AfterDawn: News

Sony announces second gen 4x Blu-ray burner

Sony has introduced its latest internal PC Blu-ray BD-R burner which doubles the write speed from previous Sony internal burners and can write at 4x.

The new writer, the BWU-200S can write a full 50GB BD-R disc in 45 minutes as compared to previous writers which would take 90 minutes to fill the disc.



Besides the ability to write to BD-R, the drive can also burn DVD+-R at 16x and burn to DVD-DL. Software is also included allowing for the capture of HD content captured in HDV 1080i format from HDV camcorders.

The drive is compatible with both XP and Vista, says Sony.

“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. “Sony's many innovations in optical storage have prepared the company to be a leader in the Blu-ray Disc writable market.”

Sony says the drive will be available only directly from the company starting in November and sell for about $600 USD.

Source:
Dailytech

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 9 Oct 2007 19:59

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• 12 comments

• windsong

  Quote:The new writer, the BWU-200S can write a full 50GB BD-R disc in 45 minutesGreat. Now all I need is for those discs to come down to, say, 50 cents each. Which should be in about...10 years, at which time I'll need 300 gig discs..etc etc etc

  9.10.2007 20:08 #1

• DoomLight

  great another reason to complain. this is just like cd burners back in the day when they ran like 300 bux for a crappy 4x burner.
  
  45 mins blah
  
  sure its 50 gigs on a disc. but really. is that cheaper than a 130 dollar 500gig external hard drive.
  
  nope....
  
  NEXT

  9.10.2007 21:02 #2

• sk8flawzz

  so wait...is sony pushing the idea of burning all your 'homemade' HD movies onto BD-R
  
  if ive read correctly no BD-players allow burned BD media to be played..am i wrong?
  
  so would the 50GB be just for backup?? screw that ill stick wit my 750GB external and 360 streaming

  9.10.2007 22:37 #3

• nobrainer

  Originally posted by sk8flawzz: so wait...is sony pushing the idea of burning all your 'homemade' HD movies onto BD-R
  
  if ive read correctly no BD-players allow burned BD media to be played..am i wrong?
  
  so would the 50GB be just for backup?? screw that ill stick wit my 750GB external and 360 streamingi'm not sure if all blu-ray players are blocked from bdr media but i am certain the new BDP-300 Blu-ray Player is blocked from playing bdr media and cdr's also.
  
  you are right though about a hd for back-ups as its far cheaper to simply purchase a 200gig hard drive and use that, i picked up a 350gig external in the uk for £40 so it shows just how far away sony's backup solution is, lol. its the ignorant consumer who will be deceived by the marketing thinking that blu-ray is a viable alternative for backups but in reality its a poor attempt atm.
  
  as for companies this will never replace tape drives just on price alone the t10000 has a data exchange rate of 120mbps, cd/dvd drives are too limited by mechanics to be a viable choice for company backups as time is money!
  
  

  Track What Companies Have Edited Wiki http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/ (very heavy load atm)

  9.10.2007 23:10 #4

• chaos_zzz

  yeah they are the selling the idea of backup but at what cost better get an 500 or 750 external and put everything in there, yeah it's coolg to have everyhting u have downlaod over the years me at least 400 gig and put all that into a couple of BD but the idea of paying 600 hundred for a burner it's just not gonna work for me i'mm wait till prices go down cuz 4x they probably gonna speed some more better wait

  10.10.2007 04:46 #5

• camaro17

  this is supposed to be good news, thats double the speed of the old writers. sure its still 4x but it better than 2x. Sony is just trying to make their technology more advanced, i mean when i was looking at pc's and one of the blu-ray drives cost $799 and it was like 1x, so 4x for $600 isnt that bad

  10.10.2007 11:36 #6

• hughjars

  Compared to HDDs and/or DVD5 & DVD9 this is poor value.
  
  $600 for the burner and $30 a BD50 disc?!
  
  It'll be a long time before this takes off, if ever......it's not like you can easily back up Blu-ray movies with it, is it?
  
  (and btw it's true, Blu-ray stand alones can't play BD -R or BD -RE......go look at the Sony S300 Blu-ray stand-alone manual, page 6.
  Blu-ray is not just like a super-sized high-res version of what we have now)

  10.10.2007 13:19 #7

• pisho

  Originally posted by hughjars: Compared to HDDs and/or DVD5 & DVD9 this is poor value.
  What do you expect its new technology, do you think DVD5 & DVD9 were as cheap as they are now when they first came out, $600 is a lot but i remember DVD burners being a lot more expensive when they started coming out.

  10.10.2007 19:25 #8

• xtago

  Originally posted by hughjars: Compared to HDDs and/or DVD5 & DVD9 this is poor value.
  I take you havn't tried burning off 200gigs of HDs that takes ages plus a stack of DVDs, that would probably cost more than buying 4 Blu-Ray blanks.
  
  
  I'm looking to pick up a Blu-Ray burner I already have a HD HDD Video Camera, this + the software will fit up nice.
  
  On Ebay the 1st Gen Blu-Ray burners are only $300USD.

  11.10.2007 02:29 #9

• nobrainer

  Originally posted by pisho : Originally posted by hughjars: Compared to HDDs and/or DVD5 & DVD9 this is poor value.
  What do you expect its new technology, do you think DVD5 & DVD9 were as cheap as they are now when they first came out, $600 is a lot but i remember DVD burners being a lot more expensive when they started coming out.
  that's the point, it is not viable for anyone to use so, why?
  
  Originally posted by xtago:
  I take you havn't tried burning off 200gigs of HDs that takes ages plus a stack of DVDs, that would probably cost more than buying 4 Blu-Ray blanks.
  
  I'm looking to pick up a Blu-Ray burner I already have a HD HDD Video Camera, this + the software will fit up nice.
  
  On Ebay the 1st Gen Blu-Ray burners are only $300USD.
  other than home cinema what data, other than a full system backup is it any use for, as you are not allowed and blocked from backups of hd films and how often are you going to do a full system backup to make it viable?
  

  Track What Companies Have Edited Wiki http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/ (very heavy load atm)

  11.10.2007 07:00 #10

• kojiro00

  New technology is always going to be the most expensive. its been like that for what.... 200+ years? see the trend? and BRD backups of HD films? you mean motion pictures you should be buying? *wink wink*
  
  Quote:(and btw it's true, Blu-ray stand alones can't play BD -R or BD -RE......go look at the Sony S300 Blu-ray stand-alone manual, page 6.
  Blu-ray is not just like a super-sized high-res version of what we have now) acually there is one standalone Blueray player that can read BR-R and BD-RE (with the exception of v1.0 BR-RE disks), its called Playstation 3, and just so happens to be made by sony, check it out. If you dont belive me, look at their saftey and support manual, tells u all the specs of the PS3.

  13.10.2007 17:48 #11

• borhan9

  Quote:The new writer, the BWU-200S can write a full 50GB BD-R disc in 45 minutes as compared to previous writers which would take 90 minutes to fill the disc.They are going to really speed up the burn speed if i am going to look at it even 45mins is still too long. Unless i am watching a soccer match :P

  21.10.2007 17:54 #12