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Samsung’s latest internal Blu-ray drive can’t burn Blu-ray discs, but it can still play them. Thankfully, this means it costs half as much as a Blu-ray writer, making it an attractive option if you’re building a media centre PC on a budget. An OEM version of CyberLink’s PowerDVD 8 playback software is also included, so you don’t need to pay extra money for software, unless you want use your PC’s analogue sound outputs, in which case you’ll need to upgrade to the full version. Although it can’t burn Blu-rays, it can still write standard DVDs. As we expected, it couldn’t match the speeds of a dedicated DVD writer or match its stated write speeds. It was reasonably fast burning single layer DVDs at 10X. It was quite sluggish at writing two layer discs though, managing less than 5.5X. CyberLink’s Power2Go burning software is included. It’s not as well known as Nero or Roxio Creator, but it works well enough.
Samsung’s SH-B083 is an inexpensive way of adding Blu-ray playback to your PC. There are more convenient ways of enjoying Blu-ray, like the excellent standalone Blu-ray player, the LG BD370. But with prices now this low, a Blu-ray capable media centre is an attractive proposition.
