Pioneer BDR-XS07S Silver 16X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X BD-ROM 4MB Cache Serial ATA Revision 3.0 Blu-ray Burner

If you have spent sometime looking around at the latest crop of Blu-Ray burners, you have no doubt drooled over Pioneer's newly designed (~late-2013) flagship model.In truth, it looks almost as good in person as it does in the pictures. It wasn't formed from a single piece of aluminum, so the bottom (an exposed side in vertical position) has a separate piece that mounts into the top enclosure. The finish is identical, but the transition is not as smooth as I would have expected.I have the drive sitting next to a late-2013 15" MacBook Pro ("MBP"). The finish on the two products is optically identical, but the MacBook seems to be smoother to the touch. Laid flat, the height is spot-on with the top of the MBP's bottom case (i.e. the keyboard and trackpad). I'm sure if my desk was less cluttered, they would look great together. I have opted to leave the drive in the stand. The stand really decreases the footprint, and I didn't notice any performance improvements in the horizontal position while encoding off an audio CD. Reading DVDs and CDs is plug-and-play with OSX.How does it work? Flawlessly so far. Is it worth the ~$100 premium over Pioneer's base USB 3.0 drive? Probably not, but that's a personal decision. Though I really didn't consider it at the time of purchase, the vertical mount really is a helpful space saver, which you cannot do with the base BR drive as it top-loads.A few thoughts on Blu-ray video in OSX:-Don't project your experience with playing DVDs on your Mac onto your expectation for Blu-ray video. Apple, in it's marketing genius, has ensured that you will feel like a hacker trying to get this to work. They want you to transition to their compressed "HD" content.-You will not find a solution that flawlessly plays the menu's like a home theater blu-ray player does (as of Jan '14)-Not wanting to feel like a hacker, I coughed up $55 for a two-license package of Mac Go's player. It works. I had some difficulty finding the next episode on an HBO-series disk using their title browser, but once I figured it out I was good to go. The latest version includes support for titles, but it doesn't work on all disks... hence, I still feel like a hacker trying to play my movies.-HD video sings on the MBP 15" retina display. After watching a few titles, I tried to put in a DVD and couldn't get over the graininess. Don't expect a marked improvement if you have low-res... all this is to say, consider why you want Blu-ray on your Mac before you jump in. It is a lot of work getting it going.Helpful? Please say so with the link below. Thanks.

Bought this to watch blu-ray movies on my 15" retina MBP.I have a sizeable collection of blu-ray movies (2D & 3D), which I watch at home (in my bedroom), using a Pioneer HTZ-BD32 home theatre system and a 40" Samsung 3D LED TV. While I enjoyed watching movies at home, I wanted something that would enable me to watch blu-ray movies on my rMBP when I was not at home. After researching a few blu-ray players/writers, I settled on the Pioneer, mainly because of my good experience with the home theatre system. The cost was a bit of a concern, especially considering that I could get 2 Samsung blu-ray writers for the same price as 1 Pioneer BDR-XU03. I placed my order on Friday, 18 July 2014. The estimated delivery date was Wednesday, 23 July 2014, at 20h00. The blu-ray writer was delivered on Monday, 21 July 2014, at 09h00. Very impressive, considering I'm in South Africa.First of all, this thing is beautiful. It makes the Apple Superdrive (which I have) look outdated. It's also much thinner and lighter than the Superdrive. It matches my rMBP in terms of looks and thinness. If the Pioneer logo was not on the BDR-XU03, one would assume it was made by Apple; that's how beautiful it is. The included stand is a nice touch; it gives it a sense of style and sophistication.Does it play blu-ray movies on a Mac right out of the box? No, it doesn't. At least not without additional software (which is clearly stated on the box). I bought MacGo Mac Blu-ray Player for $40 to accompany the BDR-XU03. It's a match made in Pioneer heaven. I can now play all my 2D and 3D (in 2D mode on rMBP) blu-ray movies on my rMBP. The basic settings are there: movie language, subtitles, chapter selection. Played movie in full screen mode. The clarity is amazing on the retina display. I also downloaded the Pioneer Drive Utility, which has additional functionality for the BDR-XU03, like playing the blu-rays at slower speeds to reduce drive noise when watching movies. DVD movies also play well, with the standard options available on blu-ray movies.I have not used the blu-ray writing capability of this device yet, and shall update this review once I have done that.Overall, I'm very happy I bought the BDR-XU03 for my blu-ray movies.