Mar 27 2012 - Now that the format war is over between the Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats, interest in the drives has picked up. The drives are much more affordable even if the Blu-ray media is still quite expensive. If you are interested in getting a drive for your desktop PC, you want to make sure you spend your money wisely. Here are my selections for the best internal desktop Blu-ray drives based upon my research and experience.
Best Blu-ray Burner - Plextor PX-LB950SA
©Plextor
If you don't mind paying a bit more for a drive to get some extra features, than the Plextor PX-LB950SA is the drive to get when it comes to Blu-ray burners. It essentially offers the same level of performance as most of the Blu-ray drives with 12x BD-R write speeds and 16x DVD-R speeds. It does suffer a bit on speed when playing back Blu-ray discs at just 8x and only writes at 8x for BD-R DL as well. What you get in exchange for slightly slower speeds with those media types is a drive that is noticeable more quiet and comes with a software bundle including PowerDVD 10 for video playback. Prices average around $150.
Best Value Blu-ray Burner - LG WH12LS39
©LG Electronics
The commoditization of the Blu-ray components has helped reduce the overall cost of the drives and brought much more even performance between the various drives. Previously, you had to sacrifice the BD-R write speeds to get a lower cost drive. Now, LG offers their WH12LS39 drive with full 12x BD-R speeds and LightScribe support all for a low price of around $80. So why is the cost less than say that of the Plextor drive? Because this is an OEM drive that does not include any software or cables with it.
Best Blu-ray Combo Drive - LITE-ON ihes112-04
©LITE-ON IT Corp.
With the prices of the Blu-ray burner drives getting so low, there is not much of a price savings by getting a combo drive model. Still, if you are looking to save a little bit, then the LITE-ON ihes112-04 is one of the least expensive available for roughly $60. It features 12x playback speeds for Blu-ray media, 16x DVD media and 48x CD media reading and writing speeds.
