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Post by omega on Nov 30, 2017 10:36:12 GMT
I'm thinking of getting an external Blu Ray drive for my computer so I can finally watch my meager collection of blu-rays again, as well as get the full spectrum of special features available.
Couple of questions:
1. Is one that just reads discs recommended, or one that can read and write blu ray discs?
2. Software. Will everything be supplied with the drive, or will I have to download extra software?
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Post by number13 on Nov 30, 2017 21:14:27 GMT
If you only want a reader then you may well find that your PC's DVD software also supports blu-ray readers, so if that is so you could buy a 'bare drive'. I chose a blu-ray reader/writer as the data storage is useful - I can backup a lot of media files on a 25Gb blu-ray and those BF downloads just keep coming...  You may need extra writer software - I did with Windows 8.1 Drives will have software bundled with them or not, as you choose, but the software comes at an extra cost compared with buying a 'bare drive'. Even if your system has native support for Blu-ray, a dedicated DVD/Blu-ray software suite will offer many more features. It depends on your software preference and available deals which is the best way to go. I chose a bare Pioneer drive, Cyberlink PowerDVD (player software) and a Cyberlink Power2Go writer suite because they had a good deal on and I like and was familiar with that software from earlier versions. |
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Post by omega on Nov 30, 2017 22:38:08 GMT
If you only want a reader then you may well find that your PC's DVD software also supports blu-ray readers, so if that is so you could buy a 'bare drive'. I chose a blu-ray reader/writer as the data storage is useful - I can backup a lot of media files on a 25Gb blu-ray and those BF downloads just keep coming... You may need extra writer software - I did with Windows 8.1 Drives will have software bundled with them or not, as you choose, but the software comes at an extra cost compared with buying a 'bare drive'.
Even if your system has native support for Blu-ray, a dedicated DVD/Blu-ray software suite will offer many more features.
It depends on your software preference and available deals which is the best way to go. I chose a bare Pioneer drive, Cyberlink PowerDVD (player software) and a Cyberlink Power2Go writer suite because they had a good deal on and I like and was familiar with that software from earlier versions.Does the software come pre-packaged with the drive, or does it need to be obtained separately? If separately, what costs would I be looking at? |
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Post by number13 on Dec 1, 2017 0:46:43 GMT
If you only want a reader then you may well find that your PC's DVD software also supports blu-ray readers, so if that is so you could buy a 'bare drive'. I chose a blu-ray reader/writer as the data storage is useful - I can backup a lot of media files on a 25Gb blu-ray and those BF downloads just keep coming... You may need extra writer software - I did with Windows 8.1 Drives will have software bundled with them or not, as you choose, but the software comes at an extra cost compared with buying a 'bare drive'.
Even if your system has native support for Blu-ray, a dedicated DVD/Blu-ray software suite will offer many more features.
It depends on your software preference and available deals which is the best way to go. I chose a bare Pioneer drive, Cyberlink PowerDVD (player software) and a Cyberlink Power2Go writer suite because they had a good deal on and I like and was familiar with that software from earlier versions.Does the software come pre-packaged with the drive, or does it need to be obtained separately? If separately, what costs would I be looking at? It depends what you choose. Browse external blu-ray drives and you'll see the same drives offered with and without software. It will likely be cheaper to buy a drive with bundled software rather than buying the drive and software separately. As I said, there happened to be a good deal on a software package I already knew, at the time I was buying a drive. Otherwise I might well have gone with bundled software ('Nero' was the option with my drive and it's another very good package.) |
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You may need extra writer software - I did with Windows 8.1