Today we have in our labs the Sony BWU-500S, Sony's first 12x Blu-ray disc writer. This drive offers 12x recording for the select 6x BD-R media, which means that you will be able to burn 25GB of data in less than 12 minutes.

Basic features of the Sony drive include 12x burning for single layer BD-R, 8x for dual layer BD-R, while . BD-RE are burned at 2x for both DL and SL.

The drive also maintains compatibility with DVD and CD discs for both read and write. TheBWU-500Swrites Double Layer BD-R media at 8X, and reads BD-ROM discs at 8X as well. Single Layer DVD±R discs can be written at 16X, Double Layer DVD±R at 8X and rewritable discs at 8X (+RW) and 6X (-RW) respectively. The drive reads and writes CD-R at 48X and rewrites CD-RW at 24X.

The drive is the retail version of the Sony Optiarc BD-5300S burner.

Below you see the table of specifications:

The drive comes with a generous bundle. It includes the CyberLink software suite 8, which includes programs such as the DVD/Blu-ray Disc playback software, PowerDVD 9, the video editing software, PowerDirector 8, and the DVD/BD authoring software, PowerProducer 5. These programs make it easy to play back 3D Blu-ray Disc videos, edit your own creative video material and produce and burn your own Blu-rays Discs and DVDs with impressive menus. Data archiving is also simple with the PowerBackup 2.5 burning software.

Besides the software disc, the retail box includes a Sony BD-R SL disc for 6x burning, an operating instructions guide, s SATA cable and warranty cards.

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The rear panel is typical and has a power and SATA interfaces:

Let's take a look at the drive's internal board. It is recommended not to open the case of your drive since that would void the warranty.

You can click on each picture for a larger view:

The drive's electronics is based on the MediaTEK ARM MT1939MWDU chipset. Notice that the LiteOn iHBS112 12x BD burner is also based on the same chipset and board.

Here is some extra information about the drive once installed: