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Pioneer unveils world's smallest and lightest external Blu-ray burner
When describing the current fleet of BD burners on the market, one word that certainly doesn't come to mind -- sleek. Pioneer is aiming to change all that, though, with the BDR-XD04. What it lacks in a catchy name it makes up for with a slim and light clamshell design that doesn't make too many sacrifices in the features department. At just under 8.5oz and 0.55 inches thick, it puts most of its competitors to shame. Now, it settles for just a 6x write speed and skips USB 3.0 in favor of the more common (and slower) 2.0, but it is capable of drawing power entirely from your machines peripheral ports. (Though, you'll have the option of hooking up an AC adapter if you wish.) And don't worry about format support -- the BDR-XD04 will handle everything from quad-layer 128GB BD-Rs to old-school CDs with aplomb. The slim new burner will start shipping in the middle of this month for $150. Full PR is after the break.
Buffalo reveals slimline external BDXL burner for $275, affiliated media still makes your wallet weep
BDXL is the optical storage medium du jour, but the options for those wanting its capacious quad-layer burning capabilities in a tasty to-go form factor are fairly limited. Previous drives have lacked a certain... aesthetic appeal, but now Buffalo has unveiled its BRXL-PC6U2-BK, a slim and shiny external model that'll handle all of your BDXL disc-creation needs. The drive can run off a single USB 2.0 plug, though writing at 4x speeds requires a second USB connection to give it the juice required to do the deed. Slated for a release by the end of March, otherwise known as next week, this hot little onyx number will set you back ¥22,100 (about $275). Just don't go blowing all your cash on the drive -- BR-R XL discs ain't cheap, y'know.
LaCie ships USB 2.0 Slim Blu-ray external burner for $265
Still slinging a laptop with USB 2.0? Fret not, as that's all the bandwidth you need to handle LaCie's Slim Blu-ray burner. As the title implies, the new unit is little more than a nicely styled external BD burner, designed to tag along with your ODD-less netbook / ultraportable and provide Blu-ray burner / viewing enjoyment at a moment's notice. $264.99 gets you the device itself, CyberLink's Blu-ray Disc Suite and a two-year warranty, and if you're curious about toasting speeds, it'll write to a BD-R at 6x (dual-layer at 4x), a BD-RE at 2x and a blank DVD at 8x. The rest of the nitty-gritty, as well as a purchase link, awaits you in the source. %Gallery-109656%
Pioneer and Buffalo announce first 128GB BDXL optical disc burners for PCs
The dream of burning 128GB of PC data onto a single optical disc just took a step closer to reality with the announcement of this BDXL burner (model BDR-206MBK) from Pioneer. Buffalo will ship it as both an external USB 2.0 model (BRXL-6U2) and internal SATA model (BRXL-6FBS-BK). The drive handles new 4-layer (128GB) and 3-layer (100GB) BD-R XL at 4x speeds in addition to 3-layer BD-RE XL and older BD-R/BD-R DL and BD-RE/BD-RE DL Blu-ray disc media. Pioneer will begin shipping the drive in November for an undisclosed price -- no word on pricing from Buffalo or when it'll have its act together to ship product.
Sharp shows off 35mm thin BDXL recorder at CEATEC, world doesn't stop to wonder why
Thinness in a portable device is an attribute worth coveting. Thinness of yet another layer in your home entertainment center hoagie, however, is a little bit less attractive -- at least it is when it comes with a big compromise. Such is the case with Sharp's thinnest Blu-ray recorder, just 35mm thick yet capable of writing to BD-R discs or the newer, pricier, 100GB BDXL discs. So far so good, but rather sadly to make that magic happen in a package so svelte the company has had to ditch the internal HDD that's common in these devices, the idea being you'll just write to BDXL's instead. Even with a stack of re-writeables at your disposal that's going to be a lot less convenient and a lot more expensive than having a good 'ol pile of platters spinning inside. Of course, with no price or release date given, it's possible that this reduction of internal hardware also comes with a reduction in cost, but as we all know it's pretty rare that a skinnier device costs less than its bigger boned brethren.
Sony's blazing fast BDX-S500U Blu-ray drive tests USB 2.0's true transfer chops
Here's a lesson in actual vs. theoretical. Sony Optiarc America has announced the new BDX-S500U external USB 2.0 Blu-ray drive capable of burning single-layer BD-R discs at smoking speeds of 6x or dual-layer discs at up to 4x. If you do the math, those specs imply transfer speeds of 27Mbps for single-sided 25GB discs and total burn times of roughly 20 minutes. That's great news for folks with PCs looking to use the high-storage medium or watch 3D Blu-rays -- except for one tiny hitch. See, USB 2.0's theoretical maximum transfer speed is 60MBps, but in the real world most are lucky to get even half that rate. According to tests by Techworld, those with certain USB 3.0 chipsets can even experience USB 2.0 rates as low as 11MBps. In that light, the BDX-S500U's impressive speeds -- just like Paul Walker -- may be too fast and too furious for its computer counterparts to keep up, making it a different kind of bag of hurt for buyers. While no official pricing has been offered the drive will go on sale later this month and online retailers are already listing prices in the range of $214 to $240. For full specs and details, check out the PR after the break.
Oppo adds a cheaper Blu-ray player to its lineup with the $289 BDP-80
After wisely avoiding being drowned out by the din of CES product launches Oppo has made official its new BDP-80 Blu-ray player. A lower priced version of the existing BDP-83 hardware (a comparison that should be familiar to owners of the company's DV-980H/DV-983H DVD players,) it still features BD-Live compatibility, DVD-Audio and SACD playback but drops the ABT2010 video processor, aluminum faceplate and some of the audio capabilities of its big brother. Other items sliced to get the price down to $289 from $499 are IR in/out, RS-232 control interfaces, and a backlit remote. Assuming one doesn't want to wait for the rebadged $2,500 Lexicon edition, it should be on sale "soon." Universal player fans looking to save a couple of bucks or bring their own video processor to the party can check Oppo's comparison page or the press release after the break.
Pioneer's 12x BDR-205 Blu-ray burner is so fast it's ahead of its time
We're still not sure if that many people are interested in buying Blu-ray burners yet, but Pioneer just unveiled the first 12x capable drive (up from 8x, and with an 8x read speed that gives us a great idea for the next PlayStation 3 revision) the BDR-205. Initially rolling out to OEMs this month, this drive couldn't wait for 12x certified discs to exist, though its full speed has been tested on Panasonic and Sony 6x BD-R blanks, "12x writing on all media cannot be guaranteed." Minus that caveat, expect to see these popping up on Newegg and the like any second now, the only price mentioned is for the full retail package BD-2205 coming Q1 2010 for $249.
Panasonic justifies Blu-ray recorder cost by asking "How much are memories worth to you?"
Apparently blissfully unaware of how much the Engadget staff has paid for the events of the last CES to be forgotten, Panasonic is promoting the UK launch of its FreeSat+ compatible series of Blu-ray recorders (£999 for the 500GB DMR-BS850) by promising to archive ones most valuable memories. Is that enough for you to navigate the various copy protection flags towards Blu-ray disc archival, or will you risk the family Christmas video (worth £542) on something less than a 50GB Blu-ray disc?
Verbatim releasing the first 6x LTH BD-R discs this fall
Blu-ray discs aren't getting bigger just yet, but cheaper & faster we might be able to help you with now that Verbatim/MKM is ready to deliver 6x BD-R LTH (low to high) recordable discs. A manufacturing process more similar to CD-R and DVD-R discs makes them easier to produce and this upgrade brings the max speed up from the current 2x LTH discs. Expect them to launch this fall along with compatible drives, so if you have something that needs 25GB/50GB of optical storage and don't like waiting, be on the lookout.
Aleratec slashes prices of Blu-ray recording wares
If you've been holding off on buying yourself a Blu-ray duplicator, bravo. Aleratec has just announced price drops of up to 65 percent on its 1:3 Copy Cruiser Blu LS LightScribe-enabled disc publisher and its 4x BD-R Blu-ray recording media. The former has seen a 25 percent dip down to $1,575, and for those unaware, it provides the ability to produce a trio of Blu-ray Discs at 6x each. The latter is potentially most riveting, with a 10-pack of "duplicator grade" BD-R media falling all the way down to $57.99 (MSRP). By our math, that's under six bucks a disc, and that's definitely hovering a lot closer to respectable than what we've seen in months past.
Cheaper Blu-ray? Sony, Panasonic, and Philips say it's coming, honestly
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.
FastMac slips out three slimline USB Blu-ray drives, including a $99 reader
We'd heard of a FastMac USB external slimline Blu-ray reader poking around Macworld last month, but we never got anything official until today, when the company pinged us to let us know that the $99 APP-6907 DVD±RW / BD drive, the $299 APP-6963 1x BD-R drive and the $399 APP-6964 4x BD-R drive are now all available. All three drives support both Macs and PCs, although you'll need Windows to play BD movies. Not bad deals all around, but we're still not convinced we need a Blu-ray drive for our computers when we barely use the one in the living room. Read - APP-6907 Read - APP-6963 Read - APP-6964
Ridata bringing 6x BD-R media to United States
Anyone who has even looked into recording content onto a BD-R knows just how immensely expensive a single disc is. Thankfully, you'll have one more option (and thus, one more competitor to push prices downward) starting next year. Advanced Media, the parent company of Ridata, will be debuting 6x recordable Blu-ray Disc media at CES 2009, with availability in the US slated for Q2 '09. As of now, the only discs planned for release here are 25GB single-layer units, but we don't suspect the dual-layer variants will be too far behind.
Moser Baer nabs BDA certification for 6x BD-Rs
6x Blu-ray media is far from new, but Moser Baer has just become the first company outside of Japan to develop and ship 1x to 6x BD-Rs. The New Delhi-based outfit actually popped up on our radar last year with claims of 8x Blu-ray recording media, and now it has "received product verification from the Blu-ray Disc Association for its next generation Blu-ray (BDR) 1x-6x discs." We're no experts on certification, but we're all about getting more options on the shelves to drive down prices.
DVD neXt COPY Ultimate burns ten DVDs to one Blu-ray Disc
Not quite sure what happened to DVD neXt COPY's shift key while filling out those incorporation documents, but whatever the case, the outfit's latest piece of software is quite interesting. The bizarrely titled DVD neXt COPY Ultimate can not only transfer your DVD movies to portable devices while stripping it of unwanted material like the sizable DTS audio stream, but it also toasts those films back to a BD-R. In fact, it promises to squeeze ten whole DVDs onto a single blank Blu-ray Disc, though we're unsure how great (or terrible) it is at busting through all of those encryption schemes it's sure to run into. Those willing to take the risk can pick up a copy right now for $69.99.
Sanyo's laser could bring 12x Blu-ray burners and 100GB discs
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.
CyberLink PowerDVD: now cleared for BD-RE 2.1 / BD-R 1.1 playback
Calm down people, everything's okay now. CyberLink has just revealed that its PowerDVD application is now certified to play back BD-RE 2.1 and BD-R 1.1 Blu-ray Disc media. Granted, it's only certified to handle HD H.264 content on those discs, but we're going out on a limb and suggesting that most anything else you put on there will work, too. Existing PowerDVD 8 owners can upgrade their application gratis as we speak.
Sony yells "me too," introduces BWU-300S 8x Blu-ray burner
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
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).