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

[ITTroll]

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.

[ChalkyWhite71]

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_W0QQitemZ260341807201QQcmdZ...

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

[ITTroll]

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.

[ITTroll]

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?

[ChalkyWhite71]

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.

[ITTroll]

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.

[ITTroll]

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.

[ITTroll]

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.

[h4]

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

[andysp5]

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!