Upgrading SZ680 with Blu-Ray drive (?)

Ok,
So, I think I can replace my DVD drive in my SZ680 with a Blu-Ray drive. Based on searches I see that the BC-5500A may work. I found some pics here. I'm hoping the drive plate can be replaced with the SZ one because the SZ plate is angled, based on the slope of the laptop. I also need to make sure there are drivers for Vista32 and update my WinDVD to support Blu-Ray.

Has anyone attempted this? I found the instructions to disassemble my machine and I already have my drive out.

Thanks,
Amro

Update 1: Not sure, but I think I need the BC-5500S. The current drive says UJ-852S ATA device. I'm assuming that's serial ATA.
Update 2: Really confused. Don't know if I need the parallel or serial ATA version. Can someone help?

 

The optical disc drive in the SZ is connected to the motherboard via a PATA cable. Only the hard drive is SATA.

I might be wrong but I think we have a 9.5mm optical drive in our notebooks. If the refurbished drive you're looking at is indeed 12.7mm you're looking at a LOT of physical modding. The price is good but you probably would save yourself a ton of trouble by searching for a stock 9.5mm (parts) in one of the other Vaios.

Some other things to consider (I don't have the answers, sorry..)
- can a PATA transfer deliver the data at the speed necessary for playback?
- software should work in Vista but I think XP will have issues

I was interested in this upgrade too for a while but the price of the drives convinced me otherwise. That may change in the future but by that time I probably will have already upgraded to a new notebook. If you can't get this upgrade working you can still view digital copies of HD movies @ 720p without any problems on the machine. There's really no point in full HD anyway since you have no video out. Maybe you can find digital copies of your favorite Bluray movies?

Good luck!

 

If it is indeed a 9.5mm ide drive, then you're hosed for upgrading. The only 9.5mm drive I know of in the ThinkPad T series is SATA. I think Panasonic showed a 9.5mm drive a while back, but as far as I know it was never produced.

 

Wow. Great information. Thanks. I had not realized there was a height difference. If that's the case, then you're right, I am hosed. It really was for me to watch my Blu-Rays while I travel. As much as I like the current Sony's, mine is only a year old, and I wanted to wait until the Core i7 laptops were released before I bought a new one.

Good question on the parallel interface speed. I think it could support a movie playback.

I've used Handbrake to create movies for my iPhone, and I could use it on my normal DVD's to create 720p. Some of my Blu-Ray's don't have digital copies of themselves, so I guess I need to see if there is a Blu-Ray ripper. I'm pretty sure the encryption has been broken. 720p would be ideal for my laptop. And if I get something like a MyPassport 320G hard drive, I could store my movies on those.

Thanks again for the feedback,
Amro

 

Before committing your money for a BD Drive, download and install Cyberlink BD Advisor. http://www.cyberlink.com/prog/bd-support/diagnosis.do
It will tell you whether or not your system is ready.

I have a felling that your GPU is below the recommended requirement. You have 8400M GS with 64MB VRAM while the recommended requirement is 8400M GT with 256MB VRAM.

 

Each is entitled to his own opinion ofcourse but there are several people, including me, that don't believe the 256MB or GPU requirements by Cyberlink are really necessary.

Refer to this thread for more information:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=333958

 

I think what I'll end up doing is getting a Blu-Ray drive for my PC and use a combination of AnyDVD HD and Handbrake to create something along the lines of x.264 movies. I would no longer have to carry around a bunch of DVD's and Blu-Ray movies.

Thanks for all the feedback,
Amro