ASUS Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

Pros: Works great until it fails

Cons: I had two of these in a row. Both failed in under a year. Time to try a different brand.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear SYoung,

I’m so sorry to hear that your experience with this model was not a good one. Did you purchase both units at the same time and from the same vendor? If you need to discuss this topic with me further, please contact me at cl-celeste@asus.com and include ref#1072-11175 in the subject line.

Sincerely,
Celeste
ASUS Customer Loyalty

Pros: This ASUS BD player works great. Simple and easy installation. Plugged it in, fired right up. It works great, plays great.

Cons: None

Pros: It worked just great for the build I put it in and came just in time thanks to Newegg's shipping.

Cons: NONE!

Other Thoughts: There really isn't a con but I'm just going to put this here for people looking at just cons =/

It's an OEM drive so it doesn't come with the blu-ray playback software so you'll have to buy the software. I got this drive and blu-ray software for around 100 bucks. You don't have to buy expensive software, 50 bucks for software is pretty cheap. I used WinDVD Pro 11 for my computer and I must say The Hobbit looked amazing. =P It's a great drive and the software is just as cheap.

Pros: Fast CD Speed
Fast DVD Speed
Blu-Ray Speed

Cons: None that i have encountered

Pros: -Was one of the cheapest bare drives when I bought it.
-Asus name is a brand I trust
-Worked fine with AnyDVD HD to rip BluRay

Cons: -Failed very hard at CD ripping to MP3 using Exact Audio Copy. Poor audio extraction.

Other Thoughts: I took care to research exactly what features the drive supported, double and triple checked settings in EAC. This drive was very spotty ripping the various CD's I fed it and had weird spinup patterns during use. After struggling with about 5 various CDs I gave up and re-installed the DVD-RW I had in my PC prior to buying this drive. In this day in age, an optical drive should JUST WORK. This one did not at one of the main tasks I bought it for. =(

Pros: Quiet
Cool
Performs very well

Cons: Very big

Other Thoughts: I've had the card about a couple weeks now. So far it's doing very well. Running everything I throw at it on max settings. So far I've tried Skyrim, Tomb Raider (with the high detail hair), Dead Space 3, Sim City, and Batman Arkham Asylum. Could be my computer, but when I would over clock the card, it would sometimes cause my computer to blue screen. But it's fine if I keep it at default settings. It's quiet, doesn't get hot, and performs great. The only thing is that it's pretty big. But still a great card for the price!

Pros: Drive seems to function as intended no problem playing bluray or any dvd on it.

Cons: none

Pros: Works exactly as advertised. The drive feels well constructed (par for the course with Asus products) and I have little doubt that it will far outlast my latest build.

Cons: If you see this drive on sale and think "what a great deal on a Blu-ray player" you may be disappointed. This drive will not play Blu-rays without additional software. That software is likely to run you as much or more than the drive itself. Unless you really want Blu-ray on your PC it's probably cheaper to buy a standard Blu-ray player and hook it to your TV. It'll have more features (Netflix and such) too.

Other Thoughts: I wanted Blu-ray on my PC. With some additional software, this cut the mustard.

Pros: Worked great for DVD playback and recording. OEM so no software to take care of the Blueray playback.

Cons: It is pretty much worthless as a Blueray player since it is OEM and does not include software. I realize that is what you get when you buy an OEM product. However, with a hard drive that is not an issue but with a specialized player like blueray it makes the product useless for it's intended purpose. On top of that to purchase software for Blueray playback you are looking at over $100, as I could not find any free Blueray software.

Drive started locking up my system when I put any kind of disc in it after it was about 1 year old.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,

You may want to try visiting download.com and type-in "Blu-ray playback" in the search box. They have a wide selection of free and trial versions of Blu-ray playback software. Should you require my assistance, please email me at cl-celeste@asus.com and include ref#1072-10777 in the subject line.

Sincerely,
Celeste
ASUS Customer Loyalty’

Pros: works as advertised

Cons: purchased 2-2012, stopped working 4-2013.