ASUS External 12X Blu-Ray Burner with USB 3.0 BW-12D1S-U/BLK/G Black

Excellent performance.Works superb.Though you will have to install Blue ray playing/writing softwares seperately in thebeenbetter PC .Wouldhave been if some software wasprovided by default. i connected this to my Laptop. i gave Laptop HDMI output to LED and USB audio output toBose Companion 5 speakers. And what i got was a mindblowing Home theatre system with excellent picture and sound quality for no extra cost. Thank you Amazon.

So far its working very good. No issues tried to write Blue ray disc & it worked as expected

Product is well finished and feels rugged. However I could not get it to read DVD or a Blu ray disc on my Windows 11 laptop. It could read CD though.Tried all solutions available on internet but in vain. Had to return for the same reason

FAILED AFTER WRITING 10 DISCS. DO NOT BUY. IT WILL READ DVD BUT NOT BLU RAY AFTER A FEW BURNS. THE BLU RAY ALSO GETS HOT. VERY HOT. THEN THE WRITER FAILS. STUPID PRODUCT

Prompt delivery. Very useful product. I liked it. Very much.

very nice and happy to have bought this

Packing = SatisfiedDelivery = SatisfiedSupplier Chosen = Kochar Computers. Reliable. 2-3 times we purchased from Kochar. So far, It is good.Read Capabilities of Blue Ray Discs: 21 GB each disc. 10 minutes it took to copy from disc to pc. After burning 6-8 discs, Player became unresponsive. i.e. After non stop copying of video files of 120GB to 160GB (with 30 seconds break for every 21 GB to remove and insert new disc), It became unresponsive. May be new player, All of a sudden, If we do performance testing, This might be the issue! :-)But I don't care. Just had a cup of coffee by giving rest (power off blue ray player) and left home.Next day morning came back to my desk and started again the same task. Worked perfectly fine!!!My job is done for what I purchased.I didn't tried burning discs and all. May be next month I do that.Thanks to amazon.Thanks to kochar.Thanks to ASUS.

Nice product well built and well delivered..

After wearing out my internal Blu-ray drive on my laptop, I purchased this drive. I've only used it for playback, and I've yet to try to burn a disc, but it works like a dream. I've been using it frequently for almost a year now.My laptop is a little old, so I'm connecting this USB 3.0 compatible drive into a 2.0 port, but it hasn't affected video playback at all.There is a negative review on this product, so any buyers wanting to playback Blu-ray movies, please understand that up-to-date Blu-ray playback software is something you'll definitely have to purchase separately. As with most technology, the bundled software is typically bottom-of-the barrel stuff that will barely get you going. PowerDVD 10 is quite outdated, so it's no surprise it doesn't work with Windows 8. Not something I'd fault Asus for.

I ran one experiment to confirm that USB 3.0 really is about 2.5x faster (as some web sites claim) to burn Blu-ray Discs (BD-R) than USB 2.0 (ie. the USB channel is the bottleneck, not the disk or cpu speed). Using an ASUS laptop with an i7 cpu, a USB 3.0 port and 4GB memory, I backed up 22.3 GB of data (5,339 files) to a BD-R at 12x maximum write speed using the included ASUS/Cyberlink Media Suite program Power2Go 7. It took 01:00 minute for Power2Go to "prepare" the data for writing (these times are not rounded off, though they coincidentally look like they are).Actual write time to write 22.3GB to BD-R(SL) at 12x:-- USB 3.0 : 11:00 minutes -- 2.0 GB/min or 120 GB/hr-- USB 2.0 : 30:30 minutes -- 0.73 GB/min or 44 GB/hrFor this experiment, USB 3.0 wrote data 2.7x faster than USB 2.0.For another experiment, the measured write speed for a BD-R(DL) disc was 90 GB/hr (38.0GB at 8x).Using this BD writer, so far I have written 7 BD-R(DL) disks at the max 8x and 4 BD-R disks at the max 12x speed without any problems, even though BD-R(SL/DL) Verbatim media is only rated for 6x speed. I also confirmed the 16x write speed to DVD+R media.Currently Verbatim 25GB BD-R discs cost about $2/disc (getting close to the price per GB of DVD discs!) and 50GB discs are about $7/disc. Prices will continue to fall.===============Summary of hardware:-- this Blu-Ray Writer (Burner) is among the fastest available at this time-- USB 3.0 currently distinguishes this product from its competition-- writes DVDs and CDs like other BD writers-- ASUS is an excellent leading-edge brand-- Software [Windows-only]:----- free Cyberlink Media Suite, which contains minimal-feature versions of these programs (until you upgrade to paid versions): Cyberlink Power2Go 7 Cyberlink PowerDVD 10 with Magic Cinema Cyberlink PowerBackup 2.5 Cyberlink InstantBurn 5-- I discovered a hard-to-see On/Off switch (doesn't exist for DVD writers) on the back when it didn't appear to work :-)-- Color: Black-- Length: 9.5"-- Width: 6.5"-- Height: 2.4"-- Weight: 2.5 lbs.==========Software notes:-- This hardware is great. But the included Power2Go software has some problems -- 1 fatal error and 2 other serious bugs were found on day 1 of use. I recommend the really free ImgBurn software (no annoying paid-upgrade notices) which is a pleasure to use, is continuously being improved (unlike Power2Go, which is at end-of-life), and has an active and easily used forum site. Plus it works on Ubuntu linux.-- None of the 4 programs I tried (Power2Go, ImgBurn, Blu-ray Creator, Windows cut-and-paste) were able to successfully backup all files from my in-use C: drive without fatal errors and early exit (update: FBackup uses VSS and can do it). Even when files in use are set to be ignored by ImgBurn, it and the other programs still fail on files with no eof (Kaspersky and Windows has such files). That is because these low-end programs do not use the Windows-builtin feature of a Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) which would solve in-use, file-locking and file-eof issues neatly. One way to accomplish backing up all C: files is to first copy the C: partition to a new partition (eg. using a hard disk manager program) and then to backup the new not-in-use partition files using a program such as ImgBurn.-- Install "Cyberlink Media Suite" from the included disk by clicking on the picture with the burning CD (hover over it to see "Power2Go 7"). At this time (9/24/11) there is no firmware update, so the bottom icon does not currently lead to an available download.-- If it bothers you, turn off the always-on-top InstantBurn software:---- on Windows 7 accomplish this by:------ goto Control Panel->System->Administrative Tools->System Configuration------ or navigate to [...]-------- click Startup tab-------- uncheck InstantBurn-------- click Apply, then OK-- To exit InstantBurn, either reboot (after disabling it from auto-start as described above) or Rclick on InstantBurn in the System Tray and click Exit.-- The included software has only minimal features and has many problems that may make it unusable for your purposes. You have to pay to upgrade any of the 4 component programs to get all features.===================More hardware details follow:(Technical specs provided by Asus on the product box and on other web sites)Asus BW-12D1S-U/BLK/G/AS External 12x Blu-Ray Burner [2x - 12x depending on BlurayDisc (BD) type]The Asus BW-12D1S-U/BLK/G/AS External 12x Blu-Ray Burner offers extreme 12x Blu-ray writing speed with USB 3.0. The stylish appearance and functionality of the Asus BW-12D1S-U/BLK/G/AS External 12x Blu-Ray Burner provides consumers with an ideal choice for both business and entertainment. The Asus BW-12D1S-U/BLK/G/AS External 12x Blu-Ray Burner supports the latest Blu-ray 3D technology for life-like movie experiences with Cyberlink PowerDVD 10. This unique space-saving design can be placed either horizontally [without a stand] or vertically with a detachable stand.SpecificationsAsus External USB 3.0 12x Blu-Ray Burner Type: Blu-Ray Burners Cache Size: 4 MB BD-R Write Speed: 12X BD-R(DL) Write Speed: 8X BD-R(LTH) Write Speed: 6X BD-RE(SL/DL) Write Speed: 2x BD-R(SL/DL) Read Speed: 8X BD-R(LTH) Read Speed: 6X BD-RE Read Speed: 8x BD-RE(DL) Read Speed: 6x BD-ROM(SL/DL) Read Speed: 8x DVD+R Write Speed: 16X DVD-R Write Speed: 16X DVD+R(DL) Write Speed: 8X DVD-R(DL) Write Speed: 8X DVD+RW Rewrite Speed: 8X DVD-RW Rewrite Speed: 6X DVD-RAM Write Speed: 5X DVD+R Read Speed: 16X DVD-R Read Speed: 16X DVD+R(DL) Read Speed: 12X DVD-R(DL) Read Speed: 12X DVD+RW Read Speed: 12X DVD-RW Read Speed: 12X DVD-ROM Read Speed: 16X DVD-ROM(DL) Read Speed: 12X DVD-RAM Read Speed: 5X CD-R Write Speed: 40X CD-RW Rewrite Speed: 24X CD-R Read Speed: 40X CD-RW Read Speed: 24X DVD video playback: 5X VCD playback: 9.3X Audio CD playback: 9.3X DVD Access Time: 170 ms CD Access Time: 150 ms Color: Black Length: 9.5" Width: 6.5" Height: 2.4" Weight: 2.5 lbs. Load Type: Tray Interface Type: USB 3.0 [compatible with USB 2.0] Enclosure Type: ExternalDetailed FeaturesAdditional Specifications OS Support: Windows 7 Windows Vista Windows XP System Requirements: Processor: Pentium® D 945(3.4GHz) or higher Memory:1GB or more is recommended Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce 7600 GT or ATI X1600 series or above Use HDCP Compatible display and VGA card to High Definition digital output Software: Cyberlink Power2Go 7 Cyberlink PowerDVD 10 with Magic Cinema Cyberlink PowerBackup 2.5 Cyberlink InstantBurn 5Features Eye-popping Blu-ray 3D Visual Excitement: Supports the latest Blu-ray 3D technology for life-like movie experiences with Cyberlink PowerDVD 10. Features technology to give depth to 2D video with real-time 2D-to-3D conversion with a single click of a button. Refresh Your Listening Experience: Experience crisp audio with lossless pass-through for Dolby Digital EX and DTS-HD (5.1 channels). Diamond-shaped Design and Flexible Dual Positioning: This unique space-saving design can be placed either horizontally [without a stand] or vertically with a detachable stand. Experience Blu-ray Entertainment So True to Life: Asus provides HD-like visuals via an innovative suite of advanced video enhancement technologies that deliver unsurpassed quality in DVD movies easily and flexibly.===============6/4/13 update: I have finally uninstalled and removed all traces of the Cyberlink PowerDVD 12 Ultra that I had bought and the associated Cyberlink programs since they were unbearably bad in many ways and didn't play modern Blu-Ray like Game of Thrones. I am now using DVDFab Media Player ($40 to buy, $10/year after that -- suggest you try trial version before buying -- note you will have to allow your firewall to connect to the server in China to use this software -- I got a helpful dialog popup from my Kaspersky antivirus asking if I trusted the Chinese server (which I do just for this one product, but you may not)) which works very well though I need to do Settings->Play->Playmode "Quick and Simple". AnyDVD does not work for me at all to play the Blu-Ray Game of Thrones. I have been using free FBackup4 (after rejecting half a dozen other popular programs such as Areca which is my second choice), an excellent and free solution to do mirror incremental backups on schedule. I burn data to DVD or Blu-Ray using the excellent free ImgBurn (and write at 12x speed to this ASUS BD writer). My needs are simple and Cyberlink did not satisfy any of them without enduring endless grief. I am purchasing another of this same ASUS BD writer for another PC, but will not waste time installing any Cyberlink software. Instead I will use software that works well and is easy to use and is almost all free.6/5/13 update: I have looked at the one star reviews and sympathize with your problems with USB 3.0 Windows drivers (which are definitely not the fault of this product). I suffered also from random USB 3.0 connection problems and read-write errors and bootup hangs for a very long time (since I was unfortunately on the leading edge of using USB 3.0 with my 2010 ASUS laptop). Finally I got smart and updated my USB 3.0 Host Controller Windows drivers and *all* the random problems with USB 3.0 disappeared! BTW, even though it is not free I highly recommend "Driver Reviver" as an easy way to quickly update all your Windows drivers, including the crucial USB 3.0 drivers (in particular the Host Controller drivers). You don't really need to use it more than once to solve all your USB 3.0 issues (so you don't need to renew it each year). Of course you can spend hours trying to find those same crucial driver updates on the web (I did that too, prior to Driver Reviver).Anyway, for anyone who wants to blame this *hardware* for your USB 3.0 software *driver* bugs, please see my post (Subject: "Partial workarounds in a nutshell ..." -- I should have said "Full workarounds ...") for the product "J-Tech Digital SuperSpeed USB 3.0 4-Port Hub Backward Compatible with USB 2.0 with USB 3.0 Cable". If you look at reviews for popular USB 3.0 hubs, you will also see a lot of false blame laid on the hardware when in fact the software drivers are almost always at fault when the hardware appears to only work sporadically.I totally agree that the bundled software with this ASUS BD writer is horrible in many respects and you should avoid using it if possible (see above for 6/4/13 update which mentions some reliable alternatives, in particular ImgBurn for writing BD-R discs). I also agree that ASUS has effectively zero customer support -- do not waste your time as I did trying to get any intelligent response out of them (prior to my proof that the Windows USB 3.0 drivers were the source of my problems). This ASUS BD writer has excellent performance and the problems you may have are almost certainly either due to your bad USB 3.0 drivers which need updating or to the miserable Cyberlink software included with this hardware.

This will be the first of two (or more) installments. I haven't received my new MSI laptop yet which is what I bought this drive for (it lacks an internal optical drive), so I plugged the optical drive into a my Sony Vaio, Windows 7 64 bit Professional using a USB 2.0 hub/fan combination that the Sony sits on. Connected the wires, turned it on, plug and play, popped in a commercial DVD and it worked just fine without even using the included software suite. That puts an end to the myth that it won't play commercial DVDs. The Sony has an internal Blu-Ray DVD player so maybe the existing drivers, or Windows Media Center (which does not come on Windows 8.0) had the necessary drivers for the commercial DVD. Yes, the thing is large - larger than I expected after reading all the reviews. I have a pretty large laptop backpack - you'll need one if you intend on taking this drive on the road. It runs very quiet with no vibrations (at least in the upright position, have not tried it on its side). The picture quality at 1080P was excellent. The little switch on the back to turn it off is not too hard to find after all. I do not find the large blue "night light" that's on when it is powered up to be annoying. I kind of like it. It came from Amazon extremely well packaged - double boxed with bubble wrap between the boxes.When I get the MSI laptop in a couple of days, which has no internal optical drive, I will post a followup as to how the installation went with the included software, the playing of commercial DVDs and whatever else I discover when going to Windows 8.1 on a new laptop. So far, I gotta say, this is a great DVD player, but that's not really saying much at this point. I don't recall ever running into a bad DVD player and I've been using them since they first came out. I have not tried to burn a DVD yet. When I get around to that I will include it in an update. Next update - probably in a week or so assuming the MSI arrives on schedule (UPS Ground, from Tiger Direct so fingers crossed).1/6/15 Update: My new MSI laptop is supposed to arrive today but I have run into a problem that warrants an in intermediate update before the laptop installation and test.After the last review, I realized that I had not tested the optical drive with a commercial Blu-Ray, only a commercial HD DVD. So, today, I popped in a commercial Blu-Ray. My laptop did not even recognize the device! At this point I have to admit that I left out a small piece of information that I previously thought to be irrelevant. When I previously tested the drive, my laptop gave me a notification that higher speed USB 2.0 connections were available. I ignored this because I was not having a problem the way it was connected, via a USB Hub/cooling fan that sits under the laptop. The USB 2.0 ports on the hub are apparently not as fast as the USB 2.0 ports directly on the laptop. This is the first time I ran into this issue after many years using this setup.I could not get the Blu-Ray to play or even the optical drive to be recognized by the computer. I then installed the software that came with the optical drive. After fighting through the Bloatware and advertising on the software suite, I ended up in the same place.I called ASUS Support. I was on hold for less than two minutes before I go to a real person who was knowledgeable but could find no information related to this problem on a Windows 7 64 bit machine. After a lot of discussion, he recommended that I wait until my new laptop arrived and see if it installed OK on there.Well, I wan't satisfied - it ought to work on my Windows 7 laptop with USB 2.0 according to the information on compatibility that came with the drive.Ahha! Remember the warning on USB port speed? I took the USB hub out of the picture and plugged directly into one of the laptops USB 2.0 ports. Bingo! Now it works fine.So, if you are trying to install the optical drive on a Windows 7 machine using a USB 2.0 hub, you might well run in to the same problem that I did - the USB 2.0 hub does not provide the required data transfer speed to support Blu-Rays.Next, when my new MSI laptop arrives, scheduled in the next four hours by UPS, I will try the installation on that. I asked the ASUS customer support guy about the upcoming installation. He said plug it in to a USB 3.0 port and everything should work fine.I will post an update after installing the optical; drive on a Windows 8.1 64 bit MSI laptop with USB 3.0 ports (no USB hub). I am much more optimistic now than I was a little while ago.So far, the reviews that I read that found the drive would not install and/or would not play commercial HD or Blu-Ray DVDs are unfounded. If it will work fine plugged in to a five year old Sony Vaio USB 2.0 port, it ought to work on pretty much any Windows 7 computer. By tomorrow we will know if that holds true for the Windows 8.1, 64 bit with USB 3.0 ports and no internal drive.One more little thing: If you bought the drive in time to qualify for the $20 rebate, your in for an interesting and no-fun session on the ASUS web site and plan on at least an hour of paperwork, cutting bar codes of the box, copying invoices, packing slips etc., etc. and then a special offer! if you accept $2 less in your rebate you can get in less time. It looks like it will be more than then ten weeks before I see my $20 AMEX gift card.Update 22:20 on 01/06/14First, I would like to say that I called ASUS Customer Support twice, first when I could not get a Blu-Ray to play on the BD Player connected to the old laptop and second when I found the solution described above. Both calls - I was on hold for at the most about 1.5 minutes, got right through to a real person who "sounded local" and new what he was talking about. This is contrary to a lot of reviews.Second, I am using the new laptop now, the drive is hooked up to it and I just finished watching a commercial Blu-Ray. I ran in to a couple of snags, mostly because it's the first time on the computer and the first time on Windows 8.1 (or 8), so I had to through the usual pain of setting up, installing and figuring out how all the new things worked.I did install the software suite that came with the drive. I don't know if that was necessary or maybe a waste of time.The drive got noisy, kind of a deep rumbling sound, but only when I was installing the ASUS software suite. It was pretty quiet while watching a Blu-Ray movie and was quiet yesterday when I watched the HD DVD on the old laptop. Maybe the drive didn't like the software I was installing so it protested. :-)So that's it for now. The ASUS drive works well, does what it is supposed to and I will stick with the five star rating. I will point out again the only downside so far, as I alluded to earlier, the drive is a little larger than expected so if you plan to take it portable, your carrying case will be a little bit fuller than it used to be.I'd like to include a write-up on the new MSI, Crimson Red super gaming laptop I am using now, but that does not belong here with the optical drive write-up.UPDATE at 11:30 on 16 Jan 2015:I decided to bite on the software upgrade from Cyberlink since I got a coupon that knocked the price down to about $21, so it seemed worth the risk for software they claim lists for well over $200. I downloaded the software, it was a breeze to install, and if nothing else (more on that later) this version allowed me to change the installation to my D drive (7200 rpm 1 TB) rather than installing on the C dive (much smaller SSD) without an option to change it. Having a fairly small (128 GB) SSD for C drive leads to a problem when every piece of software installed wants to be on the C drive.The upgraded software suite is pretty extensive and has several new features. Is it really better than the free suite that came with the optical drive? Tough call, but I think so. They both do the things the I need to do, but for only about $21 more, the extra features, including a DVD label maker, a year's worth of some cloud storage space, and some better editing software, I'd have to say I am satisfied with the upgraded software suite. Whether it's right for you - you'll have to decide. Check out the offer in the software for the upgrade, take a look at the web site and go from there. I think it's easily worth what I paid for it.Summary: I'm sticking with my five star rating, I have no second thoughts or regrets about purchasing the ASUS optical drive from Amazon, customer support from ASUS or the Cyberlink software.Excluding the possibility of the unforeseen, this is my last update on the ASUS optical drive.

Works with win 8.1 but I don't use the software that came with it although there is a Power DVD patch for win8.. I use Magix Movie Edit Pro 2014 Plus for editing and burning my vacation and home video Blu-Ray movies and for straight copies I use DVD/Blu-Ray Fab9. The drive is not the fastest on USB3, but that is using BD-R which show speed burn at about 12X.DVD are fast obviously due to size. I have burned DVD and Blu-rays without problems so far. Mounting it alongside my desktop gives easy access to the On/Off switch at the back of the burner.

Great looking drive and it worked great the first 3 times. Never would read Blu-Rays and after 3 uses it stopped reading DVDs and CD-ROM discs. Initiated RMA process with ASUS and hopefully they will honor their warranty and I'll get a drive that works. If I get a new one and it actually works I'll revise my review.3/31/15 UpdateGot the replacement drive drive today and it works GREAT, reads at full speed and burns like a charm. Reading all my Blu-Rays, DVDs, and CD-Rom discs now. Already got the rebate back from ASUS so I'm a happy camper. Would definately recommend this drive for anyone looking for a blu-ray burner using USB 3.0