Sony intros internal 8x Blu-ray writer for desktops

Sony Electronics on Tuesday announced it will soon launch the BWU-300S internal Blu-ray Disc drive for desktop computers. The company’s third-generation BD reader and writer will ship with the Men In Black blockbuster movie on Blu-ray, and can burn single- and dual-layer BD-R or BD-RE discs at 8x speeds, enabling users to fill up 25GB discs in 15 minutes and 50GB dual-layer discs in 30 minutes.

Standard DVDs can be burned at 16x speeds, with CD creation occurring at 48x speeds. DVD-RAM recording is also supported. The internal drive features a SATA interface in a standard 5.25-inch form factor and is currently compatible with Windows XP or Windows Vista operating systems. Included with the drive is the CyberLink software suite that allows users to capture, author, edit, burn and view high-definition content. High-definition videos encoded in the MPEG-2 or H.264 formats can be created, and users can record up to 230 minutes of 1080i HD video onto dual-layer 50GB BD-R/RE discs.

The BWU-300S will start shipping in October, and is priced at just under $400.