ASUS BC-1205PT Blu-ray Combo

Model: ASUS BC-1205PT Blu-ray Combo Drive
Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

ASUSTeK Computer is one of the world's leading computer component manufacturers. For nearly two decades, this Taiwanese company has lead the way, producing some of the industry's best motherboards and graphics cards. ASUS is no stranger to the optical storage industry either. Over the years, they've introduced a wide range of products for the portable and desktop markets. With their innovative technologies and impressive performance, these drives have been popular right from the start.

In the war between Blu-ray and HD DVD, ASUS has taken a relatively neutral stance by offering support for both high-def formats. At Computex 2007, the company introduced their first aftermarket Blu-ray drive, the BC-1205PT. Based on the Pioneer BDC-202, the BC-1205PT combines a BD-ROM and DVD writer into a single unit. The drive is capable of 12x DVD±R, 6x DVD±RW, 4x DVD±R DL and 5x DVD-RAM writing speeds and can read Blu-ray Discs at speeds as high as 5x. The BC-1205PT also includes features like a 4MB buffer, support for ASUS's FlextraLink and FlextraSpeed technologies and a software bundle from CyberLink.

With features and specs like this, it's hard not to be impressed by ASUS's new Blu-ray combo drive. However, as you all know by now, we're not ones to take things at face value. In this review, we'll take an in-depth look at the BC-1205PT's features and then see how it compares to some of the Blu-ray drives from LG and Sony. Does the BC-1205PT have what it takes? Read on as we find out.

What's in the box?:

• ASUS BC-1205PT Blu-ray Combo Drive
• CyberLink BD Solution
• Quick Installation Guide
• Mounting Screws

Physical Features:

The drive ASUS sent us for this review was manufactured in August of 2007 and had firmware version 1.03. At the time of this review, this is the only firmware available for the BC-1205PT.

Like many of ASUS's drives, the BC-1205PT is based on a Pioneer design. In this case, it's Pioneer's new Blu-ray combo drive, the BDC-202. While the two drives are very similar, ASUS has tried to make theirs stand out a bit more by giving it a custom bezel. As you can see, the BC-1205PT also has its share of logos. Along with the large "ASUS" and "Blu-ray Disc" logos, you can see a few showing off its support for Ultra Speed CD-RW media and theDVD+ReWritable and DVD Multi specifications.

Below the tray you can see the BC-1205PT's single LED. Off by default, this LED lights up green whenever the drive is reading or writing.

The rear of the BC-1205PT is pretty straightforward. By looking at the picture above you can see the drive's SATA interface and power connector.

Technical Specs:

The specs below have been taken from ASUS's websiteand the box that the drive came in.

More Features:

By looking at the picture below, you can see that ASUS's new Blu-ray combo drive is identified as an "ASUS BC-1205PT."

The Nero screenshot also shows that the BC-1205PT has a maximum CD writing speed of 40x and a 1600KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by ASUS's FlextraLink technology. According to Nero, the BC-1205PT can write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity I found that the drive was able to overburn up to 94:27with CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media.

Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the BC-1205PT is a "two sheep" burner. This means that ASUS's new drive is capable of backing up titles protected by SafeDisc 2, including version 2.51.

Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the BC-1205PT's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 1600KB buffer.

InfoTool also shows that the BC-1205PT is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The drive's region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. Unfortunately, a patched RPC-1 firmware is not yet available for this drive.

While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the BC-1205PT's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that ASUS's new drive can read and write to most DVD formats and read back BD-R, BD-RE and BD-ROM discs.

The BC-1205PT doesn't let you set the book type of single layer DVD+R or DVD+RW media. However, the drive automatically sets the book type for DVD+R DL discs to "DVD-ROM". This greatly reduces compatibility problems, especially with older DVD players.

For the BC-1205PT's software bundle, ASUS has turned to CyberLink. The CD that comes with the drive contains the CyberLink BD Solution suite which includes PowerProducer, Power2Go, PowerBackup, InstantBurn and PowerDVD.

CyberLink PowerProducer 4 - With CyberLink's PowerProducer you can create your own movie discs quickly and easily. Right from the start, this wizard based software gives you a number of options to select from. From here you can choose to produce a new movie disc, edit an existing one or record video directly to DVD or BD.

PowerProducer lets you create a number of different movie discs. Looking at the menu below, you can choose to create a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Disc. The software also supports various disc capacities and formats including DVD-VR, DVD+VR and BDAV.

While you can capture your own video, PowerProducer gives you the ability to import video files in a number of different formats. Once added to your production, you can use the built-in editor to trim, merge or split your video clips. PowerProducer also allows you to set chapters within the video content and add your own custom menus, backgrounds, fonts and titles.

CyberLink Power2Go 5.5 - Power2Go is the main disc burning program included with the BC-1205PT. With this software, users can create various types of CD's, DVD's and BD's or make backups of existing discs. Power2Go also offers enhanced security features, allowing you to password protect and encrypt your data discs.

CyberLink PowerBackup 2 - If you're looking for a quick and easy way to backup your data, PowerBackup is the answer. Depending on your needs, PowerBackup can do full, differential, and incremental backups as well as fast stream-to-disc archiving.

Backup jobs can be scheduled to run at regular intervals so the data is always protected. PowerBackup also offers more advanced features like file filtering, compression and password protection.

CyberLink InstantBurn 5 - InstantBurn is CyberLink's packet writing software. Like Roxio's Drag-to-Disc or Nero's InCD, it allows you to use your CD, DVD or BD writer as if it was another hard drive or a huge floppy disk. Once formatted, you can cut, copy, and paste or rename files and folders on a CD-RW, DVD±RW or BD-RE disc.

CyberLink PowerDVD 7 - CyberLink's PowerDVD is one of the more popular software DVD players on the market right now. Along with support for Blu-ray Discs, it can be used to play back CD's and DVD's as well as other multimedia formats including DivX.

Unfortunately, the version of PowerDVD bundled with the BC-1205PT only supports 2 speaker output. If you want to take advantage of movies encoded with Dolby Digital or DTS, you'll need to buy the retail version of PowerDVD Ultra.

While affordably priced, the ASUS's new Blu-ray combo drive delivers a good number of features. The BC-1205PT can read BD media at speeds as high as 5x and is backwards compatible with all major CD and DVD formats, including DVD-RAM. The drive also includes features like an 4MB buffer, FlextraLink buffer underrun protection and a great software bundle from CyberLink. Unfortunately, it lacks bitsetting support for single layer DVD+R and DVD+RW media. Even then, the ASUS BC-1205PT scores a solid 8 out of 10 for its features.

Along with smaller cable size, one of the biggest benefits of Serial ATA is its ease of installation. Because it uses a point to point connection, setting jumpers has become a thing of the past. In most cases, installation is as simple as plugging in the SATA and power cables and turning the computer on. Needless to say, it took only a couple of minutes to install the BC-1205PT in our test computer. After making sure that the drive was recognized by Windows, I was ready to start installing the software.

Software Installation:

As I mentioned earlier, the BC-1205PT comes with a CD full of software from CyberLink. If you have autorun enabled, the menu pictured below will automatically come up when you insert the disc.

You can view information on the different applications in the software bundle by clicking on the menu buttons. Otherwise, you can start the setup process by clicking the "Install Now" button. After picking your language of choice, you'll be presented with a number of installation options.

From here you can choose to install PowerDVD, Power2Go, PowerProducer, PowerBackup or InstantBurn. Simply select the components you want and click next a few times. Once the files are copied over, you can start burning your own discs.

The Documentation:

The BC-1205PT doesn't offer much in the way of documentation. The closest thing to a manual is the drive's "Quick Installation Guide". This small, fold out guide is broken up into 20 different languages with each language getting about a page worth of instructions. While these instructions take the user step by step through the installation process, the small size of the diagrams keeps them from being very useful. Also, if you're looking for things like the BC-1205PT's specs or system requirements, you'll have to check the back of the box or visit ASUS's website. You won't find that information in the guide.

Like the other ASUS drives we've reviewed, the BC-1205PT was very easy to install. Even though Blu-ray is a relatively new technology, there were no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working correctly. However, the less than stellar documentation might not be user friendly enough for those new to upgrading their computer. With this in mind, I give the installation a 7 out of a possible 10.

While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.

Test System:

For Blu-ray Disc Combo drives, the performance tests are normally broken down into five sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read, DVD write and BD read. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three. DMA has been enabled in device manager for all IDE devices supporting it.

CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 v3.0 and CD Speed v4.7.7.7 are used to test read speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing, CD Speed is used to give an overall speed rating.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 650MB and 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed v4.7.7.7 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write a 4.38GB image to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. For this, 4GB of random files and directories are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

BD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the BD benchmarks, CD Speed v4.7.7.7 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

CD Winbench 99 Scores:

The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.

ASUS's new Blu-ray combo drive performed fairly well in the CD Winbench portion of our tests. While its overall score wasn't as high as the Sony's, its transfer rates were pretty good for a drive with a maximum read speed of 32x. The BC-1205PT started reading at 16.3x (2440 / 150) and reached a maximum speed of about 32.1x (4820 / 150) on the outside.

CD Speed v4.7.7.7 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	25.14x 14.62x 33.26x	30.94x 17.80x 40.63x	25.44x 13.94x 33.63x	24.89x 14.39x 32.83x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	144ms 165ms 305ms	114ms 129ms 186ms	183ms 229ms 376ms	137ms 145ms 273ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 3% 6%	1% 1% 8% 9%	1% 1% 3% 5%	0% 1% 3% 3%

ASUS's new drive performed a little better in our CD Speed tests. The BC-1205PT started reading at 14.62x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 33.26x. Unfortunately, its seek times were a little higher than we'd like to see.

CD Speed v4.7.7.7 - CD-R Media:

For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	25.42x 14.68x 33.66x	31.08x 17.77x 40.83x	25.93x 14.04x 34.40x	25.17x 14.30x 33.29x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	147ms 169ms 317ms	123ms 156ms 229ms	186ms 236ms 366ms	148ms 160ms 242ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 2% 4%	1% 1% 8% 10%	1% 1% 3% 5%	0% 2% 3% 4%

Like the other drives, the BC-1205PT was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this small speed boost, the drive was able to reach a maximum transfer speed of 33.66x.

ASUS's new Blu-ray combo drive had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. It read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 34.39x.

CD Speed v4.7.7.7 - CD-RW Media:

For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests.

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	18.79x 10.96x 24.57x	30.56x 17.74x 40.00x	18.99x 10.89x 25.08x	18.54x 10.71x 24.43x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	130ms 141ms 221ms	120ms 135ms 203ms	188ms 217ms 351ms	152ms 162ms 244ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 2% 3% 4%	1% 1% 8% 10%	1% 1% 2% 5%	0% 2% 3% 4%

Like the GGW-H10N and BWU-100A, the BC-1205PT's CD-RW read speeds are limited to only 24x. As you can see, the drive had no problems reaching this speed in our tests.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.7.7.7 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.

Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that while ASUS's new combo drive supports accurate stream and has the ability to cache audio data, it does not have the ability to retrieve C2 error information. This is different than what we saw with InfoTool. If you remember back, it showed that the BC-1205PT could return C2 errors.

CD Speed	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	25.06x 15.11x 33.14x 10 Yes	30.72x 18.00x 40.30x 10 Yes	25.59x 14.04x 33.84x 10 Yes	18.66x 10.98x 24.75x 10 Yes

The BC-1205PTdid fairly well in our DAE tests. While not nearly as fast as the drive from GGW-H20L, it hadno problems ripping pressed audio CD's at 33x.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.7.7.7 - CD-R Media:

For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media I used in the CD Speed tests.

CD Speed	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	24.87x 15.04x 32.81x 10 Yes	30.44x 17.99x 39.86x 10 Yes	25.40x 14.17x 33.46x 10 Yes	18.46x 10.88x 24.31x 10 Yes

While ASUS's new combo drive was a little slower when ripping audio CD-R discs, it had no problems reaching a maximum DAE speed of 32x in our tests. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

The BC-1205PT completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 23.14x. While the drive was able to go through the tests without creating any errors, it was unable to pass all of the on the fly copying tests. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the BC-1205PT was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and lead in but failed to read the lead out section of the CD.

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.10.1.0 andDLA 5.20:

For this test I randomly generated 650MB and 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep.

The BC-1205PT uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when writing at 24x. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it uses two "zones" to reach this. The drive starts writing at 16x and jumps to 24x at about the 19 minute mark.This gave ASUS's combo drive an average writing speed of about 22.07x.

To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden manufactured Fujimedia rated at 48x. The results are below.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Lite-On IT's KProbe2. Written by Karr Wang, this utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52246S (firmware 6S0F) and read the discs at 32x.

Fuji 48x (Taiyo Yuden)

Memorex 52x (CMC)

Verbatim 52x

The BC-1205PT's writing quality was very good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors. More importantly, there were no C2 errors at all.

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 24x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

The BC-1205PT also uses Z-CLV when rewriting at 24x. As with CD-R media, it starts writing at 16x and jumps to 24x at about the 19 minute mark.

ASUS's new combo drive did fairly well in our rewriting tests. While not as fast as the GGW-H20L, it took 2:48 to write 400MB with Nero and 2:44 to do the same with DLA.

The BC-1205PT also erases at 24x. At this speed, it took the drive 15 seconds to do a quick erase and 3:53 to fully erase the disc.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.7 - DVD-ROM:

A little editorial note here. Like a CD-ROM, you will get different benchmark results depending on what kind of discs you are using. You are probably going to get varying results from a full data disc to a single layer movie disc. You're also going to get different results for single and dual layer discs.

The DVD Speed website recommends using a single layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of at least 4GB. If you use a dual layer disc you probably won't get the best results because most DVD-ROM drives slow down to read them. Some even slow down to read single layer DVD-Video discs. To make a long story short, I am using a 4.37GB single layer, single sided disc for this test.

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	9.44x 5.24x 12.62x	12.28x 6.80x 16.42x	9.09x 4.97x 12.16x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	152ms 184ms 337ms	121ms 141ms 213ms	183ms 214ms 298ms	140ms 156ms 296ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	7% 12% 22% 42%	4% 8% 14% 23%	5% 9% 16% 30%	6% 9% 17% 32%

The BC-1205PT performed fairly well when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 5.24x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 12.62x.Unfortunately, its seek times were not as low as some of the other drives.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.7 - DVD-R and DVD-RW:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disk using some general use 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD-R

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	9.46x 5.26x 12.65x	9.23x 5.12x 12.33x	7.62x 4.17x 10.19x	6.15x 3.40x 8.22x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	168ms 199ms 351ms	102ms 125ms 183ms	193ms 238ms 366ms	152ms 166ms 305ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	7% 13% 23% 45%	3% 6% 12% 22%	6% 9% 16% 31%	6% 9% 17% 31%

Verbatim DVD-RW

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.31x 3.49x 8.44x	7.69x 4.23x 10.29x	6.26x 3.42x 8.37x	6.16x 3.41x 8.25x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	176ms 418ms 378ms	110ms 136ms 206ms	213ms 258ms 402ms	153ms 219ms 355ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	7% 13% 23% 42%	4% 7% 13% 24%	6% 9% 16% 31%	6% 9% 17% 31%

The BC-1205PT had no problems reading DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. In our tests, the drive read DVD-R discs at 12x, and both DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media at a respectable 8x.

Maxell 5x DVD-RAM

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	4.93x 4.84x 4.88x	4.62x 3.00x 5.00x	4.99x 4.97x 5.00x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	175ms 3ms 1ms	139ms 156ms 206ms	354ms 529ms 1126ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x:	16% 30% 55%	17% 27% 42%	13% 26% 22%

The BC-1205PT has a maximum transfer speed of 5x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that it reads at this speed from start to finish.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.7 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disk using some 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD+R

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	9.45x 5.25x 12.64x	9.22x 5.10x 12.33x	7.63x 4.17x 10.20x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	168ms 202ms 353ms	100ms 130ms 196ms	190ms 240ms 382ms	156ms 169ms 313ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	7% 12% 23% 43%	3% 7% 15% 24%	6% 9% 17% 31%	6% 10% 17% 32%

Verbatim DVD+RW

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.31x 3.49x 8.44x	7.69x 4.24x 10.29x	6.25x 3.42x 8.36x	6.15x 3.41x 8.22x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	175ms 213ms 367ms	110ms 129ms 191ms	214ms 263ms 402ms	156ms 170ms 338ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	7% 12% 22% 41%	4% 7% 12% 23%	6% 9% 16% 31%	6% 10% 17% 32%

The BC-1205PT's performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R and DVD-RW media.The drive read DVD+R discs at 12x and DVD+RW media at 8x.

Verbatim DVD+R DL

Reading Verbatim's double layer DVD+R media wasn't an issue for the GC-1205PT either. With a maximum transfer speed of 8.43x, it had no problems taking the top spot in CD Speed's transfer rate tests.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.7 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	3.89x 2.15x 5.20x	6.06x 3.36x 8.10x	9.01x 4.92x 12.05x	4.61x 2.56x 6.17x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	176ms 208ms 353ms	191ms 231ms 333ms	185ms 224ms 303ms	145ms 162ms 302ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	7% 13% 26% n/a	4% 6% 18% 24%	7% 9% 27% 31%	6% 9% 17% n/a

The BC-1205PT didn't do as well as the other drives when reading DVD videos. In our tests, it reached a maximum speed of only 5x when reading both single and dual layer discs.

To see how well ASUS's new drive worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using the bundled version of PowerDVD. The BC-1205PT had no problems playing back either movie and was fairly quiet.

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.10.1.0 andDLA 5.20:

To test the DVD writing performance of ASUS's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW and 8x DVD+RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 12x, the BC-1205PT uses Z-CLV. The drive starts writing at 6x and jumps to 8x at the 0.55GB mark. It writes at this speed until about the 2.3GB minute mark. At this point, the writing speed increases to 12x and stays there until the end of the session.

ASUS's new drive also writes to DVD+RW and DVD-RW media at 6x. Looking at the screenshots above, you can see that it writes at this speed from start to finish.

The BC-1205PT performed relatively well when writing to DVD±R media. While no match for the GGW-H20L, it was more than two minutes faster than the drive from Sony. ASUS's combo drive also had no problems hold its own with DVD-RW media. However, with a maximum writing speed of only 6x, it wasn't as fast as the drives in our tests.

To check the media compatibility of the BC-1205PT, I ran a few tests using some of the media available in my area. The media types, along with the average time it took the drive to write our 4.38GB image, are listed below.

So what about writing quality? Testing a drive's DVD writing quality isn't easy. Until now, there were very few options, unless you wanted to shell out thousands of dollars for a certified test machine. Thanks to KProbe, we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates.For these tests I used a Lite-On SOHW-1673S and read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively. For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 is able to report PI Errors, PI Failures, Parity Outer Failures and even jitter levels. For this test, the discs are read at 8x with both the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? With KProbe, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. When testing with CD Speed, the number of PI errors should stay below 280 as well. However, because it scans with an ECC sum of 8, a higher number of PIF errors is acceptable, as long as they do not exceed 32. Since POF errors are uncorrectable, we really don't want to see any of them at all.

I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x with the DW1640. By reading these discs back at this speed, we can see if there are any readability issues caused by the number of errors or high levels of jitter.

The BC-1205PT's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media we tested. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. While the writing quality varied from one manufacturer to another, the results were fairly good for the most part.

To test the BC-1205PT's packet writing performance I used DLA 5.20. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media was used once again.

The BC-1205PT didn't do as well as some of the other drives in our packet writing tests. While it turned in some respectable times when writing to DVD-RW and DVD-RAM media, its 6x DVD+RW writing speed put it at a disadvantage once again. The BC-1205PT was also slower than the other drives when reading back our test data, taking anywhere from 12 to 16 minutes to read back all of the files and directories.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.10.1.0:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the BC-1205PT, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from Verbatim, RiDATA and Memorex. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

The BC-1205PT performed as expected when writing to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 4x. In both cases, the drive took about 27 minutes to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The BC-1205PT yielded some mixed results with DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits when tested with KProbe. Unfortunately, when scanned by the DW1640, there were a few cases where the PI/PIF rates were higher than we'd like to see.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.7 - BD-ROM:

To test the BC-1205PT's BD-ROM reading performance, I used the Blu-ray Disc version of The Fifth Element. This single layer disc is about 23GB in size.

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	3.91x 2.19x 5.22x	3.61x 2.01x 4.82x	3.05x 1.70x 4.07x	2.00x 2.00x 2.00x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	79ms 207ms 360ms	117ms 175ms 223ms	148ms 275ms 385ms	123ms 228ms 407ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 3% 6%	0% 1% 1% 2%	0% 1% 2% 3%	0% 1% 2% 3%

The BC-1205PT performed very well when reading BD-ROM discs. In our tests, the drive started reading at 2.19x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 5.22x.

ASUS's new Blu-ray combo drive had no problems playing back The Fifth Element using the bundled version of PowerDVD. Just keep in mind that if your monitor is connected to your video card using DVI or HDMI, both need to be HDCP compliant to play AACS protected titles. If not, you can still play them by switching the connection to VGA or using software like Slysoft's AnyDVD HD.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.7 - BD-R and BD-RE:

Next we'll look at the drive's BD-R and BD-RE reading performance. For this I created a few data discs using BD-R and BD-RE media from Memorex and Sony and then ran our BD read tests with CD Speed.

Memorex BD-R

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	3.93x 2.24x 5.22x	4.55x 2.58x 6.04x	3.06x 1.75x 4.07x	2.00x 1.99x 2.00x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	91ms 226ms 381ms	121ms 167ms 217ms	206ms 317ms 441ms	101ms 215ms 390ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 2% 5%	0% 0% 2% 2%	0% 1% 2% 3%	0% 1% 2% 4%

Memorex BD-RE

	ASUS BC-1205PT	LG GGW-H20L	LG GGW-H10N	Sony BWU-100A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	3.93x 2.24x 5.22x	2.30x 2.29x 2.30x	2.51x 1.43x 3.34x	2.00x 1.99x 2.00x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	93ms 230ms 377ms	150ms 263ms 766ms	223ms 330ms 441ms	101ms 219ms 391ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 2% 5%	0% 1% 2% 2%	0% 1% 2% 3%	0% 1% 2% 4%

Sony BD-R DL

ASUS's new drive had no problems reading BD-R, BD-RE and BD-R DL media. In our tests, the BC-1205PT was able to read both BD-R and BD-RE media at 5x. Unfortunately, when reading BD-R DL discs, its transfer speed was limited to only 2x.

Performance Revisited:

While not the fastest at everything, the BC-1205PT performed as expected throughout most of our tests. The drive had no problems playing back Blu-ray movies and reached some impressive speeds when reading single layer BD-ROM's and BD-R/RE media. The BC-1205PT was also fairly quick when reading DVD's and turned in some respectable times when writing to DVD±R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM media. On the other hand, the drive's performance wasn't as impressive when reading and writing to CD's. Nevertheless, it had no problems reaching its rated read speeds and held its own fairly well in our writing tests. With all of these things considered, the ASUS BD-1205PT gets an 8 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.

Until now, adding a Blu-ray drive to your computer has been a costly investment. The high price of Blu-ray Disc writers has put them out of reach for most consumers, especially those that are only looking to play movies. With the BC-1205PT, ASUS has made it easier for people to go high def. While lacking BD writing capabilities, this versatile, yet reasonably priced, drive can read and write to all major CD and DVD formats and play Blu-ray movies.

While I didn't get a chance to try any BD+ protected titles, the BC-1205PT played all of the Blu-ray movies I had on hand using the bundled CyberLink software. The drive also did fairly well in our transfer rate tests, reading single layer BD-ROM's and both BD-R and BD-RE media at an impressive 5x. My only real disappointment was with BD-R DL discs where the BC-1205PT's read speed was limited to only 2x.

With a maximum DVD±R writing speed of 12x, the BC-1205PT is no match for the current crop of DVD writers. Nevertheless, it was faster than most of the Blu-ray drives I've tested, burning an entire 4.7GB DVD in a little more than 7 minutes. The BC-1205PT also had no problems holding its own when writing to DVD-RW, DVD-RAM and DVD±R DL media. However, its 6x DVD+RW writing speed put it at slight a disadvantage in our tests. When it came to reading DVD's, the BC-1205PTwas able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD±R media at 12x but slowed to only 5x when reading DVD-Videos.

Reading and writing CD's wasn't a problem for the BC-1205PT either. While the drive's seek times were a little higher than I would have liked, it had no problems reading pressed and CD-R media at 32x and CD-RW discs at 24x. As a writer, the BC-1205PT performed as expected. With a maximum CD-R writing speed of only 24x, the drive won't break any speed records. However, this should be more than enough if you need to write an occasional CD or two.

Beyond its support for Blu-ray, the BC-1205PT offers a fairly standard set of features. Along with a 4MB buffer, the drive supports things like ASUS's FlextraLink, FlextraSpeed and DDSS II technologies. The BC-1205PT also offers a good number of writing and rewriting speeds to choose from and automatically sets the book type when writing to DVD+R DL discs. Unfortunately, it won't let you do the same with DVD+R or DVD+RW media. To top it all off, ASUS has included a great software software bundle from CyberLink.

While priced below most other Blu-ray drives, the BC-1205PT still isn't exactly cheap. The drive currently goes for around $250 on Pricegrabber, which is still a still a sizeable investment, especially when you consider that the format war is not yet over.

Highs:

• Reads single layer BD-ROM's and BD-R/RE media at 5x
• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 12x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 4x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 12x
• Reads DVD±R media at 12x
• Reads DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 8x
• Supports ASUS's FlextraLink, FlextraSpeed and QuieTrack technologies
• 4MB buffer
• Good CD-R and DVD±R writing quality
• Automatically sets book type to DVD-ROM for DVD+R DL media
• Serial ATA interface
• Includes software from CyberLink

Lows:

• Reads BD-R DL media at only 2x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at only 6x
• Writes to CD-R media at only 24x
• Questionable writing quality with some DVD±R DL media
• Cannot set the book type of DVD+R or DVD+RW media
• High seek times
• Overburns to only 94:27
• Documentation could be better