LITE-ON Black 4X BD-ROM 12X DVD-ROM 32X CD-ROM SATA Internal 4X Blu-ray DVD ROM Model DH-4O1S-08 - Retail

Very impressed.

Reviewed By: on 3/23/2008

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

Pros: **UPDATE***I'm successfully running 720p Hi-Def on my system. It required an update to CyberLink PowerDVD 7.3 (which is currently bundled with the Lite-On drives). And yes, before I offer more thoughts, it really DOES make a difference. Even 720p is significantly sharper and cleaner than the best standatd-def DVD on your computer.

This drive will work like a tank assuming you have significant processing and video card power. The movies I've tried initialize in ten seconds or so. On a 1600x1200 screen, running the CyberLink software full-screen occupies about half the vertical space of the LCD display (which makes sense, since 720p operates at 768 vertical pixels). The video space occupies the full horizontal length with absolutely no distortion. On any wide-format monitor, you will not have this issue. You can have an excellent 720p movie system on your PC with a 19" wide-format LCD.

And it is excellent. I was shocked at how good the video quality was. Now for a 24" monitor...

Cons: You MUST also update the bundled software, because it will simply not work on your system after you physically install the drive. go to http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/download/patches_112_ENU.html. They do a good job hiding this page; I had to do a Google search to find it because their site does not provide straightforward navigation.

Other Thoughts: I had plenty of detail and the visuals were fantastic. The CyberLink software supports only stereo output. For me, stereo is fine for now, because I'm in no mood to deploy a stupid 5:1 setup in my tiny office with all the associated hideous cabling (which is probably why a lot of people are dumping such speaker rigs on Craig's List nowadays). You cannot go wrong with this drive, which is a big surprise for me. It's a great way to get an entry-level look at hi-def.

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Not a bad drive

Reviewed By: ac71 on 2/25/2008

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: It does what it is supposed to do, doesn't make a lot of noise and doesn't look bad. In fact I haven't faced any problem that could be attributed to the drive. Comes with a powerdvd BD version which is not very desirable, but you can use it to get $20 discount if you upgrade to the full version.

Cons: The powerdvd software is still not completely bug free. I have had couple of freeze and skip issues. Hope all issues will be soon resolved.

Other Thoughts: Perfect addition to a budget htpc, I have athlon 64 x2 4000+ on asus M2N, 8500GT HDCP fanless card. Except one, all BD titles including ones released recently play flawlessly.

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Large tray front

Reviewed By: Tom on 7/10/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: less than 1 day

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: works with linux (have not tried blue-ray disks, just dvd and cd)

Cons: Tray front covers the whole top half of the face of the drive, so your case cannot have a bezel that overlaps the front of the drive face at all. My Dell Optiplex 760 will need some plastic on the trim removed. So check your case first.

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It's Blu-Ray!

Reviewed By: on 7/10/2009

Tech Level: average - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: It's cheap, it works, its sata powered.
Comes with a silver panel so that you can make it match your case!
Plugged it in and it worked like a charm.

Cons: none so far

Other Thoughts: This and my video card came with PowerDVD. Installed the non-Blu-Ray version (v3.0) first from the card bundle and couldn't figure out why the video sucked. Fixed that issue quickly though. v7.3 after the update supports 1080i!

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Reviewed By: on 6/27/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 day to 1 week

Pros: Cheap, comes in a retail box with manual, sata cable grey faceplate and software. Works as expected.

Cons: None so far. Now it's only $79 CAD. I paid $89 last week.

Other Thoughts: I used it to build my HTPC. Installation was easy, the grey faceplate matched perfectly my Antec NSK2480 case.

I'm using Vista Ultimate x86. I didn't even bother with the bundled software since I already have Arcsoft Total Media Theater 3.

If you have the horse power to play Blue Ray movies, this will work beautifully.

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