@@Complete Guide: Best Blue-Ray ROM for Gateway P-6831FX & P6860 @@

*** Gateway P-6831FX & P6860 & P7xx:

**Required Hardware:





Sony NEC Optiarc BC-5500A-01 SLIM 2x Blu-Ray 8x DVD+-RW IDE / PATA Notebook Optical Drive (Black, OEM)
Features:
The Optiarc BC-5500A supports BD playback at double speed as well as read and write of conventional DVD and CD media, giving even mid-range notebooks the BD capability that is currently a privilege of the top-of-line notebooks. Optiarc BC-5500A sports Sony's optical pickup module and NEC's system LSI in the heart of the drive, that enable 2x BD reading speed for playback of high definition video. The BC-5500A can also read, write and rewrite all current CD and DVD formats. It burns DVD+/-R at up to 8x speed and DVD+/-RW and DVD+/-R DL at up to 4x speed. It also writes to DVD-RAM at 5x speed and to CD at up to 16x speed.

Product Specification:
Brand Sony NEC
Model BC-5500A-01
Color Black
Interface PATA/ IDE
Programmable Buttons & Special Functions
CD-ROM Speed Reading -- 24x
CD-Recordable Write Speed 16x
CD-ReWritable Write Speed 10x
DVD-ROM Read Speed 8x
DVD Write Speed 8x



***Prices ( Arranged From Low to High):

1) Lagoom

Price = $346.90

2) Priceguidenetwork

Price = $353.99

3) Xpcgear

Price = $356.99

4) Ncix

Price = $ 369.63 CAD = $ 370 ( According to www.xe.com )



5) Techsunny

Price = $376.95

Installation Method:

1) Remove Stock Drive ( ROM)

2) Put the New Drive ( ROM )

Very Easy

^_^

Congratulation on your new Blue ray reader ^_^

Add my Rep Power if this topic was helpful to you ^^


TIPTIP

 

Might want to put in better instructions for how to actually remove the stock drive and put in the new drive. Not close to a complete guide. You need photos and such.

 

Did you replace the face plate or keep the one that came with the Sony drive?


K

 

does it fit my sager too? I desperately want to know!

 

Kind of a shame the 6831 and 6860 cannot do 1080p since the vertical pixels are only 900.

 

i was just going to say the same thing... .. unless it really is that easy.

sure it can... just spend a few hundred more dollars for a 1920x1200 res screen and enjoy!


i think i will ad the blu ray/burner this weekend, then this lappy will be complete

 

Yeah thats a pretty lame guide. I've had a BD in mine for 3+ months now, I had to swap mounting screw brackets old drive to new, also faceplate had to be swapped old drive to new, and the most important part, Cyberlink or Nero8 with HD plug-in ($100+) or you won't be able to play BD movies. I also had an HP HD-DVD drive working, HD seems more reliable than BD. Here is Cyberlinks BD advisor, it will check your notebook to see if its compatible http://www.cyberlink.com/english/support/bdhd_support/diagnosis.jsp If this was helpful rep me HAHA!!!

 

one question i have about an after market Blue ray drive for this notebook is: are these drives manufactured like our OEM drive so that the molding is curved and flush with the chassis? ours is not boxy, but more like molded to a curve on the outside of the unit.

 

Just swap face plates, drives are the same shape.

 

ok, it really was as easy as he said...lol
1: unscrew screw on bottom of laptp marked for cdrom
2: pull out cdrom drive from computer
3: take off face plate and un screw cdrom secure bracket of back (2 screws)
4: reverse for new drive

takes about 10 minues

can i get rep for my super indepth review of switching drives?????

hahahahahaha

just being funny

 

Sure. Good Job.

At least more details now.

And yes, it will fit your 5793, Nirvana.

How much have you spent on total on your Gateway, johnkss?

 

hummmm, about 2600.00 total

 

Could you tell me is BLURAY DISC DRIVE from DELL M1730 fit to Gateway FX...?

 

im going to go out on a limb here and say.....yes, it will fit. just change the bezel to the gatway bezel & the secure locking bracket.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=3418591

 

That's grat. I have M1730 with Bluray Disk and 2x160 GB HDD and I want to swap them to Gateway (in M1730 is only 8700 GT)

 

nice!

i would have done the same thing myself.

 

Where can I get the drive for $89? I'll "Rep" ya

 

guess ill never get rep for that then....lol...because they are 330.00 bucks and up

 

How easy is it to swap out the stock bezel or face plate to the new BLURay drive so that it looks stock ??

 

pretty easy. it has 2 little taps that you just gently push through and then it comes off. put it on it just snaps back in place.

 

Beware guys, i had an Acer laptop with this specifid BD drive, and it dies in less than a month. Maybe just rotten luck, but make sure you get it with a good warranty at least. And an authorised retailer.

 

you mean like that batch of bad bluray dvd roms in them last years model ps3's?


well, had my bluray since feb. and all is still well.

 

When playing back blu ray movies on a 6860 after the BD Drive upgrade, when the laptop is connected to a HD TV via HDMI, does it send a 1080P signal to the TV? I am just curious because I am really considering geting a 6860FX now due to the fact that it has a 8800 GTS in it, I was set on an XPS 1530 with BD Burner because I can get one for a great price, but problem is it only comes with an 8600 GT. I was set on a 15.4" laptop, but I am going to go to bestbuy this week and check out the size on the 6860FX and see if it looks like it will be too big for me or not.

One other question, I see in some sigs people have a WUXGA screen on this laptop, where did you buy the new screen and how much did it cost, also was it easy to install. I want a screen with higher resolution than a WXGA+ screen.

Thanks

 

Would buying the computer now and upgrading the optical drive in a year or so void the warranty?

 

rule of thumb....keep all parts so you dont void the warranty.... you can always put the original back in then send it in for warranty repair...unless of course it was the new drive you installed, that went bad later...*LOL*...

 

So is this drive reliable then? Cause I found it on Newegg for about $309 with free shipping, but the reviews it got are horrible! I mean one complained that it didn't burn blu-ray, but I could care less about that! What I would like to know, is how well it plays blu-ray movies, or if there is a problem with it? Will it play the new blu-ray movies coming out now?

I've got a PS3, but I'm going to be returning it, because I really don't like it! That's why I'm looking into a blu-ray drive for my laptop (it's a P-6831FX). Are there any other Slim Blu-ray drives around?

 

rotflmao!

that's because it isn't a blu ray burner

 

ya well I guess the guy didn't read that when he bought it!

But I want to know how reliable the drive is? Cause I just ordered a new CPU for the laptop, and want to get a blu-ray drive to watch all my movies on!

So does anyone actually have this drive, and does it work really well?

 

yes i have the drive in my gateway. and a good portion of the hp dv9700 series owner have them as well. drive works fine. no problems.

edit: and allot of times...the drive is only as good as it's user. so take care of it...it isn't a regular dvd drive.

 

Alright, that really helps. Now my Laptop has the 1.6GHz CPU by default, does it have to be upgraded in order for Blu-Ray to work properly? I mean I got the 2.4GHz one off ebay... I mean I saw the X9000 but I really don't need that! I'm cool with the 2.4GHz.

Is there some certain kind of software that you need to watch blu-ray movies? Would VLC do it, or do is there something more you need?

Thanks!

 

now you know...that's a good question....i use power dvd 8 and it shows my blu rays.

 

WOW buddy - I'm curious as to all of the updates you've made. I know about the X9000, obviously the bluray drive, memory too I assume. what else? hard drives\RAID setup?

 

I'd like to know this too

 

x9000/bluray/320-160hd/1920x1200 screen/
600.00/350.00/100.00/340.00/ computer 1250.00

 

screaming deal on that X9000 John...nice!

 

they are cheaper now buellride.. getting in the low 500's now, but these are es models.

 

Abyone Know if the HDMI port will do blueray in 1080?

 

my tv is is 1080i so i couldn't tell you for sure....

 

Absolutely.

 

Wait, I went to hook up my laptop to my dad's 62" TV through HDMI, but when I did that, the color was all bad, and it was not the right resolution! Like it looked like it was zoomed in to a part on the desktop, and I didn't know what to do? The 62" only does 1080i, so I don't know what the exact resolution would be? But how would I go about to set it up so that we can watch blu-ray movies on it?

 

1: connect cable
2: goto display settings
3: make sure your laptop screen is monitor 1
4: click on monitor 2
5: click extend the desktop then click apply
6: set the resolution for the 62" to 1920x1080 or as high as it will go then click apply
7: click ok and close out of that stuff.
8: enable hdmi audio or you wont hear the movie through the tv
9: run your dvd software, program or how ever you start a dvd.
10: you will need to drag the dvd to you second display then go full screen

 

Well see, I got into the settings to change for Monitor 2, and it shows the bar that you can drag to the selected resolution, but when I click on it, it won't let me drag it? I'm going to be trying it on my 32" at home, so when I'm off work, I'll try it again!

 

you have to move the mouse to the other window. that is where the sliders are.. on the second monitor (your tv), not in that little window right there.

 

Alright, well when I get off work in 30 min, I'll go home and try it! Also, when it asks what you want to do with the monitor, which option do you choose? Like they have "display on both laptop and monitor" "display only on monitor" and stuff like that? Is there a certain one?

 

Ok, so I went home to try it on my 32" Vizio, and it's still not working correctly. I can get it to display on it, but it asks me if I want it to display it in "DualView". But when I do that it makes it so that both the laptop screen and the tv are one. I try changing the resolution for my TV on the nvidia control panel, but it won't put it in the resolution that my TV supports (1366x768). Do you have any other ideas?

 

that's because your using clone view. you need to do "extended view"

 

Alright, I extended it to my TV, and it worked, but it didn't give an option for the native resolution of my 32" Vizio! The closest I could get it was around 1280x720, when the native is 1366x768. But after I got the screen setup, I had to adjust the desktop size, because it wasn't fitting on the screen. Anyways, I guess this is okay for now, unless there is something more to do.

I do have one other question? Since I changed the desktop size and everything, when I connect my laptop back up to the 32" will it save those settings, or will I have to change them every time?

 

How would I go about doing that?

Also, I can't seem to find an option for the sound through HDMI? I went into my sound options, and the only ones were:

Speakers

Digital Output Device (SPDIF)

 

Nevermind the Sound Problem. I read a different post that you replied to about installing the drivers. I'm doing that right now, so we'll see if it works!

 

dang, had to bring out the hp to check the resolutions...lol

the laptop does support 1360x768

and you can resize it to fit the screen. (speculation of course) my screen is a 42 inch lg 1080I, but that shouldn't matter. actually i know it works because im doing as we speak.

now right click on the sound icon down by the clock and click playback devices. now if you do not see hdmi here, you will need to reinstall the idt sound software to get it to enable. and before you can hear the sound through the tv, hdmi must be selected first. then run your game/movie or app. then it will play through the tv.