Blu RayBurner -- Engadget

Blu-rayBurner posts

OWC takes quad-interface Mercury Pro external BD burner to 12x

by Darren Murph posted Nov 4th 2009 at 10:36AM

Pioneer's BDR-205 may not be hitting shelves in retail form until early next year, but those who desperately need a Blu-ray burner that outpaces the optical media currently available still have an option. OWC has today updated its long-standing Mercury Pro external BD drive -- which boasts FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0 and eSATA connection options -- with Pioneer's latest, giving it the ability to toast BD-Rs at up to 12x. Of course, you'll need lady luck on your side to actually find any media that'll support said rate, but hey, there's always the future. It's available today for $349.99, or $449.99 if you want Roxio Toast Titanium PRO bundled in.

[Via Macworld]

Cheaper Blu-ray? Sony, Panasonic, and Philips say it's coming, honestly

by Ross Miller posted Feb 25th 2009 at 3:37PM

Look, we don't really "get" people who aren't willing to buy the latest and greatest thing regardless of the price and / or current economic state, but evidently there's a rather large sector still clinging to their antiquated DVD format. Blu-ray proponents Panasonic, Philips, and Sony are looking to change all that by knocking down the tab a few notches. The trio has revealed plans to form a single licensing firm for Blu-ray, which they anticipate will lower the cost of the license -- and therefore the retail price -- by "at least" 40 percent. They expect it'll amount to $9.50 for read-only BD player, $14 for a burner, 11 cents for read-only discs, 12 cents for BD-Rs, and 15 cents for BD-RE rewritable discs. In its current form, hopeful BD makers have to seek out each company individually. The group also hopes a single licensing entity will help them spot unauthorized BD devices, so watch out, suspicious mom and pop Blu-ray stores.

OWC introduces first external Blu-ray drive with quad interface

by Darren Murph posted Oct 22nd 2008 at 11:41AM

It's debatable whether or not Apple is losing its touch with FireWire, but you can rest assured that OWC hasn't. Said outfit has just announced the industry's first Blu-ray external drive with a quad interface, meaning you can link it up to your PC or Mac via FireWire 400, FireWire 800, USB 2.0 or eSATA. The Mercury Pro SW-5583 arrives with the capability to toast BD-Rs at a rate of 4x and includes a pair of 25GB BD-R discs for $499.99; the closely related Mercury Pro SW-5583T throws in a full retail version of Roxio Toast 9 Titanium (OS X) and sells for $579.99. Now, if only we could convince Steve that Blu-ray and Macs could indeed get along together, we'd really be satisfied. Full release after the break.

Continue reading OWC introduces first external Blu-ray drive with quad interface

Sanyo's laser could bring 12x Blu-ray burners and 100GB discs

by Tim Stevens posted Oct 6th 2008 at 10:13AM

While Sony and others compete with Blu-ray burners of a paltry 8x, Sanyo's looking ahead with a new laser that could enable write speeds of up to 12x. More impressively, the 450 milliwatt diode (twice that of current burners) could read and write through four 25GB layers. If you're not so good at math (it's okay, we had to break out the calculator) that means discs of up to 100GB burned in 10 minutes or less! But don't go running down to your local Blu-ray emporium looking for double-digit speed drives just yet; new standards will be needed for discs that big and drives that fast, which could mean a year or two before production begins. If speculation of Blu-ray's impending demise is to be believed, that may be cutting things a bit close.

Sony yells "me too," introduces BWU-300S 8x Blu-ray burner

by Darren Murph posted Sep 23rd 2008 at 3:19PM

What is this, the week of the 8x BD writer or something? Just days after Buffalo announced two such units for the American market (and Delkin failed epically with an alternative half as quick yet more expensive), in runs Sony with an 8x Blu-ray writer of its own. The October-bound BWU-300S can cook an entire single-layer (25GB) BD-R in around 15 minutes, and it'll also burn CDs at up to 48x and DVD-RAMs at an undisclosed rate. In an effort to push the Blu-ray playing aspects, the drive comes bundled with the BD version of Men in Black, and if all that's worth $399.99 to you, you can get your pre-order in this very moment.

Buffalo brings out internal / external MediaStation 8x Blu-ray burners

by Darren Murph posted Sep 22nd 2008 at 12:36PM

While Sharp's busying readying its 8x Blu-ray burners for a 2010 release, Buffalo's busy bringing its 8x Blu-ray burners to the US of A. The company is hauling both an internal and external 8x MediaStation BD writer to US soil, both of which will also toast CD-Rs and a host of other discs without any fuss. The external unit connects via USB 2.0 or eSATA and the internal drive connects up via SATA. As for speeds, they'll burn BD-REs at 2X, DVD-RAM at 5x, DVD±Rs at 16x, DVD-RW at 6x, DVD+RW at 8x, CD-R at 48x and CD-RW at 24x. Both units are set for release this month at $399.99 (external; BR-816SU2) / $349.99 (internal; BR-816FBS).

Buffalo's Blu-ray burner hits 8x, BDA says wha?

by Thomas Ricker posted Jul 24th 2008 at 11:58AM

For what it's worth, Buffalo just announced the world's fastest Blu-ray recorder capable of burning through your data at an 8x clip. The only problem is that BDA-approved media maxes out at 6x, assuming you can even find it. Available in Japan starting next month, the external USB 2.0 and eSATA BR-816SU2 and internal SATA BR-816FBS models hit that 8x recording speed on single-layer BD-R media only -- 2x for dual-layer BD-R, BD-RE, and LTH BD-R. CDs and DVDs are supported too naturally, with a max 16x burn to DVD±R or 48x/24x for CD-R/RW. Each drive comes bundled with Cyberlink's PowerDVD 7 suite and are priced at ¥46,700 (about $435) for the external drive or ¥41,000 (about $380) for the internal optical spinner.

[Via BIOS and CDRinf]

LG unveils 6x Blu-ray burners: BE06, GBC-H20L, and GBW-H20L

by Darren Murph posted Jun 3rd 2008 at 8:01PM

Not even a week after LaCie trumpeted its latest 4x external Blu-ray writer, along comes LG to re-up the ante. Its latest trifecta -- the BE06 (pictured), GBC-H20L and GBW-H20L -- all offer SecurDisc capabilities and LightScribe technology, not to mention the ability to toast BD-Rs at 6x (and BD-REs at 2x). As for the external USB 2.0 BE06, you'll be looking at $379.95; for the GBC-H20L and GBW-H20L, however, you can expect to pay $199.95 / $279.97 respectively. The trio is available as we speak.

Hitachi intros DZ-WR90 Blu-ray burner for hard drive-based camcorders

by Donald Melanson posted May 20th 2008 at 4:45PM

It looks like those wanting to churn out some high-definition media away from their computers now have a new option to consider courtesy of Hitachi, which has just introduced its DZ-WR90 Blu-ray burner designed to be used with hard drive-based camcorders equipped with an eSATA port (which Hitachi just happens to make). That combo will apparently let you burn three hours of full-res footage onto a Blu-ray disc in one and half hours flat or, if you prefer, you can also cram an hour of 720 x 480 video onto a plain old DVD. No word on a price just yet, but you can apparently look for this one to hit Japan in mid-July.

[Via Slash Gear]

Panasonic's internal LF-PB271JD drive burns Blu-ray at 4x

by Darren Murph posted Oct 17th 2007 at 5:39PM

Nah, Panasonic's LF-PB271JD couldn't hold a candle to Sony's BWU-200S in a runway competition, but when it comes to performance, we'd say the two are practically neck and neck. This unit fits snuggly within any Windows-based machine lookin' for a 5.25-inch optical drive, and it has no problems burning dual-layer BD-Rs at a furious (ahem) 4x pace. Additionally, you'll find a SATA interface along with backup software bundled in, and just in case you're not working exclusively with BD-R, it can also toast BD-RE at 2x, DVD±R at 16x, DVD±R DL at 8x, DVD-RW at 6x, CD-R at 40x and CD-RW at 24x. Of course, you'll be paying through the nose for the luxuries presented when it lands on November 10th, but the ¥55,000 ($468) asking price is still a good bit lower than what Sony's demanding.

[Via Impress]

Sony's BWU-200S Blu-ray burner reaches 4x speeds

by Darren Murph posted Oct 9th 2007 at 9:57AM

We know, 4x still isn't all that speedy in the grand scheme of things, but the BWU-200S can still toast BD-R discs twice as fast as last year's BWU-100A. Aside from filling a 50GB BD-R in around 45 minutes, the new drive can also burn to BD-RE at 2x, DVD±R at 16x, dual-layer DVD±R at 8x, CD-R at 40x and CD-RW at 24x. Furthermore, the unit boasts a SATA interface and comes bundled with the CyberLink BD Solution software that "provides a comprehensive application for capturing, authoring, editing, burning and viewing high-definition personal content." If all this looks good to you, get set to pony up around $600 when it ships out next month.

Hitachi showcases internal GGW-H20N Blu-ray burner / HD DVD reader

by Darren Murph posted Jun 12th 2007 at 6:17PM

Ah, the sweet aroma of competition in the air. That's what we've gotten a whiff of after catching an (admittedly grainy) shot of what appears to be an internal Blu-ray writing / HD DVD reading combo drive from Hitachi. The GGW-H20N should have no issues playing your favorite high-definition films on either format, and it can also burn 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray discs, BD-R, BD-RW, and the typical flavors of writable DVDs and CDs. Reportedly, the drive will also boast a speedy SATA interface and will posses a read rate of up to 6x and burn rate of 4x, but the most important detail (read: worldwide release details) was unsurprisingly omitted. Bring on the price drops.

[Via FormatWarCentral]

Lite-On's LH-2B1S 2x Blu-ray burner gets reviewed

by Darren Murph posted Jun 2nd 2007 at 5:46AM

The list of internal Blu-ray burners hitting the test bench just keeps on growing, and if you've been holding off on picking one up as prices begin to sink, here's yet another to mull over. Lite-On's LH-2B1S Blu-ray writer doesn't deviate too much from its major competitors, sports a 2x maximum write speed to BD-R and BR-RE single-layer discs, and toasts up to 8x on certain formats of writable DVDs. The unit was tested using Nero CD/DVD Speed v4.70, and was primarily pitted against Sony's own BWU-100A. During traditional transfer rate testing, the Lite-On lagged behind in average transfer speeds, random seek times, and full stroke times, while actually using more CPU power all the while. Interestingly, the LH-2B1S' write performance was better on vanilla DVD+Rs, marginally slower on DVD+R dual-layer, and a wee bit less quick than the Sony burning to BD-RE. As expected, reviewers weren't mauling crowds at their local retail shop in order to grab on of their own as the ho hum performance really wasn't groundbreaking, but if you've got to have such a unit this very moment in time, the comparatively cheap $499 pricetag still makes the LH-2B1S a viable option.

Disk Makers' ReflexBlu Blu-ray burning towers

by Paul Miller posted Mar 3rd 2007 at 6:53PM

We've seen a couple of these "Blu-ray factory-in-a-box" setups already, but thought we'd run another set by you just in case you missed the first wave. The ReflexBlu2 and ReflexBlu4 go for $3000 and $5000, respectively, and can burn Blu-ray, DVD-R and CD-R discs. ReflexBlu2 does up two Blu-ray discs per hour, while the Blu4 manages double that. Both systems hook up to your computer via USB, and sport 250GB HDDs for holding on to nine Blu-ray disc images at once. Sure, the price might sound steep, but your extended family will be thanking you later for those 1080p editions of "Family highlights '07" you'll be able to mass produce this next holiday season.

MCE intros Blu-ray burner for Mac Pro, Power Mac G5

by Donald Melanson posted Jan 25th 2007 at 12:59PM

Japan's Logitec may have been the first to lay claim to a Mac-compatible Blu-ray burner, but it looks like MCE Technologies gets the bragging rights for the first Mac-friendly internal burner, which also has the added benefit of actually being available 'round these parts. As with the Logitec, MCE's Mac Pro and Power Mac G5-compatible drive will give you 2x reading and writing speeds on Blu-ray discs, as well as the usual less-than-speedy burning times for CDs and DVDs. The key to the Mac compatibility is, of course, Roxio's Toast 8 Titanium software, which first declared its Mac Blu-ray support last summer but so far hasn't been able to put it to much use. While you'll have to crack open your case, you will be somewhat rewarded for your effort, with drive setting you back considerably less than Logitec's external offering, available now direct from MCE for $699.

[Thanks, Dave]