Sony SATA Blu-Ray BD-ROM Drive, BDU-X10SR, Factory Refurbished

I had wanted to have the ability to watch blu-ray movies from the comfort of my pc and with the normal prices of blu-ray players I thought this would not be a possibility. Until I came upon this little gem, I was impressed after I upgraded the included software and installed the lastest firmware. Thinking that video playback would be choppy since this was only a 2 speed player I figured (prematurely) oh well you get what you pay for; however that was not the case. The drive plays flawlessly, the movie quality is crisper and clearer and loads faster than the stand alone blu-ray player that I have hooked up to my TV. The only drawback to this drive is not to the drive itself but to the included software. For some reason it does not operate properly; 1st you are required to patch the software and make sure that you have an internet connection enabled as some movies will not even play unless the latest codec is updated (standard for most players (as new codecs and recording technologies are introduced quite often)2nd after installing the patch and restarting the program -the system freezes, bluescreens or just will not play. Once the software was upgraded to version 9 the player ran like any high-end product would. In conclusion: buy the drive for the qualities of the drive itself and realize in order to have full functionality out of the player you will have to upgrade the software and install the latest firmware (all easy to do). Even after upgrading the software you still have a very afforable product that is well worth its' purchase price.
 
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This is a great refurbished Blu-ray drive it could have fooled me as being new. The install was easy and windows Vista recognized it without fail. PowerDVD v7 on the other hand was completely disappointing even with the patch. A suitable replacement is defiantly needed so plan on purchasing the newest version, I did and it works great. The quality of the Blu-ray HD is superb.
 
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I recently built a home theater pc (HTPC) and wanted to put in a Blu-Ray drive, but they were too costly. Then I saw the ad for this one from Buy.com & bought it! It's a plain-jane drive, but a great value. The only issue I had was with the bundled software (PowerDVD Ultra v7). The version Cyberlink is currently selling is v9. After installing & patching the v7 software, it would crash everytime I tried to play a blu-ray movie. YMMV Needless to say, I bought the v9 software & it works great, including BD-Live support.
 
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I am very happy with the product after the initial pains of installing it. I installed it on a add-on PCI SATA adapter which powerdvd refused to recognize. The drive worked as a CD-ROM reader but would not play DVD or BD . After switching it to a onboard SATA port it worked like a charm.
 
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Installation is easy. System is HP dual core AMD with Windows Vista Home Premium. Driver and software installation is seamless. Great performance.
 
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A refurbished product that was packaged as if brand-new, and functioned perfectly with a very easy installation process with clear instructions included. My Blue=-Ray disks are brillantly clear. Couldn't ask for more at the price.
 
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Works great with my HTPC which is a Vista Ultimate box. Comes with software. Only mark against it is you can't use the software on other computers because it will only install if it is inside the Sony drive.
 
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At less than the price of a BluRay videogame, this drive's a great deal. Easy setup, software included, no hassle. Though it's not mentioned in the description, it comes with a black face plate as well, which is easy to swap for the silver/clear one in the picture.
 
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Setup is very easy. Simply to use and come with a great software of PowerDVD
 
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