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Review on πŸ’½ BUFFALO MediaStation Desktop BDXL Blu-Ray Writer (BRXL-16U3) - 16x Speed by Steven Wood

Revainrating 1 out of 5

Beware! This is not a buffalo, but a pioneer in a buffalo's shoes.

Warning I bought one of these two years ago and I love it. But unfortunately, after using it for a long time, it no longer burns, but still plays and breaks. I bought a replacement and they sent me a bdr-209m Pioneer in Buffalo clothing. Buffalo Technical Support has informed me that there is a problem with my computer's driver. Apparently my computer can't properly identify my other Buffalo, my LG, my Mitsubishi or even my Memorex. However, I did what they suggested and it made no difference. I tried it on my dad's computer, it shows as Pioneer, I gave it to friends and it still shows as Pioneer on his PC. Three hits and you're out of Buffalo, return it with Revain credit and buy another CD. This would be my third Buffalo hard drive, always liked its quality. Maybe one day they will start selling their own CDs again and I'll try them again. In the photo posted, the top one is the older one and you can see they are slightly different. The bottom one is new and if you compare it to any of the Pioneer bdr-209m drives sold here at Revain you will see they are identical except for the Pioneer logo. Update 2/7/17 I bought another Buffalo drive (40099860201915) from another vendor. The same, Pioneer BDR-209M on two different updated systems. It copies a disc at a third the speed and is a much louder machine, it just looks cheaper and it is. You can pick up a Pioneer here at Revain for just over $70 and a nice external optical drive case for around $50, and get the same thing for less. Apparently, Buffalo found a way to save money and increase profits at the expense of its customers. I will contact Revain purchasing. as they are also predators and maybe even BBBs. Updated 6/4/2017 Complaint filed with BBB. In Buffalo's reply they acknowledged that they are now using a Pioneer drive so this has never been a problem with the driver as their tech "support" claimed three times. They also claim that it has the same specs as the older device. Not true, I still have a working old device and it's not noisy, reads and copies disks much faster. They also claimed it was some other software or computer issue. I didn't believe it the first time, and that statement just doesn't hold water. The truth is that this disc is just a copy of the original, it even looks cheap, not like the box at all. Do yourself a favor and choose LG 14X BE14NU40 or ASUS 12X (BW-12D1S-U Lite), I also have both models and they are better for Blu-ray discs. Not to mention you get what you pay for, not a cheap fake.

Pros
  • TAA Compliant Made in Japan
Cons
  • Hard to tell