So now that the first Blu-ray burners are becoming available, reviews are beginning to come out. One of the first reviews is available on CNET.
The drive reviewed, the Pioneer BDR-101A , is a Blu-ray burner with some "surprises": First of all, it has the really high price of $999, and then it doesn't support either dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray discs nor CD media writing features.
According to declared specifications, the Pioneer BDR-101A can write at 2X speed to both write-once Blu-ray discs (BD-R) and rewritable Blu-ray discs (BD-RE). The drive can also write to DVD-R and +R discs at 8X, DVD-RW and +RW discs at 4X speed, double-layer DVD+R discs at 2.4X, and double-layer DVD-R discs at 2X speed. It has an 8MB buffer for Blu-ray discs and a 2MB buffer for DVDs.
The CNET review doesn't give a really good rating to this drive, giving it a 5.8:
| The good: Single-layer Blu-ray disc holds 25GB; actual write speed is close to the 2X-rated speed. The bad: Expensive; slow write time compared to CD and DVD burners; doesn't read or write dual-layer Blu-ray discs or CDs; no Mac support. The bottom line: The first Blu-ray burner to hit the market, the Pioneer BDR-101A gives you 25GB of storage on a single disc and its actual write speeds nearly match its rated 2X spec. Still, it's a first-generation drive that's too expensive for anyone but professionals and enthusiasts working with HD video. |
This is only one of the first reviews available, but soon there will be others, so it will be possible to do some comparisons. In the meantime, the full review can be read here
Source: Google News
Top news
