Memorex 98839 External 12X Blu-Ray Writer (USB 3.0) -$69.99 (reg. $150/no rebates)

Quote from sacflies : Anyone know who makes this drive?

I just got some of these and after much searching it seems to be a LiteOn drive rebadged with the Memorex name. It is most likely a Liteon iHBS212 model.


Clues to the LiteOn identity:

Faceplate is the same except it says Memorex instead of LiteOn.
Eject button same size, shape and location as the LiteOn.
Eject HOLE is in the same location (you have to pull down the front cover to see the eject hole!)
8 MB buffer (LiteOn is about the only company to use that size buffer....the others use 2 or 4 MB.
Firmware numbering scheme is very similar to LiteOn's.


The firmware has been modified so it reports the drive as a Memorex in Nero, ImageBurn, etc. Bummer because it makes it a pain to upgrade the firmware to LiteOn's latest.

The software is Cyberlink with PowerDVD 10. I had to download a 6.5 MB update to get it to play MI: Ghost Protocol but after the update it played the movie with no problems.

I also did 2 test writes (BD Movies) with a Verbatim 6x LTH disk and an Optical Quantum 4x disk using ImageBurn. Both disks were written and verified with no errors. Both movies played with no problems in my Panasonic DMP-BD85 player.

I don't want to open the case (yet) because there is a "Warranty void if broken" sticker on the case where it would have to pried apart which would break the stupid sticker!


$69.99 is a good price for an external BD writer with USB 3 but I pushed the envelope and went to a local Staples that had 2 of the same drive on clearance for $136.50 each. I spoke to the manager and asked for a price match to TigerDirect's price (showed a printout of their web page since it's not in their local ad this week). No problem and I was able to use the 20% off coupon!! Out the door with 2 drives for $119.82 ($59.91 each including tax)!

That's pretty close to a SD in my book!


Hope all this helps.


P.S.: The Staples PM and coupon will be strictly YMWV!


BTW: Lightscribe appears to be supported but I haven't tried that feature.

The price went up to 79.99 on both Tigerdirect and Amazon and there is a shipping charge on both the sites (even for AMAZON primes). But the same is available on tigerdirect store in ebay for 69.99 with free shipping! for interested parties, here is the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/230925178897

I'm not quite understand about blue-ray, can anyone elaborate to my questions below?
1. Can blue-ray write or usable for data backup purposes?
2. if so, how many GB's per blue-ray can write per disc?
3. What is the cheapest current market price for blue-ray blank disc per GB? is it cheaper than HDD?

thanks in advance....