Pioneer BD-203 Blu Ray drive Observations and questions

I have a DP35D motherboard with a Q6600 processor and 2mb RAM. I run XP with SP2 and PE7.
I use hi def video and usually write to a DVD burner, with no problems. I have 4 hard drives with a dedicated drive for PE7 video files, a 1TB drive.
On DVD all is well.
So I installed a Pioneer BD- 203 Blu Ray drive (all my drives apart from the DVD drive are SATA). Installation of the BD203 went well, the PC recognised it and I was not required to "do" anything. It was a bare drive so NO additional software was installed. I did not need to go into the BIOS or "do" anything.
I went into PE7 and the BD-203 was instantly recognised - so far so very good!
I took an existing 1hr 27 minute Hi Def video which I had successfully written to DVD and wrote it to BluRay. As a matter of interest it took 1hr 40mins to encode the video (as an MPEG2 file), then PE7 reported that the disc (BluRay that is) was being burnt (Burn in Progress) but there was no movement of the progress bar within PE7 and the hard drive was busy for just over an hour. Then there was activity on the BD-203 drive but the progress bar remained static - after maybe less than an hour the drive spat out the disc (a Traxdata 4* record BD-R disc) and NO error messages were reported. So all looked relatively good, at least thats what I thought. I have NO means of playing the disc at the moment and the BluRay disc certainly has some data written to it but only about half a discs worth.
I tried to read the BluRay disc on my PC and Windows XP said "Windows cannot read from the disc. The disc may be corrupted, or it could be using a format that is not compatible with Windows". I was not overly concerned by this as I have no BluRay reader on my PC.
I then encoded a separate 2 and a half minute video onto a Verbatim BD-RE disc. Obviously this was a much quicker process!! Once again the same set of processes albiet much more speedy.
Questions.
What encoding should I select MPEG2 1440 * 1080i PAL Dolby OR MPEG2 1920 * 1080i PAL Dolby? My camcorder produces 1440 by 1080i as I believe is common practice.
Can I assume that the resultant discs are OK or should I suspect something?
Is there a free/cheap BluRay player for a PC that wont interfere with the BluRay writing operation or cause any other problems? and which I can use on my PC in order to verify that the discs I have written to are OK?
Andy

Thanks, I will be tyesting my discs over the weekend.
But I can advise you that my DB203 does successfully burn DVDs and I can play those DVDs. From that I deduce that the drive is functional in the DVD writing mode - so I am a little more hopeful.
Andy
PS Will advise all re progress - as BluRay writing seems to be a bit of an issue!!

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Hi
Thank You for your feedback , seems some issue with the BRD interface
You may contact support no’s
IDEA-branded and
B, C, E, G, H, K, N, Q, V, Y Series Products
English
0844 2491112
(5 pm from BT landlines)
9AM - 6PM
Monday - Friday
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/feedback/detail.page?LegacyDocID=MIGR-76613
Hope This Helps
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http://store.fastmac.com/product_info.php?products_id=338
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/3245/2512/-/18658441/Sony-BC-5640H-Slot-Loading-Sli m-Blu-Ray-Combo-Drive/Product.html
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tGtqxbfqWNsJ:www.sony-optia rc.eu/products/bluraydrivesnotebooks/bc5640h.html+Sony+BC-5640H&cd=1&hl=en&ct=cl nk&gl=uk&source=www.google.co.uk
It doesn't matter if for at least the immediate time being, it may not be actually possible to play Blu-ray movies within OS X lacking the kernels for it. If a compatible drive was found, then the rewards are:-
Storing massive amounts of data (up to 50GB on one disc). Fantastic fro backups and archiving.
Being able to FINNALLY output edited Hi Def video/movies from Final Cut Studio onto a Blu-ray disc and then playing that on a dedicated external Blu-ray player elsewhere.
Booting-up in Bootcamp for attempting to play-back Blu-ray movies using windows drivers, software and built-in OS kernels. (I'm not a Windows person, but can't deny it can save the day where some things are concerned)
Future-proofing; if one day soon Apple smiles on us all and releases a system OS update that enables 'full' Blu-ray support (or some other upgrade)

I have noted that on numerous wish lists for Mac enhancements has been Blue Ray capability. I looked at the Fast mac web site and the specifications were impressive. When I saw the price, I had to have the Heimlich maneuver performed. This is not to dissuade you or anyone else to purchase one. It simply is a reflection of my cheapness ex. for me SSD are overpriced for the value received but I take no issue for those who but them.
What I find to be very peculiar is the issue of apparent compatibility with only pre-unibody MBPs. We know that these MBP are slower than the subsequent generations. Blu-ray vidio files are huge. To load, tranferr, edit and compile these such files is best served with a fast processor. To install this on an older MBP seem like simultanously taking a step forward and a step backward.
Your list of virtues has merit but I have to take exception with your 'Future Proofing'. Apple has a habit of going down the road less traveled. If and when they integrate Blu-ray capability in their MBPs, it does not follow that the Fast Mac drive will be the same or have software compatibility.
I have both a pre-unibody MBP and a unibody MBP. I have changed the optical drive on the old machine and I have just looked inside the newer one (when I upgraded the HHD). They both APPEAR to be identical but I suspect there may be subtle physical differences. Hence this may be the reason why it can be installed only pre-unibody MBPs. (I can be bribed to take the both out and compare them!)
I would suggest to contact the technical department at OWC and find out if they are familiar with this product and what opinions they may have. I have dealt with them on several occasions and they seem knowledgeable.
Ciao.

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not recommended...but here is a prior post that answers it:
prior post
This ebay seller apparently has the drives for all HP models...the exact part number you need (depends on whether yours is black or biscotti in color) is in the prior link above.I would contact the seller in advance with a question and be sure he has your exact model as he seems to be selling IDE drives and I am sure yours is a SATA interface.
eBay
$139 is not too bad. A Blu-Ray reader with a DVD burner was an option on your laptop series so it can work. You likely will need to add Blu-Ray playback software to watch movies. If you wanted a Blu-Ray burner the answer is even more complex so I hope you only meant you want a drive to watch Blu-Ray movies.

Pioneer BD-203 Blu Ray drive Observations and questions

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