Sony unveils higher speed Blu-ray writer drive

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 17 October 2007 07:30

Your IT - Home IT

Sony Australia has announced its second generation internal Blu-ray Disc writer drive for the computer aftermarket. The BWU200S, is rated at 4X BD-R and 16X DVD+R recording speeds, enabling a full 50GB BD-R disc to be recorded in about 45 minutes.

At 4X speed, the new BWU200S model is claimed to cut BD-R burning time by half compared to the first generation model (BWU100A). The BWU200S also supports both 25GB and 50GB Blu-ray Disc.  It also features improved DVD burning speeds at 16X and is designed to be a multi-format combo burner that eliminates the need for more than one drive in a system.

The BWU200S can record up to 50GB of data for random access storage and backup on BD-R (write once) or BD-RE (rewritable) discs, or up to 230 minutes of high-definition HDV 1080i video on a BD-R/RE 50GB disc.  It also supports recording on standard single layer 4.7GB DVD+R/+RW/RAM discs, 8.5GB DVD+R double/dual layer discs, and CD-R/RWs.

The drive comes with CyberLink BD Solution software that provides an application suite for capturing, authoring, editing, burning and viewing high-definition personal content captured in the native HDV 1080i format from an HDV camcorder.  In addition, the software supports recording on DVDs and CDs, as well as playback of DVDs recorded in the AVCHD format.  For customers purchasing from Australia, the package also comes with a free 50GB BD-R disc.

The internal drive features a Serial ATA (SATA) interface and standard 5.25-inch form-factor for installation inside a desktop PC with Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista operating systems.  Interface cabling is also supplied.

“As each Blu-ray Disc holds more than 5X the capacity of DVD, consumers and professional videographers alike can enjoy the huge storage capacity to record and experience high-definition video with the BWU200S,” said Vincent Bautista, Product Manager, AV/IT Business Technologies Marketing, Sony Australia. “As Australian adoption of the Blu-ray Disc format continues to increase, we are seeing this reflected in the demand for Blu-ray Disc drives, as the storage capability is incredibly appealing to those that have large amounts of data to archive.”

“Advanced optical storage technologies, such as Blu-ray Disc technology with its vast capacity compared to DVD technology, will be key enablers for next generation PC applications like HD personal video content and high-definition TV recording,” said Wolfgang Schlichting, research director for removable storage at IDC.