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.

[ITTroll]

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.

[andysp5]

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 ?

[ITTroll]

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).

[formation4]

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:

[ITTroll]

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.