Sony Rolls 12X Blu-ray Disc Rewritable Drives

Sony Blu-ray Disc Rewritable Drive

Sony Optiarc America unveiled the next-generation of half-height internal Blu-ray Disc rewritable drives on Thursday for the computer aftermarket.

The drives, the BD-5300S and BWU-500S, are replacements for a standard DVD drive while offering the same benefits of Blu-ray Disc technology, such as Blu-ray 3D high-definition playback, Sony said. consumer electronics company said. The drives are available for retail and OEMs.

Single BD-R media can be written up to 12X with the new drives and dual-layer BD-R media up to 8X speeds, taking about 10 minutes to record a full 25GB disc, Sony said. The 12X recording speed is reached with 6X compatible BD-R media, the company said. CyberLink’s Media Suite 8 software is included with the BWU-500S retail model for capturing, authoring, editing, backing up, viewing high-definition content and playing back Blu-ray disc movies, including 3D Blu-ray movies. One 25GB Sony BD-R blank disc is also included in the retail model.

Up to 50GB of data can be recorded on the new drives, for random access storage and backup on BD-R write-once or BD-RE rewritable discs, or up to 220 minutes of high-definition 24-Mbps MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video on a BD-R/RE 50GB disc.

Standard 4.7GB DVD+/R discs can also be recorded on the drives at up to 16X speeds; 8.5 GB DVD+/-R double/dual layer at up to 8X; DVD+RW at up to 6X CD-R at up to 48X; CD-RW at up to 24X; and support DVD-RAM recording at speeds up to 12X.

Easy installation inside a desktop PC is made possible by the Serial ATA (SATA) interface and standard 5.25-inch form-factor the internal drives feature. They also enable consistent recording with integrated intelligent monitoring and smooth playback with adjusting read-speed technology, Sony said.

The BWU-500S retail branded drive and the OEM BD-5300S drive are available this month from authorized distributors, resellers and online sites. Pricing information was not disclosed.