I-O Data is the second Japanese company that plans to ship a 8x Blu-ray burner this month, the new BRD-SP8, based on the Panasonic SW-5584 BD drive.

The SATA Blu-ray drive will be available in Japan this month in both black (BRD-SP8B) and white (BRD-SP8) variations.

The drives support 8x recording for single layer Blu-ray recordable discs (BD-R) and 2x for dual layer BD-R, BD-RE and LTH BD-R media. The drives' internal buffer is 8MB.

A full 25GB BD-R disc can be record in 13 minutes and 16 seconds at 8x, according to the company.

Other specifications of the drives include 16x burning for DVD±R, 5x for DVD-RAM, 8x for DVD±R DL, 6x for DVD-RW and 8x for DVD+RW. Regarding the legendary CD format, the drives offer 48x/24x for CD-R/RW.

DVD MovieWriter 5 BD version and B's Recorder GOLD9 PLUS software suites will be bundled in the retail packages of the drives, which are expected to be available in August for 41,000 Yen ($380).

Japanese Buffalo will also ship its 8x Blu-ray burners in Japan next month, in both external USB 2.0/eSATA (BR-816SU2) and internal SATA (BR-816FBS) versions.