Choosing a Bluray drive for HTPC

[Chasseur]

For playing Bluray on a HTPC, is there any advantage of buying something else than the lowest priced drive? Since all the decoding is done by a Bluray software (like TMT, PDVD…), can a high end drive give me a better experience than a budget one?

[phoneguyinpgh]

I would have to answer no to both questions.  I would go with a brand name I trust for reliabillity and read user reviews to make my choice.

[Aaron Ledger]

Generally, the higher price points are due to more features such as higher reading/writing speeds, extra capability such as BD writing, retail packages which may include extras such as cabling and software. If your goal is simply to read the disc while watching, the lowest cost option should suffice.

If you are ripping discs, you may want to pay some heed to the read speeds (e.g. 12x will read faster than 10x). Also, some drives may be noisier than others.

[Chasseur]

With my current bluray drive, some discs are not able to play. They are not even detected in Windows. I’m wondering if a new drive might correct this.

[Aaron Ledger]

I suppose it is possible. Have you tried to see if there is an updated firmware for the drive from the manufacturer?

[Author]

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