Sony offered details on their updated PC Blu-ray burner today, with 4x speeds that can write 50 GB in 45 minutes. The BWU-200S connects to the motherboard via SATA and will burn HD formats to standard DVD as well. The drive also burns to DVD at 16x (one of the first Blu-ray drives to do so), and uses Cyberlink BD for all its playback, editing and burning needs. The BWU-200S starts shipping next month for $600. [Electronista]
I like that! I like that a lot! The HES (Home Entertainment Starship) V1000 has a 200 disc changer for Blu-ray, DVD and CDs, and it can write to those formats, too. What can it write? I’d assume stuff from a PC, but I’m thinking that it probably can write home movies, music and photos from its 500GB hard drive. And lord knows I love that Ethernet port.
The connection is used to hit disc meta-data and serve up video to DLNA devices like the PS3. (10 devices at once, and up to 4 different audio streams). It even has a PS3-like cross media menu, and you know what? I’d say that $3500 is just about a deal for this kind of functionality. We’ll do what we can to get a hands-on ASAP.
Two burners from Samsung today, one of which claims to be the world’s fastest burner at 20x. The SH-S203 is a Serial ATA burner that supports DVD+R/-R, DVD+R, and every other CD/DVD format (including DVD-RAM). The most notable feature, obviously, is its 20x DVD+R and DVD-R burning, but DVD-RAMs burn at 12x, DVD+R DL burn at 16Xx, and DVD-R DL burns at 12x.
You’ll have to find blank media that supports burning that fast, of course, but that shouldn’t be too bad. The drive itself is only $70.
Panasonic just rolled out its slimmest DVD burner yet, and this one looks like it hasn’t eaten in a month. Just 7mm thick and weighing 3.5 ounces, if it got any thinner the DVD itself would be too thick to fit inside.
Sony’s latest DVDirect external burner now supports the company’s high-def line of camcorders. The VRD-MC5 (big brother to the VRD-MC3 and VRD-VC30) is the first unit capable of burning DVDs from any of Sony’s AVCHD cameras. Like previous burners, it’ll also come with a memory card slot (it reads all the usual suspects like SD, CompactFlash, Memory Stick, etc) and a nice 2.5-inch LCD. It’s debuting in Japan first for about $246. – Louis Ramirez
Press Release (Japanese)
PC World got their hands on a LG GGW-H10NI Super Multi Blue BD Drive/HD DVD Reader. Oh my goodness that name is horrible. It’s the PC version of the Super Multi Blue that LG released for home theaters, but this version also boasts 2x single layer (4x disc) Blu-ray disc burning.
Their initial time test shows the 2x burning surpasses its competitors (by seconds), taking 44 minutes to burn a 25GB disc. So it’s the fastest 2x burner PC World has timed, but not by a lot. And unfortunately, because the media is still stuck at 2x, they were unable to test out the burner’s 4x capabilities.
The catch(es)? First, wouldn’t you assume that this drive would burn both Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs? I did, and I bet that a lot of people who are familiar with LG’s one-drive-every-format claims will, too. Also, the model will cost a hefty $1199 when released in June.
Solution? Fork over $600 for a Blu-ray burner and $200 for the Xbox 360 external HD-DVD drive. Then send the remaining $300 to the Gizmodo weekend writer of your choosing. Note: DO NOT donate it to charity. – Mark Wilson
Tested: LG’s New Super… [PC World]
Whether you’re making home Blu-ray movies to distribute to your friends or just backing up all your data with 50GB chunks, Blu-ray seems to be the way to go if you’ve got a Mac. FastMac’s latest Blu-ray drives are the first sub-$500 BD burners that we’ve seen, and work fine with Mac Pro, PowerMac G3-G5, eMacs and iMac G4s.
Check out their full spec list after the jump for the types of Blu-ray discs it works with. But still, five hundred bones is a lot to fork out if you don’t really need it for work or to make money. There’s a reason why Blu-ray and HD DVD porn movies cost $49.99 each.
