Does anyone know about the BluRay plaers installed in the HP slimline series? I'm interested in purchasing the HP with both optical drives, but was wondering if I would be better off buying a stand alone blue ray. Would the blu-ray in the computer be upgradeable to newer versions ? HP CSR didn't seem to know?
Need Info on Bluray/hd player in HP computer
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I am going through this right now. See my thread on vista 64.
Here's some details. My hp came stock with the single HD dvd / BRD player plus multi media burner for standard def.
I have tested it out on both BR disks and HD DVD disks and it plays both flawlessly using the media center on the HP. My video card is the stock 8800 with half gig of video ram.
The hp case has several drive spaces so I added a new Panasonic 4x blu Ray burner as a second optical drive right under the stock multi media drive. It installed effortlessly although I had to remove the power supply box to slide the new drive into the drive slot. IT matched up to the drive eject door perfectly. The Vista 63 Premium recognized the drive immediately upon power up, loaded it's own drivers and I tested it OK immediately. The most difficult part of the drive installation was sliding the drive into the bay. It would just not slide until I poked inside and discovered 4 metal tabs that were bent down b locking the drive. I bent those up and the drive slid in easily.
BTW- I bought the drive on line from the cheapest place and it arrived with just bubblepack, I had to run to the store and pay $5 for a SATA cable. But the drive was only $350. Other places were offering for $379 to $499 for the latest 4x drive.
Here's some details. My hp came stock with the single HD dvd / BRD player plus multi media burner for standard def.
I have tested it out on both BR disks and HD DVD disks and it plays both flawlessly using the media center on the HP. My video card is the stock 8800 with half gig of video ram.
The hp case has several drive spaces so I added a new Panasonic 4x blu Ray burner as a second optical drive right under the stock multi media drive. It installed effortlessly although I had to remove the power supply box to slide the new drive into the drive slot. IT matched up to the drive eject door perfectly. The Vista 63 Premium recognized the drive immediately upon power up, loaded it's own drivers and I tested it OK immediately. The most difficult part of the drive installation was sliding the drive into the bay. It would just not slide until I poked inside and discovered 4 metal tabs that were bent down b locking the drive. I bent those up and the drive slid in easily.
BTW- I bought the drive on line from the cheapest place and it arrived with just bubblepack, I had to run to the store and pay $5 for a SATA cable. But the drive was only $350. Other places were offering for $379 to $499 for the latest 4x drive.
Thanks for the info - I'm not real computer savvy (as far as putting in extra parts & drives) I wwas just wondering if I would be sorry for buying a multimedia computer with Bluray instead of getting a stand alone bluray as far as obsolescence purposes...
Yes but there are some caveats. I have a BD 1400 and discovered one title so far that will n ot play even with latest firmware upgrade. It's Alien v Predator Requiem. It will play fine on a PS3 and my new computer. I have no idea why it fails on the stand alone BD1400 but from other reports, I'd recommend a PS3 or a computer blu ray for maximum compatibility.
The only reason I have this computer with the Hidefinition media is I need to edit video in these formats. For general home use it is overkill unless you need a home theater PC. I think it will work fine for that too. It is just expensive for doing that, IMO. Set top players are $400 and work on most titles. The basic PS3 is the same and you get a game machine. The computer will be 3x that cost minimum and you may not need all it can do swuch as HDTV tuner with DVR as well. As they say- you get what you pay for. Good luck with your decision and happy to be of any help.
The only reason I have this computer with the Hidefinition media is I need to edit video in these formats. For general home use it is overkill unless you need a home theater PC. I think it will work fine for that too. It is just expensive for doing that, IMO. Set top players are $400 and work on most titles. The basic PS3 is the same and you get a game machine. The computer will be 3x that cost minimum and you may not need all it can do swuch as HDTV tuner with DVR as well. As they say- you get what you pay for. Good luck with your decision and happy to be of any help.
An HTPC with enough power to play back any commercial video including HD DVD and Blu-ray can be built today for around $550 including the HD/BD combo drive.
Guide to Building a HD HTPC - AVS Forum
Diogen.
Guide to Building a HD HTPC - AVS Forum
Diogen.
The other things to note is the video card support. Got to be careful to ensure that the video card supports blu-ray and as well the driver is compatible.
Today some onboard video is enough to handle BD playback without breaking a sweat...
Diogen.
