Review: Sony Blu-ray Drive Burns All Discs

By Marc Spiwak

November 13, 2006

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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, 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.

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