| ASUS BC-1205PT SATA Blu-ray Disc Optical Drive |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Storage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Olin Coles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tuesday, 20 May 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ASUS BC-1205PT Optical DriveThe HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc format war is finally over. Now that Toshiba and Microsoft have both jumped ship on HD-DVD, for the first time in at least a dozen introduced media types Sony finally has its moment of glory with their Blu-ray Disc format. This news is exactly what movie buffs and storage moguls have eagerly awaited for more than a year, and now that the casualties are cleared it's time to get productive and introduce new products built from the blue laser technology. ASUS, being the industry-leader that they are, have wasted no time at all in getting a Blu-ray Disc storage solution to the market. As it stands now, there are fewer enthusiasts using the new format than there are users who use DDR3 SDRAM. But what if you're one of the few hardware enthusiasts who have seen the light, the blue crystal light? Surprisingly, the format war did accomplish something positive: it expedited the growing pains associated with the introduction of new technology. So by the time any real portion of the consumer pool touches Blu-ray technology, it will have already evolved into a well-polished product.
The ASUS BC-1205PT is a BD-ROM/DVD±R/RW/CD-RW drive capable of reading data from and writing data onto DVD+R/RW/DVD-R/RW/ and DVD-RAM formats. The dual compatibility feature of the BC-1205PT allows you to create DVDs that can be played or read by most DVD-ROM drives and DVD players. This function provides you with flexibility and efficiency in terms of multimedia data storage and sharing. Most notably, the ASUS BC-1205PT allows you to watch Blu-ray Disc movies on your HTPC or other equipped computer system. About the company: ASUSTek Computer, Inc.ASUS, a technology-oriented company blessed with one of the world's top R&D teams, is well known for high-quality and innovative technology. As a leading provider of 3C (computers, communications and consumer electronics) total solutions, ASUS offers a complete product portfolio to compete in the new millennium.
ASUS products' top quality stems from product development. It's like learning Chinese Kung-Fu; one must begin with cultivating the "Chi" and inner strength. Besides innovating cutting-edge features, ASUS engineers also pay special attention to EMI (electromagnetic interference), thermal, acoustics and details that usually go unnoticed to achieve complete customer satisfaction. ASUS notebooks are the first TCO'99-certified notebooks worldwide. The requirements for this honor include radiation emission control, energy (battery consumption), ecology (environment friendly) and ergonomics. To succeed in this ultra-competitive industry, great products need to be complimented by speed-to-market, cost and service. That's why all 100,000 over employees of ASUS strive for the "ASUS Way of Total Quality Management" to offer the best quality without compromising cost and time-to-market while providing maximum value to all customers through world-class services. With unyielding commitment to innovation and quality, ASUS won 2,168 awards in 2006, meaning on average, the company received over 5 awards everyday last year. BusinessWeek ranked ASUS amongst its "InfoTech 100" for the 9th straight year. The readers of Tom's Hardware Guide, the world's largest IT website, selected ASUS as the best maker of motherboards and graphics cards. Furthermore, the company is ranked as No.1 in quality products and services by the Wall Street Journal. BC-1205PT SpecificationsASUS BC-1205PT SATA Blu-ray Optical Drive
ASUS Optical Drive Features
Compatible with a Wide Range of Disc Formats
Operates on Horizontal or Vertical Mounting
ASUS Unique Live Firmware Update Tool
Windows XP/ 2000/ Vista Supported
Liquid Crystal Tilt Technology - Precision on Uneven Discs
FlextraLinkTM Buffer Underrun Errors Prevention Technology
FlextraSpeedTM Optimal Writing Speed Adjustment Technology
Superior Stability with DDSSII
Smart laser Driver technology ASUS BC-1205PT Closer LookAfter two years inside this industry, there are times when a product surprises me, and there are times when the product is exactly what I expected. So when I first considered testing the ASUS BC-1205PT SATA Blu-ray Optical Drive, I had to stop myself for a moment and decide if I was ready for a marketing whirlwind to take my breath away. I attended the 2008 International CES back in January, which was the final no-holds-barred showdown of HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc. When I greeted the PR staff, the attitude of the exhibitions weren't at all like I had imagined them, and the lack of enthusiasm from the staff really pulled me back. I visited both product exhibitions, and came away even less thrilled at the waging format war. It seemed that neither side was coming out strong in the final round, and both had been worn down to this exhausted conclusion. The real shocker was when I asked for promotional information on a disc media, I was quickly told to write down their web address. Funny, I thought, that two optical disc formats wouldn't have a scrap of CD to hand press on insiders day.
So what does any of this have to do with the ASUS BC-1205PT SATA Blu-ray optical drive? It has more to do with Blu-ray than you might think. Blu-ray has won the war, but only because funding and corporate backing had both been slowing to a final grinding halt for HD-DVD. It wasn't as if Blu-ray came out with a six-hit combo or something; there wasn't a finishing move... it just happened one day. Which brings me to why this should have something to do with Blu-ray optical products...
Where's the gimmick? There hasn't been one cheesy sign of shameless product promotion embedded into the Blu-ray product family. Maybe I'm jaded by all the marketing 'fluff' that comes my way each hour of my day, but there hasn't even been a mellow blue-backlit 'Blu-ray Disc' logo on anything I've found produced. It seems that the Blu-ray camp is just going to depend on their good name to swoon consumers into buying their branded products... such as the ASUS BC-1205PT.
More than anything else, ASUS has positioned the BC-1205PT to be a Blu-ray Disc player beyond its other features. Sure, it's a SATA optical drive, which to my complete surprise is still considered a 'new technology' for many (even though I've been using them for two years now), but SATA is merely an ingredient of the overall recipe. Other features, such as digital audio output and CD or DVD burning have also been forced into the back seat.
What the ASUS BC-1205PT is really all-about, what it is meant to offer more than anything else, is a first step into the Blu-ray Disc format. This entry-level BD product offers read-only functionality for the blue laser, while retaining some of the more essential necessities that have comprised modern optical drives on today's hardware market.
So now that you know that the BC-1205PT is a no-frills Blu-ray Disc multimedia solution without BD-R or BD-RE functionality, our next concern is how it performs on the other basic levels. Optical Testing & ResultsTesting MethodologyTesting optical drives isn't something Benchmark Reviews offers to do on a routine basis; in fact, it's one of the few items we have yet to previously experience. For our testing purposes, Nero CD-DVD Speed was used to compare the general read speed and sound level of each optical drive. Utilizing a retail-pressed DVD-9 disc, each unit was tested five times total. Out of the five benchmark results, the highest and lowest test scores were removed from our average. 
Test System
Comparison Products:
Test ResultsAs a prosumer, I often times have an insight to how manufacturers go about their decision making. Regardless, it's not going to be easy for ASUS to convince the average consumer that a beefed-up DVD-R/W drive with the added Blu-ray Disc capability is going to be worth all the extra money. While I don't want to suggest that the BC-1205PT SATA optical drive is for everyone, it would be a mistake to think that this is going to replace the much less expensive (and less capable) DVD-R/W offerings. So let's see how they compare:
Right from the start, the read speeds and burst bandwidth of the ASUS BC-1205PT Blu-ray drive are less then optimal. If anything, I would have expected a faster read speed than an ordinary $30 DVD-R/W drive; especially on Dual Layer media. While competitive, you'll be sacrificing read speed for the added bonus of accepting BD media. But what about recording performance?
Well, it appears the Optiarc has shown up both the ASUS BC-1205PT and Toshiba SH-S203B SATA optical drives with their AD-7170S Dual-Layer DVD-R/W drive. The ASUS Blu-ray drive was significantly slower than the Optiarc which is rated lower than the Toshiba drive, yet the BC-1205PT still outperformed the SH-S203B at burning Dual Layer DVD media by a very small margin. Blu-ray Disc Final ThoughtsThere's really not much to be said about Blu-ray Disc at this point. It didn't beat HD-DVD on the basis of being a superior technology, even though it is. It didn't exactly overwhelm the public with a tremendous amount of movies, similar to what ended the VHS vs BetaMAX format war. Ultimately, it wasn't so much that Blu-ray beat HD-DVD on any one level as it was just plain suffering a premature death. At any rate, Blu-ray Disc is the new format of choice... for now.
At this point in time (heading into Q2-2008), the world might not be ready for an expensive new format; at least not here in the USA. As a business owner within the technology industry, I have seen too many lay-offs to remain optimistic about costly entertainment trends. Even with the recent news of some major names closing their doors for good, I can't help but wonder to what end we've pushed the envelope of commerce in a changing (if not fledging) economy. I can recall the days when DVD players first hit the market... they were expensive, just not so much so. It went from ending a very long format war to entering a recession economy. Perhaps 2009 will be the year of the BD break-out, because I think that a market with $60 up-scaling 1080p DVD players is going to keep the new format at bay for just a little while longer. Added to this, the Blu-Ray camp won't really see a surge in business until D-Day arrives on February 17th and consumers give in to buying HDTV's. Essentially, now is not the time for Blu-ray Disc. ASUS BC-1205PT ConclusionWhat's Blu-ray, if not a shining star? It seems like anything wearing the BD badge these days just seems to look better. But maybe it's just me, and my desire to touch all new technologies. Either way, ASUS has done a good job of reining in my attention and keeping the carrot just within my reach. The retail package tells the consumer everything they would want to know about this product, and allows them to compare it side by side to other products which might be on the shelf. Optical drives have very little opportunity to make a lasting impression. Sure, the ASUS BC-1205PT wears a Blu-ray Disc badge that stands out across the room but other than that the appearance is not different than every other drive with a black bezel. I still like my idea of having a glowing blue logo, just for added 'wow' factor, but I think that ASUS has done as much as they realistically could to make this an appealing product. You might think that all optical drives are constructed the same, but you would be wrong. As a technician, I find myself replacing more optical drives then almost every other component (second only to the power supply unit). Although the drive tray action uses a rubber-band on pulley assembly instead of gears (sacrificing long-term longevity for noise reduction), the remainder of the BC-1205PT is solid... almost literally. This SATA optical drive seems to have a bit of heft to it, since it felt heavier than standard DVD-burners. With the ability to read three different generations of disc media (four counting mini-discs), the BC-1205PT matches legacy CD read and write functions with the current standard of DVD single and dual-layer functionality, and tops it all off with a touch of Blu-ray Disc for the future. CD and DVD performance is notably slower than the average SATA optical drive, but this combo-drive has to make some sacrifices for housing a blue laser for BD read capabilities. Value is in the eye of the beholder for some, and in the wallet for many. Presently the ASUS BC-1205PT SATA Blu-ray Optical Drive is available at NewEgg for $149.99. This is affordable enough to allow pre-existing HTPC's to upgrade and enjoy Blu-ray movies, and it's not so expensive that it couldn't be added to the desktop computer for the professional who doesn't get very far from his desk (like me). Like the CD and DVD media formats that came before it, Blu-Ray Disc has to crawl before it can walk. Neither the CD-ROM nor the DVD-ROM formats offered a burner at the same time their format was introduced, and so it makes sense that it's been a repeat phenomenon with BD drives (although they did become available practically next day). I suppose that there are going to be new adopters of the Blu-ray Disc technology who have no plans to purchase and record expensive BD media; and those early adopters are probably only interested in playing multimedia and movies from their drives. To that extent, the ASUS BC-1205PT SATA Blu-ray optical drive makes perfect sense. Pros:
+ Full-range CD and DVD recording capabilities Cons:
- Slow CD and DVD read speeds Ratings:
Final Score: 8.35 out of 10.Questions? Comments? Benchmark Reviews really wants your feedback. We invite you to leave your remarks in our Discussion Forum.
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In 2006, the company shipped 55 million motherboards, which means one in three desktop PCs sold last year was powered by an ASUS motherboard. Our 2006 revenues reached US$16.5 billion, and is expected to garner US$23 billion in 2007.
