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ASUS BC-08B1ST Blu-Ray Combo Drive Review :: Features

03-20-2010 · Category: Hardware - Optical Drives

By Elric Phares

Disk Encryption
True Theater High Definition
Optimal Tuning Strategy

Write Speed
	DVD-R: 16X, 12X, 8X, 6X
	DVD-RW: 6X, 4X, 2.4X
	DVD+R:16X, 12X, 8X, 4X
	DVD+RW: 8X,6X, 4X, 2.4X
	DVD+R (DL):8X,6X,4X,2.4X
	DVD-R (DL):8X,6X,4X
	CD-R:48X,40X,32X,24X,16X
	CD-RW:32X,24X,16X,10X,4X
	DVD-RAM:12X,10X,8X,6X,5X,3X,2X
Read speed
	BD-ROM/R/RE:8X max
	DVD-ROM (Single):16x max
	DVD-ROM (Dual): 12x max
	DVD-RAM:12x max
	CD-ROM:48x max
Access Time
	BD:250ms
	DVD:150ms
	CD:150ms
Writing mode
	DVD-R and DVD-R (DL): DAO (Disk-At-Once)/Incremental Recording (Multi-Border Recording)
	DVD-RW and DVD-RW (DL): DAO (Disk-At-Once)/Incremental Recording (Multi-Border Recording)/Sequential Recording (Multi-Session Recording)
	DVD+R and DVD+R (DL): incremental Recording (Multi-Border Recording)
	DVD+RW and DVD+RW (DL): Random Recording
O/S Compatibility
	Windows 2000
	XP compatible
	Vista compatible
Interface	SATA
Disc Formats
	Write: DVD+/-RW, DVD+/-R, CD-R, CD-RW
	Read:BD-ROM, BD-R,BD-RE,DVD-ROM,DVD+/-RW,DVD+/-R
Disk Diameters	12cm/8cm
MTBF
	60000 Power On Hours
	Operating Duty Cycle (Read) 20% POH
	Operating Duty Cyclee (Write) 2% POH
Mounting Orientation	Vertical and Horizontal (+5 degrees~-5 degrees)
Dimension	41.3X146X185mm (WxDxH)
Weight	650g
Power Requirements	DC +/- 5%, DC +12V +/- 10%
Temperature
	Operating 5C to 50C
	Storage-40C to 65C

So what is a Blu-ray disc anyway? It is the name of a next-generation optical disc format developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association. It gets the name because it uses a blue-violet laser instead of the red laser used in DVD and CD drives. The blue-violet laser used in a Blu-ray disc has a shorter wavelength than the red laser, allowing greater precision and more data to be packed into the same space.

The current Blu-ray Disc can hold up to 25/50GB of data and the average BD movie has anywhere between 30-40GB (The Matrix has 37GB on it). All current movies are either released on the Blu-ray format or the DVD format. The competing standard of HD-DVD from Toshiba was abandoned in 2008 and there will not be any more movies on HD-DVD released.

The drive is an 8x Blu-ray player. What this means is the maximum read speed for a Blu-ray 8x player is 288 Megabits per second or 36MB per second. This outstrips the fastest CD-ROM or DVD drives which have a read speed of 259.2MB/second for DVD 24x and 10.4MB/second on a 72x CD-ROM. The BC-08B1ST is a combo drive that can also write and rewrite DVDs or CDs.

The maximum write speed for the BC-08BIST is 16X for DVD-R and DVD+R. The maximum write speed for RW is 8x on DVD+RW and 6x on the DVD-RW discs. Dual Layer DVD+R or DVD-R write speeds come in at 8x. The maximum CD-R Write Speed is 48x, with CD-RW write speeds of up to 32x available. Read speeds for DVD-ROM are at 16x and 16x for Dual Layer, 48x for CD-ROMs.

The drive takes up 41.3x146x185mm in space and weighs a mere 650g. This should fit easily in any of the bays in your case. The drive can take up to 12cm Blu-ray or DVD media and also accepts the 8cm media some discs come in. You can mount the drive either vertically or horizontally and the drive has a Mean Time before Failure of 60,000 hours.

The ASUS BC-08B1ST drive has disk encryption that allows the user to protect their data on a disc that is created with 128-bit encryption. You can either protect your entire disc or a portion of that disc with the encryption. The BC-08B1ST drive will perform a test before burning to have the optimal burning strategy to burn the new disk.

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