Pros: Pretty much what everyone has said here. However, i am writing this mostly to inform everyone of something that i bet most have missed (see other thoughts).

Cons: None really, just an issue with HDCP compliance that i'll explain more below. This is not a Con as it's clearly stated in multiple places. I simply overlooked it!

Other Thoughts: I bought this for my home PC with no intention of ever hooking it up to a real HDTV. In my research i had totally left out something rather important. You have to make SURE that your computer and monitor are HDCP compliant. Go google this if you don't what it is. I had completely overlooked this aspect. My entire computer is HDCP compliant (your video card, OS, video card drivers must all be compliant). However, monitor isn't! Due to no one but my own fault, i will have to buy a new monitor to watch any hi-def content!

Pros: Plays HD-DVD's and Blu-Ray with no problems, once I got rid of the packaged player.

Cons: No problems with the hardware. However, I could not get the included PowerDVD to work. The BD advisor indicated my system should work. Uninstalled, reinstalled, updated, changed monitors. Nothing worked.

Other Thoughts: Found different HD player software available. Installed it and I'm watching HD movies. No issues, hassles or headaches.
A64 X2 4600+, LG's GGC-H20L, 2gig Ram, Seagate 320gig HDD, 8600GT, Mitsubishi 1000U, ALC850 audio.

Pros: Perfect! Not only does it play BD & HD movies flawlessly, but it even played some Paramount DVDs that my old DVD-ROM drive wouldn't! (i.e., Star Trek II, III, Star Trek: Voyager, etc.)

Cons: Um, it isn't free? ;-) Seriously, the only flaw I can find is that you need to upgrade the bundled PowerDVD Ultra software if you want more than simply 2-channel audio, which will set you back $79.95.

Other Thoughts: I purchased this drive for my PC so I could finally watch Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies (even though the format war is over now). It comes with CyberLink's PowerDVD Ultra (2 channel version) and playback of the movies was VERY choppy/stuttering or they wouldn't play back at all. After spending a few hours tinkering, I narrowed down the problem to the process DLLML.exe (a Creative Labs process that came with my X-Fi sound card). It was causing the drive to read the disc every few seconds and once I terminated the process, all movies played perfectly! Creative needs to release a fix for this soon; until then, I'm disabling the process from starting up anymore.

Pros: An excellent product. Plays both formats, even though Blu-ray looks to have won. Easy install and it's quiet. This is important during silent movie scenes! Oh ... and the cost ... you can't beat it anywhere!

Cons: The bundled software, Cyber Link's PowerDVD 7.3, Supports only Linear PCM, Dolby Digital and DTS ... all 5.1. Appears to down samples all others to 2.1 stereo, including Dolby TrueHD. Otherwise it plays without any issues. For the record, My HTPC has an X2 4800+, 2GB PC2-5400, 3200GB HD and an 8400GS w/HDMI out on Vista. Updates are hard to come by (See other thoughts).

Other Thoughts: Make sure you check for software updates to PowerDVD regularly. I installed it on Wednesday, version 7.3.xxxx (I forgot the minor version numbers). Bought Superbad on Thursday. Would not play disc 1 at all. On Friday, spent 4 hours trouble shooting. Discovered there was a not so apparent update during this 2 day period. *frustrating*. Updated to version 7.3.xxxx on Friday and ... whaaaala. Superbad plays. So, if a disc won't play ... make sure you got the latest and greatest. Since this copy is OEM ... you will have to work to get updates. Gonna give it 5 eggs despite this since the drive is a fantabulous deal!

Pros: ..you know what you're doing! For those who know how, playback isn't an issue. This product does what is says! It reads Blu-ray and HD DVD without a hitch. It burns as quickly as anything else out there, but I'm not going to THIS unit for that task anyway!

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: As I stated before, if you know what you're doing, playback of either format is not a problem.
HD requires a system with wubbles, mostly in the video card area. One word to future buyers, if you're running Vista, make sure you exceed the 'recommended' requirements by a good deal or you'll see problems, particularly on Blu-rays. That's the voice of experience. I moved back to XP on my media rigs.

Pros: After reading other reviews about iffy software bundled with this drive, and troubling with firmware upgrades, i decided to take the risk...

I built a new rig (see below), Then installed XP Service Pack 3, installed latest drivers for my 790GX motherboard, updated the LG BR drive firmware, then installed cyberlink powerdvd which asked me to dl a free software update which I did.

After that, BR movies worked right out of the box. Where was the risk? lol! Picture looks amazing and dvd playback is smooth as butter in 1080p! No skipping, jittering, sluggish sound...nothing! I've rented about 12 BR movies and watched another 20 or so regular DVDs with no problems or flaws. Haven't tested HDDVDs cuz I have none.

Cons: - Doesn't burn Blueray discs...but who needs to? Internal/External mass storage is DIRT CHEAP now.
- I prefer NERO software for burning which was not included with this drive, but software bundle was adequate and did its job.

Other Thoughts: My rig all from Newegg:
- AMD Phenom 9850 BE Retail
- BIOSTAR TA790GX AMD 790GX HDMI Motherboard
- OCZ Platinum 2x1GB 240-Pin DDR2 1066 Memory
- Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS SATA 500GB OEM
- LG Blu-ray/HD DVD-ROM SATA Model GGC-H20L Retail
- Antec Three Hundred Case
- Antec earthwatts EA380 380W PSU
- SAMSUNG T240HD 24" HDMI HDTV Monitor
- Windows XP Pro SP3

Pros: Blue Ray and HD plus a dual layer burner for regular dvd's. Pushing straight out to my 720p DLP projector, feeding SPDIF to my receiver. Plays smooth and clean and is quite responsive. I am able to play them from my HD Also

Cons: Need to upgrade my 720p projector now that I have 1180....and my sub tipped over my drinky pooh....

Other Thoughts: PowerDVD Ultra that comes with the drive will auto update and is able to play SPDIF as long as your sound card is 96MHZ as it requires. As of patch 3730 it removed the ability to play from ripped files. Need to use Anydvd and magic ISO or ImgBrn to create ISO files on your HD then use Magic Disc or similar virtual drive to mount them and it works well. Most BlueRays are single layers and the full rip averaging 22 gigs each, stripdown some are only 13 gigs.
I tried the combo on my 2 bench test computers and found that you definately need a good processor and at least 2 gigs of ram (Newegg is the best!)to run efficiently. Right now:xp5200, 2 gigs ram, 600 watt power, 8800gts.

Pros: It reads CD's DVD's, Blu-ray and HD-DVD's flawlessly. It burns CD-R's and DVD-R's.

Cons: none that I can blame on the drive itself. this drive is superb.

Other Thoughts: I had to upgrade my video card in order to play HD content on my PC, but that's ok, I needed it anyway. I bought a GeForce 8500GT here in NewEgg, which cost me only sixty six bucks, and it was all I needed to bring my PC up to speed and into the realm of HD movies.

Pros: Playback quality is good. Has played all disc types good. Loading/start time on play is acceptable. Chapter/title switching is near flawless in most cases.

Cons: Drive is fairly loud compared to other cdrom drives. Only came with 2 Channel audio version of power dvd- forced to buy the upgrade pack at $20 from Power DVD to enable true surround sound. You would think that an HD / BluRay drive should come with the proper software.

Other Thoughts: Overall still a good buy at $300 and no regrets.. just a little disappointed that they dont give a full featured dvd player out of the box.

Pros: This drive was easy to install. No drivers to download on Vista. Played both Blu-ray and HD-DVD without problems. I used PowerDVD that I already owned, so I can't comment on the included software.

Cons: None so far other than it is expensive.

Other Thoughts: I added this to my htpc. It is awesome that I can play both HD formats now.

Pros: Love this drive. Extremely quiet and plays back all of the DVDs and high-def 'blue' disks I've thrown at it. The included software takes advantage of your graphics hardware (nVidia and ATI) to offload your CPU.

Cons: I had to buy and install AnyDVD HD to play back blue disks, but that's my own fault as I have an old LCD that's not HDCP-compliant.

Other Thoughts: To the person asking about hooking up his 8800gt to his plasma: DVI to HDMI and vice/versa is still transmitting digital data... small electrical loss but should be no loss of digital data. This is a very common setup as PC cards with HDMI are still fairly rare.

Pros: - Plays Blu-ray, I think.
- Burns DVDs ok.

Cons: - Slow read for Blu-ray, DVD, everything.
- Power DVD 7 is garbage.
- A bit too long for certain cases.

Other Thoughts: The only way I am able to watch Blu-ray with these drives, is by placing a Blu-ray disc in it, and ripping it to the hard drive. Otherwise, the video keeps breaking up due to slow read. - DO NOT get the OEM version of this, or you won't even get the bad Power DVD 7 that comes with the retail version. You will eventually have to get Power DVD 9 Ultra.

Pros: Great Drive for the price..... a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a stand alone player. the HD DVD compatibility is the icing on the cake due to the fact that it's been outmoded I can get a lot of HD movies for pennies on the dollar and have a huge collection before I start buying Blu-Ray movies at retail price.
Hardware wise the installation was a snap (with one exception). The drive is fast even with the low cache memory. All the movies worked flawlessly after I installed the software FULLY and updated it.

Cons: 1. You MUST have internet connection to finish the install. If you do not you can not watch blu-ray movies. The reason is not LG's Fault but it's DRM (Digital Restriction Management) that is to blame. The software from Cyberlink requires that you install a special (free) update as well as update your firmware (you have to update the firmware every 18 months) prior to watching your fist HD disc (both formats) if you fail to do so right then then it'll disable hardware acceleration (causing it pixel up badly,) your menus will be unusable or the disc will not play. To cure the problem you'll have to uninstall ALL the software and reinstall it then Update everything before watching the movies. This needs to be put into the requirements section on the box.
2. To get surround sound, DTS, etc. you must buy a licence key from Cyberlink and upgrade If not 2.1 Dolby Digital is all you get.
3. there was a SATA Data Cable but no power cable in my box (luckly I had several spare one.)

Other Thoughts: Get yourself a HDCP compatible video card to go with this (another DRM requirement issue) instaed of useing "AnyDVD HD" because not only is it a very expensive subscription based software, but is illegal to have in the US.

Still in the long run it's still a great buy and still way cheaper than buying a stand alone unit

Pros: Please see other thoughts

Cons: I have tried this drive on 955X and 975X-based computers. I am noticing some negative things:

1. The presence of this drive causes lots of boot difficulties. My BIOS is up to date on both systems, but after running through several hard drives and SATA drives, I came to the conclusion that this drive can interfere with normal boot operations, irregardless of MB's SATA/compatability mode. To confirm this, I swapped it out with a Lite-On Blu-Ray SATA drive and my problems were gone. No problems with an older IDE-based DVD drive either. This drive causes repeatable and persistent boot hangs.

2. This drive's presence will frequently throw the BIOS boot order off as well. This entails a DEL or F2 to enter BIOS and set correct boot drive. Again, this problem follows this drive and this drive only.

3. Even at the desktop the drive would frequently not be visible.

4. It would not install WinXP correctly.

Other Thoughts: I've only tried this drive on 2 boards with 2 different chipsets, so I can't say this is universal, but it's definitely a problem for me.

After trying different boards, cables, SATA ports, types of drives (3.5, 2.5, and SSD) and both PATA and SATA interfaces, I think there are some issues with this drive.

Also, I noticed that hot-plugging it during a BIOS hang would immediately release the system to boot. Not the safest thing to try, but an interesting result nonetheless.

Maybe this is peculiar to the ICH7R controller, but it also throws off my 3Ware-based boot drive as well, just not as severely.

Too bad it's the only HD-DVD & Blu-Ray combo drive. That should become less relevant as more HD-DVD-only titles are being re-released Blu-Ray.

Pros: Plays Blu-ray and HD-DVD with the right software. Haven't had any compatibility issues. Extremely easy install. Built a blu-ray/hd HTPC for a fraction of the price of any stand-alone blu-ray player on the market and with better quality and more features than any player currently available.

Cons: Had a little issue in the physical installation. I used this as the centerpiece of a HTPC, so I had a fancy HTPC case with a little trap-door for the disk drive's try to pop out of. The tray wouldn't quite line up with the hole and it would get jammed when I tried to open it. Compared with standard DVD drives I have, the tray location on the face of this one is just a few mm higher, which is enough to cause the interference. A little creative shimming of the drive and I got it to work, but it was a hassle. If you want sleek HTPC, be prepared to do some custom case modding, or else be sure to get one where the entire face of the drive is exposed.

Other Thoughts: Haven't tried burning DVD's. Included software (power dvd) is trial version only and has surround-sound disabled. C'mon, that's just low. They'll be happy to sell you the new version for a hundred bucks, but it doesn't play HD-DVD anymore because they lost the format war. Arcsoft has software that's even more expensive that will play both types, but they haven't worked out their blu-ray DTS support issues as of the time of this posting. So in other words, player software is going to be a headache for you if you want all the features. Just be prepared for that and also be ready to spend as much on software as you did on hardware.

Pros: I've had no problem with the drive. It quickly loads and plays all of the titles I currently own and have rented, both Blu-Ray and HD DVD. Installation is a breeze, and the drive is shallow enough that it fits inside of my mATX X-QPack case with 500W PSU. Overall, I'm very happy with this purchase. However, users should be aware that you'll likely need to drop another $90 if you want full surround audio support out of your discs.

Cons: The OEM version of PowerDVD 7 that ships with the drive is OK. I had no issues with playback, however, it does not support Dolby Digital or DTS audio output, but appeared to downmix to stereo. I DO NOT advise upgrading to version 8. For one, it costs an additional $85 and it drops support for HD DVD. So if you upgrade, you pretty much kill the point of the combo drive. In addition, vers. 8 would not play Blu-Ray titles I own that vers. 7 would.

Other Thoughts: To their credit, Cyberlink refunded my money after I complained about the sub-par experience with the upgrade. The fact that it wouldn't play the same BD discs (at least on my system: AMD Opty 185, 2GB, 8800 GT, Win XP Pro, MSI mATX mobo) that the bundle version did was unsettling. I tried W1nDVD and that would crash trying to load 300 BD. I finally ended up settling on Arc S0fts Total Media Theatre, which supports digital audio out, and so far has again played every disc I own or have rented, both HD and BD. Give the demo a try if you need HD/BD support and DTS or 5.1 digital audio output.

Pros: If you are looking to get into Hi-Def or need a back-up HD-DVD player - this is an excellent choice. You can buy cheap HD DVDs now and Blu Ray when you are so inclined. SATA drive installed right out the box into a custom built computer (XFX 680i LT Motherboard, Quad 6600, 2 GB Ram, On-board HD Audio, Z5500 speakers, 24" LCD). Played great with no problems. Installed software that came with product (played movies fine) BUT HAD TO UPGRADE to get full audio offering ($79.95). It sucks but do it, you won't regret it.

Cons: HD playback requires a pretty powerful computer. Don't skimp here or you will regret it. You need HDCP compliant video card AND monitor for DVI connection.

Other Thoughts: 1: Most people don't know that you can't get Dolby TrueHD through S/PDIF (digital) because of limitations in the specification. You want TrueHD, you must use HDMI 1.1 (transcoded to LPCM) or HDMI 1.3. PLAYER DOES NOT HAVE A HDMI CONNECTION.
2. Watched a HD movie, decoded a DVD and had my email program open and my computer didn't even break a sweat (under 50% CPU processing).

Pros: This drive is outstanding... I had reservations about buying it at first due to folks saying that nvidia chipsets aren't compatible....but I took a chance and this thing ROCKS...Blu ray, HD dvd, lightscribe, the only thing this drive won't do is cook your meals..

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: For the person that asked about compatibility with nvidia chipsets.... I'm running a eVGA nvidia 680i lt mobo and it works great... w/ vista ultimate and XP pro

Pros: 1. Unwrap 2. Connect 3. Reboot 4. HD bliss!

It just worked out of the box with both HD-DVD and BluRay movies. Surprisingly quiet.

Cons: The drive is too long to fit in the external enclosure I used for my old DVD-burner.

Other Thoughts: I had the retail version of PowerDVD Ultra installed already. Based on other people's negative comments I didn't bother with the OEM version that came with the drive.

Pros: You won't have to choose a side in the format war.
I installed it, then installed the software - it all worked without a hitch. Super easy.

Cons: PowerDVD software bundled is a bit 'hobbled'

Other Thoughts: Do your homework and make sure you have a HDCP compliant setup (or just use ANYDVD HD)

Pros: Very Quiet. Excellent picture Quality. Good customer support. Good HD/BD media playing software.

Cons: Pricey. But if you want a Dual stand alone player its $650 to $999. Some bugs in software. Picture loading time takes anywhere between 1 to 2 min.

Other Thoughts: Good Customer support. Picked up the call in less than a minute. Installation was smooth. Like the other reviewer said the drive is little long. But since its SATA no cable mess. The software that comes is a Full version with SPDIF support (5.1 CH DD and DTS). Satoru - Here is what you need to do. Uninstall the software, clean ur drive for temp files. Re-boot. Re-install the software. Load a BD/HD movie. Wait for while. It will prompt for 2 patch updates. DO NOT INSTALL THE FIRST PATCH. WAIT FOR THE SOFTWARE TO PROMPT FOR SECOND PATCH AND INSTALL IT. THE PATCH SHOULD BE CALLED "PowerDVD_73.exe". DO NOT INSTALL "CyberLink_PowerDVD_73.exe".
Dude - Connect ur 8800GT to the TV with DVI to HDMI cable. Configure Nvidia software to use TV as only display.

My Config. Gigabyte K8N (S939) mobo, X2 3800, 2G DDR Gskill ram, EVGA HDCP enabled 8600GT 512MB PCI-E, 250GB Maxtor HDD, Theatre 550 pro Tv-tuner, Ahanix Media center case.

Pros: Plays blu-rays, includes software. Does what it is supposed to do. Cost 1/3 as much as a standalone player. Looks good and sounds good. As long as the hardware doesn't cr@p out I'll be happy as heck.

Cons: None so far. Other reviews here had me worried but its working fine.

Other Thoughts: Comes with PowerDVD 7. I did have to download the big patch but the drive and PowerDVD has worked on every disc I've tried so far. I also tested the bootleg PowerDVD 9 and could see no difference in performance from the included version. Picture quality is darn close (if not equal to) to the PQ with my stand alone Sony player. Yeah, it won't boot from the drive if it is in SATA mode in the BIOS settings - needs to be changed to AHCI mode. I've seen this with other SATA drives so I don't think its a defect of the drive.

I'm running this in a Gigabyte 780G mATX, Phenom 2.3 GHz, 2 GB memory using the onboard Realtek sound via optic connection.

Pros: Quiet drive, plays discs. Does as advertised.

Cons: No software support for playing blu-ray discs for any operating system besides windows. Linux users are left out in the cold. The only way I can play blu-ray discs in linux is to use something like AnyDVD in windows and rip them to disc. If I had to do it over again, I would not buy this blu-ray drive until there is better linux support, less DRM on the discs themselves, and HDCP of course is just a pain in the neck no matter what operating system you are running.

Other Thoughts: Make sure you have a drive cover because the blinking blue activity LED will drive you nuts while trying to watch a movie. Or electrical tape works well too.

Pros: HD-DVD Capability
Lightscribe Ability

Cons: If you use the default software installation, it puts in some things that are a bit annoying, such as the utility that constantly monitors for updated firmware.

Other Thoughts: I took the tips of other reviewers and downloaded the update manually from Cyberlink's website. Works great with all my HD-DVD and Blu-Ray titles, both in Vista 64 Home Premium and the Windows 7 64bit Ultimate Beta.

Pros: Reads everything - CD, DVD, Blu-ray, HD DVD. No problems whatsoever reading 50gb (dual-layer) Blu-ray content.

Cons: Actual Blu-ray and HD DVD read speed is far lower than advertised. The specification claims it can read Blu-ray media at 6x, but the fastest I have seen it handle sequential reads is around 7 to 8 megabytes per second which is roughly 2x. HD DVD read speed is about the same.

Pros: DVD: good
HD-DVD: good
Blu-Ray: good
Burning: I don't use it for burning so can't comment on that.
I've had 2 of these drives for 6 months now and another OEM drive for about a month, all of them worked right out of the box.
Installed it on an ancient single-core P4 3.0GHz; did my research before buying.
With the right video card (AGP HD2400) it plays all the HD movies I want, albeit 720p. I don't have a 1080p display to check 1080p playback.
Collection of HD movies played in this drive: Blu-Ray: ~50
HD-DVD:~45
HD playback on PC (especially Blu-Ray) is very, very complicated because of all the protection and keys involved. Newer BDs have newer protection keys which may not work. Not a fault of the drive, the playback software has to patch in the new version.
If you offload HD decoding onto a HD card you can play HD on single-core PCs.
If anyone needs more advice, send me an email.

Cons: None so far.
Drive is great,
PowerDVD S/W: video - great; audio - sucks
But that is not the LG's fault. S/W is complimentary, an advert to get people to buy PowerDVD.

Other Thoughts: I can understand a product failing to work as advertised and the frustration it causes. I have been in that boat all too often. However, people seem to forget that with computers there are thousands and thousands of combinations possible. There are numerous h/w choices, firmware, drivers and s/w. Everybody's installation is different. Everybody's problem is different.
eg.: When I first purchased this drive, it wouldn't play a majority of the BDs; HD-DVDs-no probs. I updated the firmware-no fix, updated s/w-no fix, uninstalled/re-installed AGP drivers-no fix. Can you guess what the problem turned out to be?....Netflix: Apparently, Netflix's sorting m/c cracks BDs near the edge. I tried BB BDs and voila - prob solved.
Moral of the story: If it doesn't work, the prob. might just be somewhere else in your PC & if you do have the bad luck of getting a defective item, get it replaced.
After all, if >90% can get a working drive, the replacement might just work for you! Newegg Rocks!!!!

Pros: Great drive, I only rent Blu-ray movies now. Seemless firmware upgrade.
Comes with Blu-ray PowerDVD (save over bare OEM).

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Must update PowerDVD (for free) or it will not work properly - again very easy - my kids can do it. Bunch of people posting "Buy Sly.soft" - no need really to spend extra $$$ if you know what you doing and have right components.

Pros: This drive is excellent. Plays everything out of the box. Included software should be ignored. PowerDVD Ultra had issues playing most Blu-Rays, but a recent update fixed it. Until then I was using Corel WinDVD for Blu-ray. Corel had a habit of screwing up the aspect ratio of HD's, so it was a perfect pairing, PowerDVD for HD's, and Corel for Blu-rays. That changed with the PowerDVD update though, and I didn't need Corel any more.

Cons: was getting ready to reinstall OS from XP-Pro to Vista 64 Ultimate. Got a notice of a firmware update (1.03). I installed it.. and now I can't play HD-DVD's. Blu-rays still play perfect, but HD's crash out no matter what player you use. I called Tech Support at LG.. they know about the issue and their IS NO FIX. Reflashing an older firmware fixes nothing. The drive is borked for HD's now, and they are sneding me prepaid shipping labels to replace the drive.

Other Thoughts: Newest and freshest updates aren't always the best idea. if something aint broke... don't screw with it. :( . I just bought 40 HD-DVDs for like $3 a piece brand new and now I can't watch them till they send my replacement drive (cry). Leave the firmware alone unless the an update SPECIFICALLY addresses an issue you're experiencing.

Pros: Great price,Quiet operation,Good build quality, Newegg is by far the BEST online or off line place to buy PC hardware.

Cons: They burrie the firmware update on there website.

Other Thoughts: IMPORTATNT.I didn't need the software program I already had (WinDVD 9 plus) installed on my Vista 64bit HTPC. The problem I ran into was when I tried to watch (Jumpers) Blu-ray I got a (REAGION code(A) error it took me 5 hours to fix the problem.In which I had to (UNINSTALL) WinDVD9 plus from my machine then install the DVD drive itself then (RE-Download) WinDVD9 plus from the website and re-install it with the DVD Drive installed.Now it works great with no region code errors.

Pros: I've never had a problem with this drive. It works great and quite a bit quieter than my secondary dvd drive. Would highly recommend if you have a collection of HD DVDs.

Cons: Bought it when it was much more expensive- if only I had waited two more months...

Other Thoughts: The drive works great, but I have had problems getting PowerDVD to work 100% of the time. The whole HDCP stuff can cause a big compatibility issue.

Pros: See below

Cons: See below

Other Thoughts: This is an update to my earlier review. The seek noise playing dvds ended up being PowerDvd. Other players don't have that issue. 5 stars for the drive itself.

Pros: This is an update to a previous review asking for people for help. I was a bit concern for previous reviews stating that this drive does not work with NVIDIA chipset. Well, they were wrong...it's working for me on my EVGA 780i! Drive is silent, reads Standard DVDs, HD, and Blue-ray like it’s supposed to. PS. I didn’t use the OEM software bundle, instead I purchased the ultra version 7. Although the format war is over, it’s nice to be able to view any format you chose and/or own.

Cons: None, this drive rocks!

Other Thoughts: Current Build: EVGA 780i MB, Intel E8400 CPU, ZALMAN 9500A CPU fan, 8 GB Corsair DDR2 XMS2 RAM, 2X Seagate 7200.11 500GB HDD Raid 0, 2X EVGA 9600GT KO in SLI, Corsair 750W SLI Ready PSU, Samsung SH-S203N DVD drive, LG-GGC H20L HD DVD / Blue-ray drive, triple boot XP Pro SP2 32bit / Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit / Linux UBUNTU 6.06. All inside an ANTEC 900 and displayed in a LG W2452T-TF 24” Monitor (Monitor not purchased at newegg…newegg’s LCD return policy stinks).

Pros: Reads both high def. formats, writes Dual layer DVDs (somewhat important), Lightscribe. SATA interface.

Cons: Drive is longer than usual drives, keep this in mind when consider purchasing for a small case. Bundled OEM PowerDVD software is limited to 2CH audio, and updates won't let you surpass this restriction. You will have to purchase retail PowerDVD for full audio experience (surround and such).

Other Thoughts: Drive could not play blu-ray and HD DVD disks after installation. PowerDVD updates did not help. I was going to give up and send it back, but it did not look broken (could read/write SD DVDs). So I have checked all connections. Turned out drive was not getting enough power... Now it works.
If you still have problems, try to update video drivers.

Pros: Great drive once you get it going. Cyberlink software is horrible. Do yourself a favor and either buy the full copy online or the 3319a version so you can use AnyDVD.

Cons: Took me about 4 days to get it working. My motherboard is pretty old so there were a lot of updates that I needed. Make sure you have UDF 2.5. Vista comes with it, XP does not. Also this thing is unplayable on any nvidia chipset. Do not even think about it. Intel for sure and some ATI. Get looking into the forums and you will see everyone with a nvidia chipset had to buy a PCI SATA controller. I did after 3 days then got it working. Oh well, it was only $20. Also make sure you 1394 controller is up to date. Mine was not and that was a major problem.

Other Thoughts: After all of the headaches and playback issues and bad UDF drivers (be careful on which one you get) this thing is incredible. Just wonderful. Very fast at reading and writing. If you want to get into HD this is for you. Also two in one with the dual format. Plus considering that BD-R discs cost what..$30-$40 bucks per I will stick with DVD-DL for a while longer.

Pros: Plays both Blu-Ray and HD DVD and doesn't break the bank, at least compared to other options. Fantastic picture quality in both formats. I haven't had a problem playing any movies with it.

Cons: None for the drive itself, but you definitely need a beefy system to be able the handle the demands of the HD video. My motherboard's integrated ATI video with HDMI was HDCP compliant, but the playback was practically a slideshow. Bought an 8-series nVidia card, only to find out that not all cards in that series support HDCP. Finally got another 8-series card that does support HDCP and now everything is perfect.

Other Thoughts: I did a ton of research before buying, but if you're trying to keep the cost down like I was you may run into similar problems. The documentation available online isn't always enough, so you may be in for some trial and error.

Pros: Reads both Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs for a lot less cash than stand-alone, dual-format HD players. No more immediate worries about which high-def DVD format to buy.

Cons: Only so-so as a standard DVD burner--but that's not why I purchased it in the first place. I already have a good DVD burner.

Other Thoughts: Finally, a dual-format hi-def DVD ROM drive at a reasonable price.

Pros: Excellent bang for your buck, plays both HD formats, quiet, overall just a great drive.

Cons: people writing reviews who are too ignorant to realize their computers are too weak to use this drive.

Other Thoughts: The people who write reviews and claim to be using onboard video or old graphics cards (Radeon 9700). You all need to learn that you need an HDCP enabled graphics card..meaning something new..such as the Geforce 8 series or the ATI HD2k series. If you use this drive and your PC isn't up to snuff, thats your problem, don't give this drive a bad review.

Pros: Very quiet. Plays both formats without a hitch. Powerdvd works just fine. No Blu ray or HD compatibility issues at all.

Cons: The software that comes with it works but I could not update do to it being OEM or whatever. You have to upgrade to the Retail version to get the updates. The blu ray disc seem to take longer to load!?!

Other Thoughts: Works well in a HTPC and I have had Zero problems.

Pros: Fantastic drive for any HTPC build. Great price for a BD/HD DVD combo drive. Cyberlink PowerDVD easy to use, no problems. Very quiet.

Cons: None so far.

Other Thoughts: Though the drive is a little long I had no problems installing it in a NSK2400/2480 case. One issue is I wasn't able to install this drive to be flush against the front of the case. Ah well.

Pros: The drive is quite, works with a bunch of different HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies I have thrown at it so far. The load times are decent, I think about 15-20sec.

Cons: The Powerdvd 7 Ultra that comes with the drive is suppose not be a trial, but for me I was a trial. I recieved no cd key in any documentation, on the physical cd, or in the data on the cd. Although powerdvd might be a somekind of a pre-reged version, I had powerdvd 7 ultra installed a while back but I uninstalled it before the trial was up.

Also the included software "suite" of Cyberlink apps is horrible. It installs every one has a separate program even though you are only really given a launcher to choose from once everything is installed

Other Thoughts: If you are looking to backup your HD-DVD/Blu-ray movies to your hard drive, it takes 1-2hrs depending how much data there is. So the drive isn't super fast at reading but it does get the job done with watching HD-DVD/Blu-ray movies. Similar to early DVD-ROM drives.

Pros: I love this drive, it was easy to set up, came with all of the necessary cables/discs/documentation, and its Blu-Ray! How can you go wrong at such a low price!

Cons: None at all.

Other Thoughts: I set this drive up externally using a cobbled-together mish-mash of cables, but it ran great on my laptop connected to a 42" Plasma via VGA. You have no idea how great the picture is!

One note: Before you can play any discs, you will need to download an 89MB patch from Creative. The program takes you through all of the necessary steps though, so no worries.

Pros: This drive requires the installation of a Blu-ray software player to play BD disks. It will read and write regular CDs and DVD's. I will give it 4 eggs because the price was right. It is not a BD burner.

Cons: The enclosed software (Power DVD) will require an update (no charge) to work. The drive also needs to download an update to the firmware to run. After all this it does play BD. It is a bit of a hassle

Other Thoughts: It would be nice if the drive and enclosed software were up to date and ready to run. I believe that copy protection schemes are the reason for the updates

Pros: The drive serves its purpose well, the price is great, and it is a great product if you want to make rips

Cons: The powerdvd software provided with this drive sucks...it only plays 2.0 stereo sound; if you decide to play this using a surround system, you must upgrade to get the full experience

Other Thoughts: Overall, this is a great drive and I would recommend this to anybody

Pros: Plays nearly every format under the sun. Writes most of those too. Comes with CyberLink software that is compatible with Windows XP MCE 2005 Remote ... gotta love that, cause MCE leaves you in the dark on BD support (without a bunch of tinkering). By I digress... this thing works well, and access speed is really stand out. Excellent drive, easily the best I have ever owned.

Cons: Makes chirping noise on boot and sometimes when first accessing a disc. Nothing crazy loud or anything, it's just that odd noises from technology usually are worth noting to future buyers so that when they hear them, they expect it. Also, the light on this thing could be used to land planes. As such, I put a little piece of black electricaly tape over it... "problem" solved.

Other Thoughts: You already have a computer with DVI/HDMI out, why buy a set top BD player? This is cheaper, and faster, and can be used with a basic MCE remote (via included Cyberlink software).

Pros: Excellent performance (up to 6X!) for Blu Ray, as well as HD DVD (3X, I believe). Burns DVD discs flawlessly (including DL; preferred media list provided in owner's manual), and at more than sufficient speeds for most users. Windows Vista 64 detected it immediately (once I connected it correctly; more on that below) and downloaded drivers on first bootup. Great performance, and extremely quiet. A really exceptional drive at an excellent price, delivered promptly -- excellent newegg service and pricing (hint - also on verbatim media)

Cons: Quite a bit of discussion on numerous forums regarding people having difficulty connecting the drive where it can be recognized properly. However . . . (see below)

Other Thoughts: If you have problems getting this drive recognized by your system: First thing you might want to check is whether you are using the SATA connector enabled for SATA optical drives. After hooking the drive up to my ASUS mobo (ASUS M3N72-D AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard [newegg N82E16813131323]) to SATA input 5, drive was not recognized at all. I went through numerous forums with many exotic proposed solutions. In my case (running Windows Vista 64), I noted in my mobo manual that SATA connections 1-4 (red cluster) are specifically IDE enabled, and designed to run optical drives. If you are experiencing problems with this drive, check the specs on your own mobo and see which specific SATA connectors are enabled for SATA optical drives. That may save you hours of digging through lots of useless spitballing discussions, and allow you to enjoy a truly superb drive at a great price (thanks again, Newegg)

Pros: Plays everything flawlessly in full screen and in HD. Once you download the PowerDVD patch, it will play your DVDs in an upscaled resolution depending on your HDTV. PLays any standard Bu Ray or HD-DVD disks in full screen [unless the movie is formatted differently], for example The DarK Knight on Blu Ray is full screen in most out-door sceens but has black bars on the top and bottom in indoor sceens. Plays DVDs in a similar fashion. The cool thing is that even due to the movies format you can change the aspect ratio to force a full screen veiw without even changing or lowering the resolution or veiwing quality. This drive is fast and awesome, a great buy, and and even better buy once prompted to upgrade the software it came with. Mine asked me to upgrade after I inserted a Blu Ray movie. Its free.

Cons: None really. Does everything. Thank you nVidia Pure Videa HD.

Other Thoughts: The drive uses all this video acceleration software such as nViida Pure Video HD, and Dolby Sound etc.......
Its pretty nice and seems to make a difference. I,m sure most HD disk players that are separate from computers come with such software built in, but we will never really know who made it, what verion it is and how good it is like we can in a comptuers HD ROM =)

Pros: Drive works as advertised.

Cons: The included software can be frustrating when it comes to handling audio on certain movies. On some Blu-ray discs with "HD" audio tracks, I've been forced to settle for stereo sound. I don't have one of those new HDMI-out sound cards, and HD tracks will not carry over S/PDIF. While blu-ray specs require 5.1 tracks to be present, either the tracks are missing in some instances, or the software won't/can't access them. Analog audio outputs do not save the day, since OEM version of software apparently limits analog audio output to 2 channels. So discs like Casino Royale, which only feature HD audio tracks, play with stereo sound. Which kinda stinks.

If the disc includes a 5.1 track, it will work via S/PDIF.

This limitation is solely related to the included software, not the drive itself.

Other Thoughts: Had been using external Xbox 360 HD DVD drive. This drive is, obviously, far superior to that add-on.

Thanks to all prior posters who gave a heads-up as to software issues re: HD DVD playback.

Pros: Plays BD and HD. SATA

Cons: Did not work on my system with SATA controler in IDE mode. Hard to diagnose because I would get no error messages. I could not instal Win7, but I could install Ubuntu, and the drive worked well.

After instaling 7 using a USB CDR, I found that accessing the drive caused Windows to hang.

Changing the SATA mode to AHCI from IDE fixed the problem.

Other Thoughts: See MS Knowlegebase Article ID: 922976

Pros: Decent price, quiet BD playback, and easy installation.

Cons: Blue light on drive is very, very bright. Could be solved with tape, or hiding HTPC, but mines under the TV.

Other Thoughts: Bought this for my HTPC setup and works great so far. Watched two Blue-ray movies and there was no stuttering or anything that would make me cringe. Installed the firmware update with the included updating software.

Used the included player (Cyberlink Power DVD) which is okay. Personally, I prefer WinDVD, but only costing slightly more than OEM, it's a good way to get you up and going. Updated PowerDVD before I ever tried to play a BD, but worked great. BD Live also works.

HTPC Specs:
Proc - Athlon X2 4850e 45W Dual-Core 2.5Ghz
Cooler - Scythe Ninja Mini (no fan)
Mobo - Asus M3N78-EM
DVD - LG GGC-H20L (Retail Version)
RAM - 4GB Corsair PC2 6400
Case - Antec NSK2480
Windows Vista 32 bit Ultimate

p.s.
The noise on this system is almost zero. Only running two 120mm fans (one on low, other on med), and the stock Antec 120mm PSU fan).

Pros: It works. Just plug it in and it works. I have it set up in an eVGA 780i F.T.W. mobo, I installed Vista Business 64-bit w/SP1 (very important that it is WITH SP1).

Cons: Bundled software is useless except for the driver and firmware update program. Just get PowerDVD 8 Ultra and ImgBurn or Nero.

Other Thoughts: Great piece of hardware.

Pros: As with my first review, it's still the best and almost only game in town for orphaned HD-DVD titles. It does load titles quickly - almost as fast as my PS3 and much faster than many of the hardware players I read reviews of. And remember, you are getting a data-grade transport that is probably going to be more durable than a consumer-grade transport in a stand-alone player.

Cons: Not really a con, but it does not work on any of the secondary SATA connectors/channels (e.g., Marvell) on my Intel-based MB's. Plan on using one of your main ICH/Intel connectors or whatever type your MB has. From what I have read, most secondary SATA controllers don't support optical drives, so, again, not a con per se unless your main MB ports are all occupied.

Other Thoughts: Took a chance and bought a second one since they were on sale for $35 off!. Since my first review here is what I have found: 1. DON'T take the PowerDVD's auto-updater suggestions. Go directly to the Cyberlink site and choose their OEM update. It will work, at least on XP Pro. 2. WinDVD 9+BR is highly problematic when playing newer titles. It works great on older ones and regular DVD's but the UPDATED PowerDVD OEM is far superior. 3. This drive is functioning normally compared to the first one and its replacement. 4. I still recommend having Slysoft's AnyDVD-HD to punch through HDCP issues, although it does have a couple quirks of its own. But these are minor compared to the HDCP help it provides. 5. Be careful if you are using the firmware updater and be absolutely sure if you can/should be updating your firmware. LG is not super-clear on this.

Pros: I originally got this drive as an external, and have just recently added it to my new desktop. Plays Blu-Ray like it's no ones business. Never had a problem with any of my disks. Reads dvds that other drives fuss about. Burns fast enough, and the glossy finish is nice too!

Cons: Slightly longer than regular DVD drives, but only a fool would complain about that.

Other Thoughts: If you want to play Blu-Ray on your fancy monitor, this is the way to go.

Pros: Plays both HD DVD and Blu-ray movies without a hitch. Includes the software to watch the movies. I think the video quality on my computer surpasses that on TV, and my 19" LCD monitor is 8 years old.

Cons: I just wish the included software was full-feature. But, as it is, it is good enough.

Other Thoughts: Remember the overhead for movies, because it is significant. A VC-1 encoded movie, which is most HD DVD's, plays better than a MPEG-4 encoded movie, which is most Blu-Ray's. A MPEG-4 movie maxes out my older Athlon 64 X2. Playback is choppy at times. Far less so with VC-1 movies. Make sure your computer is powerful enough. A newer computer should be.

Pros: Amazing quality of picture. The software it comes with is pretty good. I don't have a 5.1 or anything so my 2 speaker system is good for now. At least I didn't have to buy anything extra to play the Blu-Ray discs... haven't tried an HDDVD yet, but that isn't really what I bought it for.

Cons: The software is very touch and go. I installed the software off the cd and it wouldn't run any discs. I went to their website and upgraded to the next version. It worked great after that. Then I noticed there was another update... so I installed it and then nothing worked (buffer overflow errors). I uninstalled it and put it back to the version that worked. The only other con would be that I am now a snob in that I only want to watch blu-ray :)

Other Thoughts: For the price I don't think that you can beat this unit. Don't get discouraged if it doesn't work automatically... go to the website.

Pros: I just bought this thing in store and a day later NE have it for nearly 40$ less @ 180$ so I went right away and return it and get it from NE and save myself some $ to buy other things. Amazing video quality that I notice vs a regular DVD. This thing is the only drive so far that can burn regular dvd at this price. This drive is really silent as other user has stated. Playing on my Acer 24" glossy LCD also from Newegg look amazing and sound quality really help you experience true HD. I had to upgrade to PowerDVD 8 to use 6channel sound. Price is fair for this kind of quality and it give you bragin' rights. Barely break a sweat on my q6600 3.2ghz quadcore @10-15% load. Also I think my ATI HD3870x2 help alot with the rendering and ease out the CPU.

Cons: PowerDVD v7xx doesn't do this HD any justice. You neither have to upgrade to fully enjoy it or use some other software. I notice some noise on the movie while playing when I look up close but @ 3ft it you won't notice it. The only real cons goes to PowerDVD OEM version that are not fully unlocked. Also the PowerDVD v8 doesn't seem to have HD DVD support? The lacks of BlueRay movie avaiable (lol I've watch them all on DVD and most in theather already).

Other Thoughts: If you never seen a BlueRay/HD DVD in action on your desktop then this is a must buy and you'll won't regret it a bit unless you have a low end machine :)

Pros: The Drive is quiet, good for HTPC application. Plays all the formats that it is advertised to play. It was easy to install. The drive is SATA and thus is faster then EIDE.

Cons: Provided software (Power DVD OEM) worked fine, however, you only have access to multi channel sound (5.1) if you use digital out (SPIF pass through), analogue only provides 2 channel sound. And most importantly, there is no plug-in or software available for VISTA Media Center (VMC) that allows you to watch a Blue Ray or HD movie within media center. This is more an issue for Windows but it is still a distraction that affects overall product satisfaction. I have found plug-ins that with the selection on a task in VMC will reduce the Media Center window and open Power DVD allowing you to play Blue Ray or HD content using the Power DVD player (independent of VMC). This works but it is not a very elegant solution.

Pros: Does all it says and does it well.

Cons: Power DVD is not full retail version

Pros: If you want to add hidef to your pc or multimedia pc, this is the drive for you. Works great on my pc , which is 3.0 ghz Wolfdale, 4 GB ram, 8800 gt, on Vista. No problems but you will want to update the included PowerDVD, which it flags you with a pop up soon after install. I use Nero 8 and PowerDVD for playback.

Cons: None. Someday hopefully these will be below $100, but until then Newegg had the best price in town.

Other Thoughts: Drive is quiet, but I still need to check the burner capabilities. Got this mainly for Blu Ray and HD-DVD playback. I have a large collection of both types of discs.

Pros: Plays my HD-DVD just fine, haven't tried Blu-Ray yet. It's quiet except for a slight noise when it first loads up, I only notice it because my PC is right next to me on top of my desk.

Cons: I can't get this to play when I have a dual monitor output. I have a monitor and a projector hooked up to my computer. Each has HDCP as does the video card. When I play through one or the other it works great, but when I try to run dual (even when cloning) it says it's not HDCP compliant. If anyone knows how to get this to work please HELP.

Pros: blu-ray and hd-dvd combined in 1 drive.

Cons: software included does not work, period. Updating it won't work either.

Other Thoughts: software, software, i can't stress enough about what awful software. things should work of the box right? had to downgrade to my original powerdvd to get the thing to work, took me over 2 hours to watch transformers.

Pros: Playes everything I have put in it so far. Runs cool and quiet.
Smooth video play back,using PDVD Ultra full version,also using Media Portal looks amazing.

Cons: The body is full length,close quarters in a HTPC. Comes with a chopped up copy of Power DVD Ultra,that cant be upgraded to the full version.

Other Thoughts: This is the retail version, LG supports and and has firmware updates if nessesary. But I have yeat to have any issues running winxp.

Pros: This is in response to kray28. I also bought this drive. The software itself does not downgrade lossless sound...It's your sound card. For current media, such as this drive, buy any of the X-Fi soundcards and you will be just fine. The sound card you have MOST likely doesn't not support the 96khz sound that the drive is seeking. So it's the hardware that is downgrading sound quality, not the software. Also, in your settings for Cyberlink change the audio settings to SPDIF for digital sound and that'll answer all your sound issue problems.

Cons: None at all, except for the awesome picture sound that comes off of it!!

Other Thoughts: Buy it now!

Pros: You get the best of both worlds with a dual format player that will play either HD format.
Setup was easy and the software (Cyberlink PowerDVD) worked fine after an online update.
So far every HDDVD and Blu-Ray disk I have tried has worked.

Cons: Cyberlink software needs to be upgraded in order to get surround sound.
Software needs to update in order to play Blu-Ray titles quite frequently. Download for update is hefty and slow as well.
Software also downsamples all lossless audio regardless of version.

Other Thoughts: For the money, this is still one of the best values out there....particularly if you already have a dedicated HTPC hooked up to your HD set.

Regarding software updates....if you're going to be using the OEM license of the Cyberlink software...be sure to make sure automatic updates are enabled as you'll need to update fairly often mainly for DRM reasons.

Pros: Does what it's supposed to, reads all disc formats, full-disc read speed is fair: ~30-45 minutes depending on disc.

Cons: Price. Still in it's infancy as well, will be a while for burners to come down in price.

Other Thoughts: Routed to Samsung 40"LCD tv via DVI->HDMI cable. Movies ran as they should, quick seek times for chapter changes. Gaming/HTPC e6600@3.0, 8800gts OC, 1x160gb 2x750gb, 2gb Corsair.

Pros: plays both hi-def formats including dvd and cd. retail version included software player which supports full surround sound (5.1, 7.1) including SPDIF output (unable to confirm HDMI output). was all installed and running in 5 minutes

Cons: price. this will drop rapidly in the coming months though. guess you could play the waiting game. the included sata cable is a bit short but fine for my application

Other Thoughts: freedom to choose whichever format you want, and often one is cheaper than the other which results in cost savings. the only "winners" in this "war" are the dual formatters :) hurrah!

Pros: PowerDVD-HD is bundled. When I fired up PowerDVD-HD the first time to watch an HD-DVD, it said it needed to "update the software". It automatically downloaded 76 MB of updates. I fired it up again and it is working no problem - both HD-DVD's and Blu-ray's are working without a hitch. Configured to use my SPDIF (optical) output, I'm getting full surround audio.

Cons: None thus far.

Other Thoughts: WinXP, MSI K9A2 Platinum, Phenom 9600, ATI 2600 XT.

Pros: A fantastic "inexpensive" (for next gen formats) drive that is quiet, easy to setup and use. I have been sold on HD DVD since the x360 add on but felt slighted as a consumer that I had was missing out on quality movies from Sony, Disney, etc. This drive relieves me from having to choose a side and as a result I have not wasted money if one side wins over the other.

Most installing this drive will find it easy and quick with the sata. Also, the Power DVD software has worked flawlessly for me so far although I have only tested a few blu-ray and hd dvd disks (Spidey 3, Underworld (Blu) & Transformers, Apollo 13, Happy Feet (HD). Some may run into problems if your system is aging. I'm running a Vista Ultimate, AMD X2 5200, 3 g memory, & 8800 GTS vid card. No lag, or sync issues.

Well worth the money particularly if you have already begun a collection in one of the formats.

Cons: None to date.

Other Thoughts: Just make sure your system (hardware/software) is up to date. I imagine anyone installing this has some basic knowledge but for those looking to jump remember to always do your research first.

Pros: One of the easiest drive I have installed and used. One of the great benefit of this drive is that I can play BOTH Blu-ray and HD-DVD on a big Screen TV. You have to have a HD compatiable video card (ATI 2600HD) series. My rig is connected via standard Analog VGA to my HDTV. This is in order to play HDCP capable movies.
Sat back on the couch, wireless keyboard in hand and watched the best quality movie ever!

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I have been fight my urge not to buy it because of the Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD quality. But I finally sunk in and got it. Never been happier!

Maximum PC highly recommends this product in their latest magazine.

Pros: Has software disk included with everything that is needed. Reads/plays HD-DVD movies, reads/plays Blu-Ray movies. Have not tried burning data/lightscribe label, but both are common technology that has been around for a while.

Cons: Only two very minor things. First, the light on the drive to indicate it is in use is bright, but my tower has a door that covers the bay I mounted it in, so it is not a problem. Second, it is somewhat loud, but just sounds like an extra fan inside the case; when playing a HD/Blu-Ray movie, I plan to have the surround sound going, so that will easily cover up the extra sound from this drive.

Other Thoughts: Before using this drive, I had to install the programs from the included utilities disk and do an update from the Internet. Once I did that, the first HD-DVD I tried (Batman Begins) worked like a charm, as did the first Blu-Ray I tried (Iron Man). So far, very pleased with this drive and included software.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Motherboard: ASUS M3A78-T
CPU: AMD Phenom X4 HD995ZXAGHBOX (2.6GHz quad-core)
RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF (4 GB)
Power Supply: ZALMAN ZM850-HP (850 Watt)
Main Optical: LG GGC-H20L (HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, Lightscribe)
Video Card: ASUS EAH4670/DI/512M/A

Pros: :: Quiet
:: Solidly built
:: Plays EVERYTHING

Nothing really important to say here other than LG makes some terrific equipment.

Cons: The drive itself has no cons at all other than the blue activity light is a tad bit bright...

The software it comes with on the other hand, while not bad and FREE, is a bit bogged down with extra stuff that really shouldn't be set up the way it is. PowerDVD works (after the update - and yes, you HAVE to update it to play most Blu-Rays) but some of the other software (there's I think 6 different things in the "hi-def pack") really should all be packaged together.

Not that I'd take an egg off for any of it, but the guys that make PowerDVD should really consider "trimming the fat."

Other Thoughts: It'd be nice if these came with a good "test disc."

Pros: Let my first tell you what was good about this drive. It installed easy, came with the cyber link software which meant I didn’t have to hunt down anything to play the BD disks on. DVDs played wonderfully, BDs took a bit of finagling but once working the played very well.

Cons: What I do fault LG for is the lack of support for this drive. I understand that this is a legacy product, but this is not a reason to remove the drivers for said product off of your site. Furthermore, it should be much easier to locate information on the drive so that consumers are not forced to trust 3rd party sites. With that said, the drive failed after only about 2 ½ months of use. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it as it just started tossing errors. Because of this I would be hard-pressed to purchase another BD drive from LG again and I hope you consider my issues when purchasing this one.

Other Thoughts: the software as I stated previously did function but did require some finagling. In this case the “update” that would allow me to play newer movies would simply not install. When it did it had proceeded to crash PowerDVD making it unusable. I had attempted to contact cyber link on the issue. At which time I informed them of my OS (XP x64) and the issues that I was having. They simply responded stating that Vista was not supported. This was quite a shock as when PowerDVD was functioning it was a limited version that allowed for only 2 channels of audio. Needless to say this did not instill faith in me to purchase the full Ultra version of the software. While I do not fault LG for this I hope in the future they choose a software package that is more reliable.

Pros: If you do a lot of Disc ripping off Blu-ray like me, then you'll enjoy the extra speed 6x gives you over the older 2x models. BRD Dual layer is rated at 4.8X (says in manual). DVD+R discs burn just fine (no probs).

Cons: None, just some unrealistic wishes!

Other Thoughts: Haven't tried Lightscribe or HD-DVD yet and probably won't.
Try having these: Dual layer CPU, 256MB or better graphics card, 1GB RAM or more.
Also, Download the UDF 2.5 driver (says X-box 360, but works the same), get AnyDVD HD if you don't have HDCP compliant HW, playback on MPC homecinema or WinDVD

Pros: -Great value
-does what it is supposed to do

Cons: -the accompanying disc was a little bloat oriented. If you have vista home premium, then you don't need to download it (you already have what is on it)
-it is an inch or two longer than a regular optical drive, so make sure you have enough space; as long as you do, installation is extremely easy (at least it was in my Antec P180).

Other Thoughts: I haven't had any problems with the drive to this point. It plays bluray, and you can use it just like any regular super-multi drive with regular dvds and cds. The HD DVD-Rom is a littlebit of a random touch, but i'm not about to complain about free stuff.

Pros: Just got the player installed today and it finally played Blu Rays. The player looks nicer than most DVD drives on the front bezel. Has a more glossy look.

Cons: When I have installed DVD drives on fresh installs of XP it didn't take much. Usually plug in the OEM drive and install a codec. Now 64-bit Vista and a Blu Ray drive is a little different. Appears that you can only play Blu Rays with Power DVD. Luckily Vista comes with built in DVD codec so DVDs won't matter.

Other Thoughts: Most of the cons seem to be with the software but that's why it lost an egg. LG drives have always been good for me. Hopefully the playback becomes more universal for Blu Rays. Other things to keep in mind if you're having trouble...if you have dual displays do not try to play in "clone" mode, make sure your monitor is HDCP, and make sure you have an up-to-date video card that is HDCP compatible also.

Pros: Fairly quiet. Reads both HD DVDs and Blu-Ray disks (when it works).

Comes with a PowerDVD version that can play HD DVDs and Blu-Rays.

Cons: Flaky hardware that breaks down. HD-DVD playback stopped working after a year. Can't play any recent (from about March '09 on) Blu-Ray titles. Probably needs a firmware update, but it has been discontinued by LG, so I doubt one is forthcoming.

Comes with a limited version of Cyberlink PowerDVD that will only output stereo, not Dolby or DTS (although you can use S/PDIF passthrough if you have an amp that supports it.

Other Thoughts: Bought one of these in December '07 back before the HD DVD/Blu-Ray battle was over, to hedge my bets. By December '08, it would no longer play HD DVDs, the HD DVD mechanism had somehow broken, and after inserting an HD DVD, the drive would chug away for a few minutes, then report no disc in the drive, then refuse to read any other media until the computer was rebooted.

DVDs and Blu-Ray still play, but I found that recent Blu-Ray titles aren't recognized by the drive at all. All my old Blu-Ray titles work fine, but recent releases (as of March '09) like Burn After Reading, Taken, and the Star Trek collection won't play.

I know this is a problem with the drive, not the player software, because the drive reports no media present. This may be a problem with just my drive, but I suspect that it's actually a problem with a change in the format of new Blu-Rays that will require a firmware update.

It seemed like a future-proof investment at the time, but now it's just junk.

Pros: Does exactly what its supposed to and for this price you can't go wrong

Cons: None that I can think of

Other Thoughts: My setup that I've had zero problems with all purchased from NewEgg. Great prices, fast shipping and it all assembled flawlessly.

2 Acer 22in LCD Monitors N82E16824009145
LG Blu-Ray Drive N82E16827136133
2 Kingston HyperX 2 x 2gb DDR2 Ram (8gb total) N82E16820104060
Corsair 750W PSU N82E16817139006
DFI LanParty DK X38-T2RB Motherboard N82E16817139006
Antec Nine Hundred Case N82E16811129021
Vista Ultimate 64 bit N82E16832116493
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz N82E16819115041
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro N82E16835186134
LG DVD Burner N82E16827136152
Logitech MX Revolution Mouse N82E16826104015
Logitech Wired Keyboard N82E16823126022
Western Digital 500Gb Caviar Black Hard Drive N82E16822136320
Western Digital 300Gb VelociRaptor Hard Drive N82E16822136322

Pros: I glad that I got this when I did,plays both HD-dvd and blu ray moveis great. Also work great for normal DVD's too and I dont have any problems burning dvd's either.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: Windvd9 work best for this drive, since it plays both formats blu ray and HD-dvd. Also windvd has a better picture quailty over powerdvd.

So I used windvd8 with my drive because software is the most important when using this drive.

Pros: Great drive.....Reads and writes everything I've thrown at it so far.

Cons: Power DVD software that comes with the drive is absolutely HORRIBLE....Cannot even play a blu-ray or HD DVD without downloading the 100 MB update.
Transformers HD-DVD constantly shut off the computer after 20 seconds of playing. Bought a NEW disc-SAME THING!
Tried WinDVD---NO PROBLEM!!!! Plays discs flawlessly.
Also, Power DVD picture is out of sync with audio. Very irritating.
LG should probably bundle this drive with WinDVD instead of PowerDVD.
Also, had to buy a NEW video card because PowerDVD said that my video card was NOT HDCP compliant, and according to Nvidia, it was!!!

Pros: I've read alot of reviews on here and I was almost going to send it back because I couldn't get it to work. I removed the bootleg copies of PowerDVD 9 Ultra and then reinstalled the disc that came with it (I should have done this in the first place). The included software will let you play Blu ray discs as long as you download the update it tells you to. I have a Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H motherboard and I had to update the graphics drivers (Catalyst 9.4) AND the south bridge drivers from ATI. Before that I wasn't getting hardware acceleration.

Cons: Somewhat difficult to get everything working, but its not LG's fault. You'd have this trouble with any Blu ray drive.

Other Thoughts: While I only have a 720p TV, Blu ray is definitely worth it. The largest difference is in the quality of the audio. I've never seen so many lights light up on my receiver before! lol.... Make sure you try the included software FIRST before you go complaining and writing bad reviews.

Pros: This seems to be a very good product, especially for the money that NewEgg is asking.

Right away, I installed it, used the included HD/Blu-Ray playback software, and tried both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movies. They both played back very well, and I was pleased with the video quality (see other for system config).

Have not tried the CD/DVD burner side of it yet, but those technologies have been around for several years now and LG has always been a reputable source for burners.

Cons: Not a con, per say, but please understand the minimum system requirements before attempting to install one of these drives. There is even a warning label on the box indicating as such. This is because the codec used in playback for HD and Blu-ray movies does have some fairly steep requirements on processor and video cards.

Other Thoughts: My system config (fairly inexpensive):

AMD AM3 MB/w 790FX chipset
AMD Phenom II 720 (2.8GHz, 3 core) processor
4 GB DDR3 RAM
ATI 4850 video card w/512 MB RAM (DDR3)
Windows Ultimate 64Bit

Pros: Does everything it's says it will. Plays DVD's, Blu-ray, and HD-DVD's without a hitch. Included software works great as long as you UPDATE it, and your drive firmware, which is FREE.

Cons: At this price, what cons??

Other Thoughts: Looks outstanding on my Hanns-G 28" monitor which was also purchased from the Egg.

Pros: It works perfectly. Easily installed.

Cons: Not a fan of having to use PowerDVD 7 for HD-DVD playback (Unable to run it in PowerDVD 9), this means I have to use two different playback programs to watch media on this drive, but not LG's fault by any means.

Pros: Plays Blu-Rays and HD-DVDs without a problem. Haven't done any burning with it.

Cons: none.

Other Thoughts: I had a few issues getting playback on my HTPC to work. I can't necessarily blame it on this drive however. Basically, when I would try to play back a Blu-Ray I would get an error saying that "something" wasn't passing the HDCP check. Now, I don't know it that was the dsik, the drive, the player software, my video card, or the television. Everything in the setup was legal btw (man HDCP is so poorly implemented.) I ended up solving the problem by installing AnyDVD which bypassed the check (remember, everything in my chain was legal and store bought... it just didn't work).

Pros: Plays blue-rays without a problem via Software. Burns discs without a problem.

Cons: Not compatible with Vista Media Center. Will NOT install an OS. I tried 5 times on a number of HDs, and every time got "disk read error", verses 1 try with an old IDE DVDrom.

Other Thoughts: JetWay JXBLUE-N78V AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8100 HDMI - AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200 Brisbane 2.7GHz - OCZ Fatal1ty Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) - Vista Home Premium

Pros: Works out of the box with 3 or higher firmware.

Cons: There is no technical reason why this BD cannot play HD or BluRay DVDs. Period. The horror that has been causing headaches has been HDCP. Period.

I have the right GPU (HD 3300) , the right output (HDMI), and a compliant HDTV (RCA 52" projection). No, the only thing is HDCP owner's failure to keep up with technology.

AnyDVD HD removes those roadblocks. So, no it is not a fault of hardware. I will say it sucks to have to pay for another piece of software to circumvent what should not be there by default. I have the right equipment, now let me watch those "darn" BD movies! Or...I don't have to buy BD and just stick with DVD.

Other Thoughts: The blue light is bright. The solution: just cut a small piece of black electrical tape and put it over the light.

Pros: Works as advertised. Plays BD movies great in conjuction with my Radeon HD4870 hooked up to my HDTV via HDMI. It says on the box that if your vid card isn't HDCP compatible or your monitor/TV isnt HDCP compatible you wont be able to play BD or HD-DVD movies, so it isn't as simple as just popping in one of these drives and being able to watch movies right out of the box if you don't have the right hardware.

Cons: No joke about that blue LED, that thing is bright as hell. My HTPC has a smoked front cover, and it still shines through really bright.

Other Thoughts: If you are buying this drive to watch BD or HD-DVD movies double check all your hardware to make sure it is HDCP compatible before buying.

Pros: Plays Regular DVDs, HD DVDs, and Blue-Ray. Nice feature if you were left holding the bag after buying HD DVDs. Ability to burn CD and DVDs-Pretty versitle combo drive for the price. Great for home made media center.

Cons: Little noisy then other drives but that is small potatoes since it works well.

Other Thoughts: Make sure you add this to a box with the right specs to play HD & Blue-Ray. The PowerDVD software requires an update to make it work after you take it out of the box. And most integrated mother boards require the latest video driver to be installed or it may only play DVDs or possibly HD DVDs, but not Blue-Ray. The software gave me error codes 80040265 and 8876086A when initially playing Blue-Ray media. All issues resolved when I updated the integrated ATI Radeon HD 3300 with the latest driver.

Pros: Works great - have no problems.
Quiet
Have not tried Blu-Ray (yet)

Cons: Like other have written, the blue led is a bit on the bright side, there is absolutely no reason for it to be this bright, it a indicator not a flash.

Pros: works well for my HD-DVD collection.
software that comes with the retail version is valuable.
Quiet in my media center while watching movies
plays some HD-DVDs that my xbox HD player will not play, namely the Planet Earth series

Cons: none

Pros: The hardware itself seems solid. Drive is fairly quiet and seems pretty quick.

Cons: The included blu-ray playback software is useless. 5 of 30 blu-rays (All James Bond - 20th Century Fox Home Video) need a software update.

Don't even get me started on why software and firmware need to be updated... That is a death knell for this format unless that procedure stops NOW, but I knew that updates were required since I have a stand-alone Sony.

The problem is that the version bundled, PowerDVD Ultra 7, is old. I believe I have all the updates (Cyberlink reporrts back that I do). The current version is Power DVD Ultra 9 so I don't hold out hope for continued updates for a version that is 2 versions old....

Other Thoughts: Have not tested HD-DVD or burn as I don't have any HD-DVDs and rarely burn discs.

Pros: Plays Blu-Ray, HD DVD, and DVD. SATA connection. Super fast and super quiet. Blue activity light. Free software from Cyberlink that works quite well.

Cons: None really - Doesn't burn Blu Ray or HD DVD (knew that before I ordered it though).
Had HDCP compatibility issues (see other thoughts).

Other Thoughts: The only Blu Ray burner I know about it made by Sony and costs four times as much as this product. As a previous reviewer noted...running AnyDVD HD is a very good idea while using this drive to bypass any HDCP problems. I have an HDCP compatible video card and I still had problems getting it to play out to my Panasonic plasma.

Pros: Hardware wise, no problems. If it’s round and about 5 inches in diameter, it plays it.

Cons: Software. Get ready to download a few massive updates before you pop in that Blu-Ray. The version of PowerDVD LG packages with this drive makes for a handy coaster. Just factor the extra $$ of upgrading to PowerDVD v8 into the purchase of this drive and you will be fine.

Other Thoughts: Wish the flashing blue light was brighter. That way, everyone in my zip code could tell if I was at home watching a movie.

Pros: Worked very well for me, read dvd and blueray with no problems, easy setup

Cons: Included software does not allow surround sound support till you upgrade for $100

Other Thoughts: I RMA'd this drive because between the original software and another player I bought for the blue ray, I could only play 60% of my blue ray movies. With the heavy copyright protection on BD, I just decided to give up on the pc based player and bought a stand alone player.

Pros: Plays both bluray and hddvd without a problem. I am using Arcsoft Total Media Theater within Windows Media Center Ultimate x64. I have had no issues with this drive and it is fairly quiet.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: If you are like me and never use the cd's that come with your hardware make sure you at least get the firmware auto updater installed off the cd.

Pros: This is the best drive with the correct software to play both HD DVD and Blueray....My test till now was HD DVD and it worked perfect ..My Vista MCE remote works perfect with this.

Cons: Dont buy the OEM version of this unless you dont want the software.

Other Thoughts: Installation pretty straight forward...Installed from the cd..only the power dvd software and then had the power dvd patch 100Mb+ dated 12/2008 and a drive firmware update patch that ran by itself...(so make sure you have the Internet connected just in case)...
Do your research for the minimum CPU requirement and the graphics card specs before you shell $100+ on this one.

Pros: Worked perfect out of the box. Included Blu-Ray software. Decent price for a stingy buyer. Also, surprisingly light on my system resources. Not much more than standard dvd with Media Player Classic running FFDShow.

Cons: Lack of alternative free software. But not a problem with the hardware.

Other Thoughts: Had to use the included PowerDvd software as there are few to no free Software Blu-ray players out there. Although many claim to have the capability. The included software comes with lots of different stuff, but I only installed the player. I'm not sure that I like it. But, hey, it was FREE! My mouse doesn't work on BR disc menus but it does in the player controls. I have to use a combination of the mouse and MCE remote. The mouse works fine with standard dvds though. Weird.

Vista Home Premium 64bit
Intel Core2 Quad Q9300 2.5GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT
4Gigs Ram

Pros: Ripped everything I have thrown at it (BD, HD, DVD). Rips BD in 45 minutes or less. HD-DVD takes closer to hour and half.

Cons: Doesn't burn BD, but I knew that going in.

Pros: Works like a charm. Plugged it in, ran the inlcuded Cyberlink software package, installed a firmware update and I was off and running. Excellent player!

Cons: None so far.

Pros: Play everything. Reads even very old CDRW data and VCDs.
Records quickly, smoothly and correctly.
Software is nice, full featured and functional.

Cons: Not a one.

Other Thoughts: Looks great, plays great, software runs great.
My system barely meets the minimum requirements and plays even the newest BlueRay and HD-DVDs flawlessly and smoothly onto an HD 1080 monitor through a Radeon HD3850.
BlueRay Advisor said I was going to be unable to play BlueRays. HAH. Even menus are smooth and fast.

Dang good drive so far. All that remains is to see how long it lasts.

Pros: A fast, quiet, cheap drive. Liked all the media I put in it.

Cons: Only lasted a little over a year.

Other Thoughts: Not bad for a cheap drive. Going with ASUS for this drive's replacement.