Since I have gotten two comments on my review of this Blu-ray player, let me preface what I wrote below with the following. I think of myself as an average computer user at best and not a tech geek. Therefore I MADE SOME ASSUMPTIONS WHEN I BOUGHT THIS PLAYER. My own fault 100%, I admit, but it was based on a couple of factors: 1) My computer has a built in HDMI output. I then figured that since this cost extra it would be enabled to work with the EXISTING SOFTWARE. 2) This assumption was backed up by the first review of the product that said WINDOWS 7 (NOT Nero, Roxio, or other software) recognized the drive and it worked immediately. 3) Yes the first review says 'burning immediately'. I assumed that since it's a Blu-ray PLAYER/burner the proper playing of the Blu-rays went without saying.So then, like I said below, the first reviewer was accurate as far as his review went. I was just trying to expand on that and point out that there were some details that were omitted that the average user (like me) would have liked to know beforehand. If someone was thinking of buying this and was under the impression that it would work with Windows 7 to PLAY BLU-RAYS as purchased, being that it's a Blu-ray PLAYER and all, they would be incorrect just as I was. My review was to help others learn from my mistakes, since I do appreciate and factor reviews that I read here on Amazon into my purchase decisions. With that said, my experience...Please realize a few things. These bulk drives DO NOT come with software!!! (Hence the price) What does that mean? Well everything from the other review is correct with One Critical Exception."Great little burner... installed in a Windows 7 machine, it was detected and drivers were installed immediately. Was burning within minutes... "The exception being that Windows 7, among others, WILL NOT play Blu-rays!!! Why, because Microsoft wouldn't pay the additional $20 licensing fee to Sony. So then to watch Blu-rays on your Blu-ray player you have to do one of the following: 1) Either download free non-Microsoft software. Here's how that went. 1st (most popular if googled) downloaded codec didn't fix the problem. Uninstall. The 2nd one that was 'supposed' to work great was more of a pain in the butt than I had the patience to try and configure and install. (Maybe others who are more tech savvy then me could have) Uninstall #2. 2) Or you can buy $65-100 media bundle software with Blu-ray playing capability, if you don't already have it. Which is what I ended up doing. Works great now but I would have loved to use Windows Media Player since it was already on my computer and free! **Plus you need an HDMI video card (which I had) and an HDMI to either HDMI or DVI-D cable. Purchased that here on Amazon for about $7. Thanks Amazon!!! Don't go to a big box store and pay $40 for an HDMI/DVI-D to test your system like I had to.So weigh the costs before buying. My $70 Blu-ray upgrade became a $142 project.Player works great now on Blu-rays and DVDs and they look spectacular. I will update soon if I run into any burning issues.This replaces an LG BD-RW which held up for a few years of rather light use.After 5 or 6 years, the LG started getting rather flaky: Tray wouldn't open except after several attempts, it wouldn't recognize a disk, it writes but doesn't read...I decided I had to try another maker's product.This time I studied the reviews from users, and Pioneer seems to be the current winner.I've only burned and ripped a few Blu-Ray and DVD so far, but all have been without error.The big difference, this time, is that it's NOT inside my PC's case. I hope it'll last longer.I've had several optical drives fail on me within the past several years, and it could be due to the fact they've been part of my assembled PC with air/dust/whatever always being drawn through them by the fans, always powered on with the PC even though I wasn't always using the drive, etc...This one sits atop my desk, connected only when I need/want it, by a SATA-to-USB3 device. The same device can be used to connect spare HDDs when I need those too. It is my hope and expectation that by NOT supplying constant power to this drive, and by NOT having a constant airflow through it, it will outlast several of my latest optical drives. I will be removing the LG from the PC case and reinserting the blank-plate from its position, keeping this Pioneer handy for whenever it may be needed.This drive, at roughly 6x2x7-inches, was shipped by Amazon within a 12x6x16-inch box.That's a bit of overkill for exterior packaging. However, Amazon failed to provide ANY padding material within,leaving the drive to be slammed about inside as it was transported. Surprisingly, the bubble-wrap sleeve covering the drive was sufficient for this scenario, as it arrived undamaged and fully functional. It seems a good testament to the build quality and solidity of this particular drive.Time will be the determining factor of how this new approach works for me, but considering that the drive was probably shifted around violently within the shipping box and arrived unscathed, I have fairly high hopes for a successfully long service life of this drive.This came very quickly (as always) from Amazon. I got it mainly as I find optical media still gives more piece of mind than an extra hard drive (which are prone to failing) and is certainly cheaper in the long term than cloud storage. Given the increasing file sizes (particularly of photos and video), it's really not feasible to regularly back them up to DVD's anymore.After reading many reviews (on here, Amazon.com and other websites) I decided this (OEM) version was the best to go for. It performed well in numerous tests and sounded like a good investment. (please note: from my research many people recommend not bothering with the software option--as it's only a limited version of Nero).It arrived in plain packaging, with only a brief specs sheet and no leads or screws. It will require a SATA power lead from your Power Supply (not the old style power leads) as well as a SATA data connector (that connects the burner to your motherboard). This wasn't a problem for me as the DVD writer in my case already had both leads. The only thing I changed, was changing the SATA data connection on my motherboard (it was connected to a 3 mb/s socket and as there was a 6 mb/s socket spare (for a second internal hard drive, which I don't presently have) I put it in that. Note, I'd recommend finding the circuit diagram of your motherboard at this point, so that you know exactly where the SATA data connector goes.There was no additional installation required. I rebooted (in Windows 10), loaded device manager and checked but the drivers for it were up to date. (I'd already read on various forums that there were no newer drivers for it, so didn't pursue this any further).Software-wise, I decided to get a download copy of power2go 10 (platimum), from Amazon (it's a fraction of the price cyberlink or nero charge for their premium burning suits at their respective websites). It works really well with this burner and has all the features I need.Performance wise, it allowed me to backup most of my photo collection (22gb) at 12x speed in around 14 minutes, to a Verbatim BDR 25GB disc. I'll add other tests later (for instance, I didn't bother to include the verify data option as I intend to go through all my photos and other files and organise them properly before archiving them; and I would also burn files at a lower speed--this was just a test run really, but it's good to know that you can burn large amounts of data in a reasonable time if required).Overall, really happy and highly recommended.UPDATE: I've just burned 21gb of mixed data (some very large files and thousands of small files--and everything in between) at a reliable 4x with full verification. It took 28 minutes to burn and a further 8 to verify it. I don't think this is bad, really, for backing up and fully verifying important data.This drive(Pioneer BDR-209DBK) functioned perfectly for me for 7 months then died.I used it for playing and ripping Blurays (was not riplocked), only rarely, mainly used tit to write stuff for backup. I used Verbatim media, never had a fail, but I did expect it to last more than 7 months of what I would call only very light use.I emailed pioneer customer support, which appears to be non-existent, as never had any replies.Am now purchasing an LG drive, to see how that compares, hopefully it will last longer.The device functions great when you can finally find a way to use it.Third party software is required to play blurays and all softwares want you to pay subscription. Microsoft have not figured out that blu rays are a thing and have failed to provide a means of using them. VLC is said to work with blurays after you alter the files however this does not work for my disks. i am currently using Leawo but that too says i am on a trial but gives me no indication of wether this is a timed trial or what activation provides. best to not bother with internal blu ray drives. i dont know if external drives come with software to play your disks or not.Just installed this into an HP Z800 workstation on a SATA II connector. Took the Software Free product and have installed the NERO Platinum 2016 Suite. I am running Windows 10 Professional 64-BIT. Everything seems to work just fine. If you are interested, I benchmarked it on both the SATA and the SAS channels, the SAS channel was about 40% slower - despite both claiming to have the same nominal bandwidth for SATA II devices. Here's a DVD speed test on a 16X verbatim disk ... the speed is ramped up and gets all the way to 16X, which is what the drive is rated at. That's good.Installed this into a new £1200 HTPC build and it does not let it down at all. Rips a blue ray disc in about 30 minutes with no errors (using appropriate software) . Seems faster at everything I have tried so far and runs very quite, would highly recommended it. Motherboard and Windows 7 recognised it straight away so no reason why awful operating systems such as W8 and W10 won't do the same, although may try to let all your contacts know what your doing..... :)