Bl-Ray drive in an R51e

[alanr51e]

Hi everyone,

I'm about to repalce the burner in my R51e. But I'm wondering if the platform might support a Blu-ray/DVD brner as an up-grade alternative.

Since the bay has 12.5 mm of depth, I'm guessing that the aperture is not a problem, but the interface (Pata/IDE) and the OS (Win XP-Pro) might be.

An alternative would be to get myself an external USB drive.

Suggestions welcomed.

Cheers

Alan

[underclocker]

The only information I can provide is that Lenovo makes/made an UltraBay Enhanced Blu-Ray burner that will fit in the R51e. It was designed for the R61.

I do not know if the R51 or R52 or R60 or Z60m or Z61m have the power or support to use it properly.

I've wanted to try one in my Z61m, but they are kind of rare and still quite expensive.

Please post back if you try one or find out more.

Below is the link for more info on the drive;

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-69014

[alanr51e]

The only information I can provide is that Lenovo makes/made an UltraBay Enhanced Blu-Ray burner that will fit in the R51e. It was designed for the R61.

I do not know if the R51 or R52 or R60 or Z60m or Z61m have the power or support to use it properly.

I've wanted to try one in my Z61m, but they are kind of rare and still quite expensive.

Please post back if you try one or find out more.

Below is the link for more info on the drive;

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-69014

Hi,

Thanks for the link. The information suggests that dedicated graphics are needed - so I think this goes onto the backburner for now. Took a look for the device but, as you say, they are a rare beast - read zero units discovered.

Cheers

Alan

[ZaZ]

Not only is the graphics card needed, but the CPU isn't going to help either. I had one of these drives in a R60 with the T7400. During any sort of Blu-ray playback, the both cores ran between 95 and 100% capacity.

[frankiepankie]

There exists a device "Broadcom CrystalHD decoder" . It is a miniPCI-Express card that gives you hardware acceleration for HD media.

It is often used in the older Apple TV to let it support 1080p video.

The only downside is that R51 doesn't have miniPCI-express, but miniPCI. And you will loose your miniPCI-express wifi adapter.

Maybe for R61 and newer you can try that to play Bluray video.

[CFoo]

There exists a device "Broadcom CrystalHD decoder" . It is a miniPCI-Express card that gives you hardware acceleration for HD media.

It is often used in the older Apple TV to let it support 1080p video.

The only downside is that R51 doesn't have miniPCI-express, but miniPCI. And you will loose your miniPCI-express wifi adapter.

Maybe for R61 and newer you can try that to play Bluray video.

So if the wifi is replaced with the decoder card you can use a cardbus (pcmcia) for wireless connectivity. Then you would have a blu-ray drive. I guess the question is would you want to use a cardbus adapter.

[billp117]

Check out Slysoft ANYDVDHD.

[ZaZ]

AnyDVD HD won't help help with the decoding. I had it on my R60. Both cores of my T7400 ran between 95 and 100%. Interestingly, if you rip the Blu-ray and re-encode it at 1080p, the CPU ran at about 30% during playback.