Review: Sony Blu-ray Drive Burns All Discs

If you're confused by the DVD format wars and are looking for a next-generation optical drive, Sony has an option.

Sony's first-generation Blu-ray computer drive, the BWU-100A, is compatible with more disc formats than any other optical drive now on the market. The BWU-100A can burn single- and double-layer Blu-ray discs, single- and double-layer DVD discs, and CD-R and CD-RW discs.

Sony BWU-100A

The only other Blu-ray recorder on the market, Pioneer's BDR-101A (see review), isn't compatible with double-layer Blu-ray media, nor is it compatible with plain old CD-R and CD-RW discs. But the penalty that the Sony BWU-100A pays for universal compatibility seems to be that it records on Blu-ray media much slower than the Pioneer drive does.

As a refresher, DVD discs can hold 4.7 Gbytes per layer, and each disc can have two layers per side. But that's still not enough for high-definition video. Blu-ray discs can hold up to 25 Gbytes per layer, and single- and double-layer Blu-ray discs are already available. Developed by Sony, Blu-ray supports the 1,920 x 1080 resolution of high-definition video, while DVDs support a horizontal resolution of 480 lines maximum. Blu-ray disc formats include BD for pre-recorded movies, BD-R recordable and BD-RE rewriteable.

The Sony BWU-100A, an internal drive for PCs, costs about $750, which is $250 less than the Pioneer drive. Relatively expensive, both drives are aimed at professional users more than consumers. But anyone interested in testing, authoring and distributing high-definition Blu-ray content will want to get their hands on one. A Blu-ray drive also lets users play any of the new Blu-ray movie titles on a computer, but you need a high-definition graphics card and display to really appreciate the content.

The Sony BWU-100A is an internal 5.25-inch drive that interfaces as an ATAPI device. It comes with three pieces of Blu-ray media: one BD-R recordable, one BD-RE rewriteable and one BD-R Double Layer disc that holds up to 50 Gbytes. It also comes bundled with Cyberlink Power2Go software, which supports recording on BD-R and BD-RE media, as well as DVD and CD media.

The BWU-100A can read and write Blu-ray media at 2x speed. It can also read and write DVD media at speeds between 4x and 8x, and read and write CD media at speeds between 4x and 24x.