well, if it was a record, I'd call it a "skip." Usually occurs on two or three tracks per disk, SEEMS to happen when the "read-ahead" transitions in or out, and results in me having to listen to the entire ripped disk, make notes of any corrupted files, and re-ripping them individually. NOT OK.

The second one is in my working PC. In that case, I see scores upon scores of CRC errors when reading. The cheap Lite-On BD-ROM has no problems reading anything.

Other Thoughts: I think that this is probably the case of Pioneer trying to improve performance using a "read-ahead" algorithm which simply doesn't work properly. Data gets written into the same spaces in the read-ahead cache under certain circumstances, or gets read from the same spaces... resulting in near-entire-tracks of "record skipping" effects. If it were only one drive which did this, I'd think it might be a fluke, but with TWO of them... it's software, or it's defective hardware, both of which are design issues, not merely random quality-control quirks..

I went to Pioneer's website to find any firmware updates for the drive. They list one. However, clicking the download link gives a "file not found" error. Same with the downloadable manual for this drive. INCREDIBLY UNPROFESSIONAL AND SLOPPY.

I've contacted Pioneer's tech support guys to ask for assistance. I'll let you know if anything good comes from that. But as of now, I'm EXTREMELY dissatisfied.

Pros: 12x

Cons: Pioneer name

Other Thoughts: This is my 3rd and hopefully last rating of this product. I am a long time customer of Pioneer audio and video products. It was the main reason for buying this burner. Pioneer reputation. Well that's way downhill now. This drive worked for 5 weeks and then it didn't recognize any discs.
I mailed it back to Pioneer on 6/16/2010. No one contacts you from Pioneer so YOU have to call. Just got off the phone and they told me they are doing an exchange. I won't get the exchanged drive until at least 7/16/2010 and as late as 8/1/2010/ thats 4 to 6 weeks w/o a drive. Plus no emails will be coming with tracking, updates etc.
That is no way to run a company. Also did you ever notice when a Newegg customer gives a bad rating, some companies immediately respond underneath and give an explanation and a number to call etc. Hmmm, don't see Pioneer responding here!!
Anytime a company's customer service SUCKS they go on my hit list no matter how good a product they make. I did it with SAMSUNG too!

Pros: Worked well for about a month.

Cons: Then it stopped working and so far I could not get Pioneer to take the product back. I recommend that other options be considered before purchasing this product. No point in paying $200 for something that will potentially break down in less than 6 months!!!

Pros: Pioneer name, 12x write, made in Japan....

Cons: Stopped working after 5 weeks

Other Thoughts: I have been building systems for 15 years and have close to 30 years experience. I originally gave this drive 5 eggs but now must reduce it to 1 egg. The drive just stopped recognizing any type of disc. I burned about 15 blu rays and a number of cdrw's the past 5 weeks and now I have a book end.
I'm surprised because of the Pioneer name and this item being made in Japan where you would think it has a higher quality build. But like any machine its liablle to break. The 1 egg is for the short amt. of time and use its had.

My 30 days are over with Newegg so I had to contact Pioneer customer service where I spoke to a very uninterested female rep. She said to just ship it in with the invoice and my pedigree with description of problem. They do not issue an RMA#. So out it went today priority mail to Long Beach, CA. Looks like a good 3 week turnaround. No idea if I'll get a new, refurb or repaired unit back. I have had plextors, LG's, Optiarc and now my first Pioneer. Not happy!

Pros: When I first bought it, I Loved it!

Cons: I upgraded to v1.08 from v1.03. Since I upgraded I can on longer play blu-ray movies. I tried to play 5 movies I owned. Non will play! I gather that the MPAA has got them by the balls. So the BDF 105 is no longer a Blu-ray player. And now looking for a new Blu-ray player! And I can not go back to v1.03. ....dams

Other Thoughts: I would love to hear from pioneer on this!

Pros: I can not rate the Blu-ray burner because it will not fit in the enclosure!

Cons: The Pioneer Blu-ray burner is 5X the size of enclosure and there is no way it can be made to fit!!!

How do get a RMA# so I can return the encloure for one that is the right size?

Pros: The drivers were installed without problem under windows 7.

Cons: Do not buy this drive as I did for the reviews and the bundled software Cyperlink BD Solution. It comes with BD Solution v6. I talked to Cyperlink and they said the software is not compatible with Win7 and that I should contact Pioneer. After viewing the setup.ini and custom.ini files on the disc, I found that BD Solution v6 is only compatible with WinXp and WinME and that the software is actually for the BDR-203. My software install failed saying the software could only be installed with a Pioneer device. It did not recoginize my Pioneer BDR-205 device driver.

Other Thoughts: Newegg may want to consider discontinuing this product or at least update the bundled software with something that works.

Pros: no point to provide

Cons: no lightscribe, there is nothing else to say

Pros: Absolutely nothing at all.

Cons: Well don't plan on watching Bluray movies on your computer if you have it hooked to your TV through HDMI. I got a constant error message saying that copyrighted movies cannot be played that way. That is the stupidest thing I have even heard of. I is an over Priced Data burner, thats all. will never buy anything Pioneer again.

Other Thoughts: I went through about 2 hours trying to get this to work with my friend who is a computer programmer. He said I could get it to work if I wanted to hacksor the program but I do not believe that I should have to do anything like that to make something do what it is advertised to do. So pioneer is going on my list of evil things in the world along with Mircosoft. Ps Mircosoft makes me wanna punch kittens in the face.

Pros: None so far.

Cons: Purchased the drive 3 mos ago for W7 build. Write errors for 4 blu-ray, 2 dvd and 2 cd-r coasters. Sent drive back to Pioneer - they say, main bd and optics bad - supposedly repaired drive. What a joke; now writes CD-R but 1 blu-ray and 1 DVD coaster again! This time Pioneer will replace drive (hopefully, will eventually work!)

Other Thoughts: Tech Support seems good but turn-around time is disappointing!
Read glowing reports before purchase, am now highly disappointed, as W7 machine waits for a full backup. Would be nice if Pioneer would replace blu-ray discs?

Pros: I got the drive within less than 24 hours - I was very excited to try it after good reviews.

Cons: Scrapped 4 DVD, succeded with 2. Never able to write a BD-R disc (it makes it a very expensive drive to burn just CD/DVD when you can do it with a$30 drive... - and still, from my short experience scrapping 4 out of 6 !!... Imagine now doing other trials with BD at $12- $20 a piece !... If I get just another failure it will be removed from my system and shipped back. I was able to burn the *exact same files and folders* on the *same PC* tonight with my old drive still in the PC. So there's no reason.

Other Thoughts: I purchased this drive in hope to burn data BD (and later, blu-ray videos produced with Adobe), but my very last hope is that I only falled on a lemon.

Pros: If it works- it is quiet and well built.

Cons: This drive doesn't work on some Mac Pros. On some Mac Pros, the drive disappears from the system after a certain period of time after startup. Pioneer says it "should" be plug and play but washes its hands when it is installed in a non-Windows system. Pioneer only confirms compatibility with Windows, so, until Pioneer decides to support Mac, I would strongly recommend against installation in a Mac, especially since the official Newegg return policy for this item is only an exchange for same item if DOA or damaged, no refunds.