For the BC-1205PT's software bundle, ASUS has turned to CyberLink. The CD that comes with the drive contains the CyberLink BD Solution suite which includes PowerProducer, Power2Go, PowerBackup, InstantBurn and PowerDVD.
CyberLink PowerProducer 4 - With CyberLink's PowerProducer you can create your own movie discs quickly and easily. Right from the start, this wizard based software gives you a number of options to select from. From here you can choose to produce a new movie disc, edit an existing one or record video directly to DVD or BD.
PowerProducer lets you create a number of different movie discs. Looking at the menu below, you can choose to create a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Disc. The software also supports various disc capacities and formats including DVD-VR, DVD+VR and BDAV.
While you can capture your own video, PowerProducer gives you the ability to import video files in a number of different formats. Once added to your production, you can use the built-in editor to trim, merge or split your video clips. PowerProducer also allows you to set chapters within the video content and add your own custom menus, backgrounds, fonts and titles.
CyberLink Power2Go 5.5 - Power2Go is the main disc burning program included with the BC-1205PT. With this software, users can create various types of CD's, DVD's and BD's or make backups of existing discs. Power2Go also offers enhanced security features, allowing you to password protect and encrypt your data discs.
CyberLink PowerBackup 2 - If you're looking for a quick and easy way to backup your data, PowerBackup is the answer. Depending on your needs, PowerBackup can do full, differential, and incremental backups as well as fast stream-to-disc archiving.
Backup jobs can be scheduled to run at regular intervals so the data is always protected. PowerBackup also offers more advanced features like file filtering, compression and password protection.
CyberLink InstantBurn 5 - InstantBurn is CyberLink's packet writing software. Like Roxio's Drag-to-Disc or Nero's InCD, it allows you to use your CD, DVD or BD writer as if it was another hard drive or a huge floppy disk. Once formatted, you can cut, copy, and paste or rename files and folders on a CD-RW, DVD±RW or BD-RE disc.
CyberLink PowerDVD 7 - CyberLink's PowerDVD is one of the more popular software DVD players on the market right now. Along with support for Blu-ray Discs, it can be used to play back CD's and DVD's as well as other multimedia formats including DivX.
Unfortunately, the version of PowerDVD bundled with the BC-1205PT only supports 2 speaker output. If you want to take advantage of movies encoded with Dolby Digital or DTS, you'll need to buy the retail version of PowerDVD Ultra.
While affordably priced, the ASUS's new Blu-ray combo drive delivers a good number of features. The BC-1205PT can read BD media at speeds as high as 5x and is backwards compatible with all major CD and DVD formats, including DVD-RAM. The drive also includes features like an 4MB buffer, FlextraLink buffer underrun protection and a great software bundle from CyberLink. Unfortunately, it lacks bitsetting support for single layer DVD+R and DVD+RW media. Even then, the ASUS BC-1205PT scores a solid 8 out of 10 for its features.
