Marcus Wood
Established Member
I received one of these stand-alone drives the other day. I had been trying to buy a BE06LU10, but they seem to have been discontinued now. I ended up ordering a BE08LU20, which I suppose is the replacement for the BE06.
I got it from scan.co.uk. According to their website the BE08 is HD-DVD compatible, but when it arrived I was disappointed to discover that it isn't.
The HD-DVD logo is conspicuously absent (a lot of 'BE08' pictures on the web are actually pictures of the BE06) and HD-DVD is not mentioned in the manual. I called LG to check and they confirmed it's not HD-DVD compatible. If you put an HD-DVD into the drive, the PC just says something like 'no disc inserted'.
So I'm wondering if I should return the BE08 and try to get a second hand BE06, or just keep the BE08.
I read somewhere that the eject button on the BE06 was annoying to use. I'm not sure if they changed it on the BE08, but it seems OK. The BE08 can write BD-Rs at up to 8x instead of 6x, although you need to use the eSATA connection for that, which my current laptop doesn't have. The BE08 could have other improvements I'm not aware of, but it looks like the main benefit for me would be the fact it it's covered by a full warranty.
The only thing I might need HD-DVD compatibility for would be to try converting some of my HD-DVD movies (most of which are not available on BD) to BD-R, but I suppose I could always buy an X-box 360 drive for that - they seem to be pretty cheap now. But I'm not sure whether LG combo drives are better for reading HD-DVDs.
I would welcome any thoughts/recommendations on which drive I would be better off with.
I got it from scan.co.uk. According to their website the BE08 is HD-DVD compatible, but when it arrived I was disappointed to discover that it isn't.
The HD-DVD logo is conspicuously absent (a lot of 'BE08' pictures on the web are actually pictures of the BE06) and HD-DVD is not mentioned in the manual. I called LG to check and they confirmed it's not HD-DVD compatible. If you put an HD-DVD into the drive, the PC just says something like 'no disc inserted'.
So I'm wondering if I should return the BE08 and try to get a second hand BE06, or just keep the BE08.
I read somewhere that the eject button on the BE06 was annoying to use. I'm not sure if they changed it on the BE08, but it seems OK. The BE08 can write BD-Rs at up to 8x instead of 6x, although you need to use the eSATA connection for that, which my current laptop doesn't have. The BE08 could have other improvements I'm not aware of, but it looks like the main benefit for me would be the fact it it's covered by a full warranty.
The only thing I might need HD-DVD compatibility for would be to try converting some of my HD-DVD movies (most of which are not available on BD) to BD-R, but I suppose I could always buy an X-box 360 drive for that - they seem to be pretty cheap now. But I'm not sure whether LG combo drives are better for reading HD-DVDs.
I would welcome any thoughts/recommendations on which drive I would be better off with.
