topic Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S in PCs & Accessories

XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

ITTroll — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:58:53 GMT

OK, you need two things, a Sony BC-5600S Blu-ray drive (BD-ROM/DVD/CD RW) and a slimline SATA to standard SATA converter cable. Both are available from a variety of sources but eBay is probably your cheapest option. I paid £95 for the drive and £3 for the cable. The cable is required because the BC-5600S has a slimline SATA connector and without it you won't be able to supply power to the drive. The converter cable has a molex type power connector but unfortunately there aren't any molex connectors inside the XL201. Therefore you will also need a SATA to molex convertor, or do as I did and modify the existing power cable which takes power from the motherboard.

1. Open up the case and remove the cross brace so you can access the drive.
2. Disconnect the power and SATA cables (small release catch underneath).
3. Unscrew the two screw which hold the drive caddy in place. The caddy will now slide back and can be removed.
4. Unscrew the two small screws which hold the ATAPI 50-pin to SATA Adapter in place. This can now be removed as it is no longer required with the BC-5600S.
5. Unscrew the four screws which hold the drive in the caddy. The drive can now be removed from the caddy.
6. If your BC-5600S doesn't have a facia (mine didn't) you can remove the one from the orginal drive by pushing in the little plastic tabs.
7. Now basically reverse the process with the new drive. Screw the BC-5600S to the caddy and then slot and screw the caddy into place.
8. Connect the drive to the motherboard using your (modified) converter cable.
9. Vista will automatically detect the new drive and install the required drivers (if you are using XP you will probably need to provide a driver).

Finally, remember that there is no native support for Blu-ray in Media Center. DVDs and CDs will continue to play OK through Media Center but you will need some other software to play Blu-ray. You can use WinDVD or PowerDVD if you already have them, but the best choice is Arcsoft TotalMedia Theater as this integrates better with Media Center.

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

ChalkyWhite71 — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:55:23 GMT

Many thanks to the "Troll". I'll crack on and order these parts now.

Doesn't this adapter do both data and power, or do we need two separate leads please?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Slimline-SATA-Cable-Slim-Optical-Drive-4-pin-Power_W0QQitemZ260341807201QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL?hash=item260341807201

I'm wondering how a blurayed XL201 will perform with stock graphics card and 1GB memory, as i notice you have upgraded both.

I do have XP, so will report back findings with the driver, and will also buy the molex adapter as i don't fancy modifying cables. Cheers, Tony

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

ITTroll — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:29:11 GMT

That cable provides both power and data. The only issue is the molex connector. So you need either a SATA to molex converter (note not the more common molex to SATA) or perform the above modification.

The advantage of the above mod is that is still leaves the SATA power cable free for hard disks.

The standard XL201 specification is a bit borderline for Blu-ray playback. XL202 and XL302 owners have reported some stutter with certain high bit rate titles. This is mostly due to the 7600 graphics card which doesn't offload much from the CPU. 1GB should be OK for XP but Vista really wants 2GB.

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

ITTroll — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:08:42 GMT

I have found one minor annoyance with the BC-5600S. When playing personally created DVD-Rs the drive spins at maximum speed and is quite noisey. However it is fine when playing original BD, DVD or CD (I guess it detects these and auto limits).

I have tried a couple of old freeware spin limiters (SpeedDrive and CD Bremse) but these didn't have any affect. Does anyone know of any others?

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

ChalkyWhite71 — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:58:00 GMT

what manufacturer of disc are you using? Have you tried a variety? I only use Verbatim or TDK now, after a previously-owned Panasonic PVR got fussy over the cheaper discs. Datawrite for instance were really troublesome. Have you tried CD-Rs?

I wonder whether the problem is due to how the disc is recorded? You get various options in Nero for the type of burn, but they go over my head frankly.

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

ITTroll — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:51:33 GMT

I am using Verbatim DVD-R. I think I can set the book type (bitsetting) on future burns which will fool the drive into thinking they are DVD-ROM. However this won't help with my existing disks. I haven't tried CD-R yet.

Edit: Scratch that idea, this feature only works with DVD+R media.

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

ITTroll — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:08:57 GMT

If you don't mind an external solution (and want less hassle) Play currently have the LiteOn DX-4O1S-03C external USB BD-ROM drive on pre-order for £74.99. You even get a copy of PowerDVD.

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

ITTroll — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:02:48 GMT

I have found one minor annoyance with the BC-5600S. When playing personally created DVD-Rs the drive spins at maximum speed and is quite noisey. However it is fine when playing original BD, DVD or CD (I guess it detects these and auto limits).

I have tried a couple of old freeware spin limiters (SpeedDrive and CD Bremse) but these didn't have any affect. Does anyone know of any others?

OK I have now tried using AnyDVD and this works a treat at keeping the drive spin speed slow and silent.

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

h4 — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:02:35 GMT

as usual troll, you are a blessing! i will bookmark this post as this will be next modification... btw i had to thank you for your excellent post on the 8500gt gpu guide

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

andysp5 — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 13:09:03 GMT

Thanks for the info IT Troll.
I've just upgraded my XL201 to Vista (never again!).
I am now going to install a BC-5600S.
I understand it's not possible to get hold of a copy of WinDVD BD from the XL302 as it is only on the recovery disk.
You recommend Arcsoft Total Media Theater because it integrates better with VMC.
What do you mean by that? If you are in VMC and you put in a BD disc, does VMC automatically start Arcsoft TMT and return to VMC afterwards? Or do you have to make a modification to make it do that? If the latter, what do you do?
Thanks in advance!

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

ITTroll — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 12:53:36 GMT

Arcsoft Total Media Theatre comes with both a standalone player (like PowerDVD and WinDVD) and also a dedicated Media Center plug-in. This plug-in automatically launches when you insert a Blu-ray and gives you a "10-foot" GUI which matches Media Center and can be driven by the remote. When you hit the back button it takes you back to Media Center.

PowerDVD and WinDVD don't have this so although you can launch the standalone player from Media Center you lose the integration.

If you search around you should be able to find a 15-day trial of TMT. However I would hold off buying at the moment because the new v3 is about to drop soon.

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

andysp5 — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:21:13 GMT

Thanks IT-Troll, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. A Blu-ray player that will integrate with VMC without making mods.
I've been looking for somewhere to download the TMT trial version, but can't find anywhere. Can you recommend a site?
PS, I know what a GUI is, but what's a 10-foot GUI ?

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

ITTroll — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:50:32 GMT

A 10-foot GUI is fairly self explanatory, it's a GUI that you can operate from a distance of 10 feet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10-foot_user_interface

Sorry can't help with a download link. I had trouble finding it myself as Arcsoft have pulled the trial from their website (in preparation for the new version).

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

formation4 — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:32:06 GMT

Hi IT Troll
How did you adapt the power cable for the blu ray drive? Looking at the picture correctly it looks like some kind of junction, am I correct? Diconnecting the lead from the molex end attaching the junction and then the mobo connection???
Please help

Oh how long does it take to copy/rip dvds + blu rays to the hd using this drive thats if you have done so?
I am finding with current dvd rom around 30 minutes for 7.8gb dvd, so I decided to use a usb option, much quicker :smileygrin:

Re: XL201 £100 Blu-ray Upgrade using BC-5600S

ITTroll — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:01:51 GMT

I cut the motherboard connector with some wire off the existing power cable, cut the molex connector off the slimline SATA cable and then connected the motherboard connector to the slimline SATA cable using small connector block. I think the pictures show this better than trying to explain.

I haven't tried ripping any DVDs.