Sony Introduces New Blu-ray Burner

It's been a year since Sony shipped its first-generation Blu-ray Disc writer, so the timing is right for a refresh. The new BWU-200S will ship in the next month, and ratchets up BD burning, to 4X for single- and dual-layer BD-R; BD-RE (rewritable) stays the same, at 2X. Faster 4X BD-R media is not slated to surface for another month or so, perhaps even after the drive's anticipated ship.

In some ways more notable than the Blu-ray performance: This drive boasts 16X DVD+R and DVD-R burning--a dramatic boost over the BWU-100A's 6X DVD+R and 4X DVD-R speed ratings. With DVD speed ratings like this, this one drive can, in practicality, yank out your existing DVD burner drive and comfortably rely on one drive to handle your Blu-ray and standard DVD writing chores.

This model uses a SATA interface, and includes CyberLink software for recording and playback. The software supports creating discs from the AVCHD camcorder format, as well as creating both BD-AV and BD-MV discs that will play on set-top Blu-ray Disc players.

The improvements all sound good, but I have to wonder at the $599 suggested price Sony quotes. Sure, that's $150 less than last year's model was priced at. Still, LG's dual-format Blu-ray writer/HD DVD reader, due in the next month as well, is expected to come in at $499 price. The price is partly explained by Sony's sales strategy, though: the BWU-200S drive will initially be sold only on SonyStyle.com (other electronic stores will eventually follow).

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