Blu-ray technology has won the HD war and it is gaining popularity in home theaters and personal computers. The selection of Blu-ray devices is on the rise, while the prices of the hardware and the media have come down considerably. Where installing a Blu-ray reader in a computer was recently a considerable expense, you can now pick from a number of drives in the $50-$60 (US) range. And for those interested in writing their own Blu-ray discs, burners are now available for under $100 (US), and they typically include a suite of software to make sure you can get the most from your drive right out of the box.

Geeks.com currently stocks a variety of Blu-ray DVD drives, but the one we are interested in is the LG BH10LS30. This is an internal (5.25") drive that offers a variety of impressive features including 10x Blu-ray burning, 16x DVD burning, 48x CD burning, and LightScribe capability to label the top of your compatible media.



Before taking a closer look at the unit provided for review, let's cover some of the published features and specifications for the LG BH10LS30, as taken from the official product page at Geeks.com.

Features:

» Black bezel
» LightScribe Direct disc labeling
» SATA/150 interface
» 2 MB buffer under-run prevention function embedded

Specifications:

Write Speed:

» BD-R (SL/DL): 10x/8x
» BD-RE (SL/DL): 2x/2x
» DVD-R: 16x
» DVD-R DL: 8x
» DVD-RW: 6x
» DVD-RAM: 12x
» DVD+R: 16x
» DVD+R DL: 8x
» DVD+RW: 8x
» CD-R: 48x
» CD-RW: 24x

Read Speed:

» BD-ROM (SL/DL): 10x/8x
» BD-R: 6x
» BD-R (SL/DL): 10x/8x
» BD-RE (SL/DL): 8x/6x
» BDMV: 4.8x
» DVD-ROM (SL/DL): 16x/12x
» DVD-R (SL/DL): 16x/12x
» DVD-RW (SL): 12x
» DVD+R (SL/DL): 16x/12x
» DVD+RW (SL): 12x
» DVD-RAM: 12x
» DVD-Video: 4.8x
» CD-R/RW/ROM: 48x/40x/48x
» CA-DA (DAE): 40x
» 80 mm CD: 16x

Access Time:

» BD-ROM: 180 ms (typ)
» DVD-ROM: 160 ms (typ)
» DVD-ROM: 150 ms (typ)
» CD-ROM: 150 ms (typ)

Sustained Rate:

» BD-ROM: 287.72 Mbits/s (10x)
» DVD-ROM: 22.16 Mbits/s (16x)
» CD-ROM: 7200 kB/s (48x)

Not mentioned in the lists above is that the drive also comes bundled with a CyberLink "Blu-ray Disc Suite" that allows the user to watch Blu-ray movies, burn discs, create Lightscribe labels, and execute a variety of other tasks associated with their new Blu-ray drive.