Pioneer BDC-2202B5PK

I have been struggling for the last two days to make this thing work. With the recommended ATA Radeon 2400 video card, a new 650 watt Corsair power supply and this Blue Ray "player," I have finally achieved… about 4 frames per minute. Wow. I am underwhelmed. The software that came with it is like working your way through an extremely complex, intricate Rat's maze of baffling ideosyncracies. I would have to say that this buying experience is the worst I have ever had with Amazon. Stay away from this drive, whatever you do. It flat doesn't work. Maybe if you are a computer programmer or something, but for mere mortals, fuhgetaboutit.

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I ordered this device for a recent machine I built for forensic work for software that must be run on Windows 32bit. Vista did not install properly directly, I believe the issue related to the firmware… issue. After installing windows XP 32 bit professional updating the firmware I was able to stabilize the device. Prior to the upgrade to the firmware/driver protection fault errors made the system unstable.

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I bought this because of the price. And I paid it in other ways. An exercise in dealing with frustration. Even though this device doesn't come with drivers for XP (and they are not available), it does… install on that OS and in the process messes up the OS. Nasty software. I also attempted to install the reader/player in a Vista machine. I was never able to get it to operate, but at least Vista will read the HD-DVD's. Again, nasty software. Can I rate it 1/4 star???

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Lack of support for product from both Pioneer and Corel. Corel persistently states no support for OEM'ed product that comes with Pioneers DVD player. Installed WinDVD on Vista64-bit, will not playback… in full screen. Corel states WinDVD8 or 9 are not supported on Vista 64-bit. Pioneer product documentation for this player only states support for Vista. Corel's website does not state details about Vista 32-bit or 64-bit support. Trial version of PowerDVD Ultra has no playback problems for Bluray. Unfortunately, Pioneer choose to package Corel's WinDVD software with this product.

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