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OWC Mercury Pro SW-5582

review DATE:04.30.07

OWC Mercury Pro SW-5582
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review

By Cisco Cheng

Blu-ray drives are starting to come down in price now that the format wars are settling down and movie buffs are realizing the value of high definition. Only a couple of months ago, external Blu-ray burners were selling for at least $1,000 each. Other World Computing (OWC) is selling its Mercury Pro SW-5582 external Blu-ray drive for a still-pricey $649.99 (direct). Nonetheless, those who are ready to adopt the Blu-ray standard might want to consider this box, which connects via your USB 2.0 or FireWire ports. I'm more inclined to call this an expensive archiving solution, because watching your latest Blu-ray titles with this drive requires some cooperation from a display and graphics card that must be HDCP-enabled.

red arrow Read the OWC Mercury Pro SW-5582 full review

Company

Other World Computing (OWC)

http://www.macsales.com

Spec Data
  • Price as Tested: $650.00 Direct
  • Internal or External?: External
  • Interface: USB 2.0
  • DVD-R Record Speed: 8x
  • DVD-RW Rewrite Speed: 6x
  • DVD+R Record Speed: 8x
  • DVD+R Double Layer Record Speed: 4x
  • DVD+RW Rewrite Speed: 8x
  • DVD-RAM Record Speed: 8x
  • CD Read Speed: 32x
  • CD-R Record Speed: 24x
  • CD-RW Rewrite Speed: 16x
  • DVD-R Dual Layer Record Speed: 4x

Bottom Line

Good single solution for multiple PCs, but getting the drive to play Blu-ray movies will require HDCP compliance from your PC components.

Pros

Affordable external Blu-ray solution. BD-R burns are much faster than with first-generation Blu-ray drives. FireWire and USB ports.

Cons

Single-layer DVD write speeds are half the speeds of current DVD drives. A big hassle to get a Blu-ray movie to play. Software not included.

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