Blu-ray discs aren't getting bigger just yet, but cheaper & faster we might be able to help you with now that Verbatim/MKM is ready to deliver 6x BD-R LTH (low to high) recordable discs. A manufacturing process more similar to CD-R and DVD-R discs makes them easier to produce and this upgrade brings the max speed up from the current 2x LTH discs. Expect them to launch this fall along with compatible drives, so if you have something that needs 25GB/50GB of optical storage and don't like waiting, be on the lookout.

Infuriatingly restrictive DRM aside, Panasonic's FreeSat+ Blu-ray burning DVR brings some new capabilities to the UK, apparently enough to impress Home Cinema Choice. A few downsides, like ITV marking its HD broadcasts Copy Never preventing any disc backups, and an inability to connect to other devices on the network didn't take away its DVR features, h.264 compression capabilities and solid Blu-ray playback. Of course the entry price for the DMR-BS850 is high, but take a look at the rest of their notes before deciding whether or not all those arrows and padlocks are worth the trouble.

What is this, the week of the 8x BD writer or something? Just days after Buffalo announced two such units for the American market (and Delkin failed epically with an alternative half as quick yet more expensive), in runs Sony with an 8x Blu-ray writer of its own. The October-bound BWU-300S can cook an entire single-layer (25GB) BD-R in around 15 minutes, and it'll also burn CDs at up to 48x and DVD-RAMs at an undisclosed rate. In an effort to push the Blu-ray playing aspects, the drive comes bundled with the BD version of Men in Black, and if all that's worth $399.99 to you, you can get your pre-order in this very moment.

For what it's worth, Buffalo just announced the world's fastest Blu-ray recorder capable of burning through your data at an 8x clip. The only problem is that BDA-approved media maxes out at 6x, assuming you can even find it. Available in Japan starting next month, the external USB 2.0 and eSATA BR-816SU2 and internal SATA BR-816FBS models hit that 8x recording speed on single-layer BD-R media only -- 2x for dual-layer BD-R, BD-RE, and LTH BD-R. CDs and DVDs are supported too naturally, with a max 16x burn to DVD±R or 48x/24x for CD-R/RW. Each drive comes bundled with Cyberlink's PowerDVD 7 suite and are priced at ¥46,700 (about $435) for the external drive or ¥41,000 (about $380) for the internal optical spinner.

[Via BIOS and CDRinf]

Not even a week after LaCie trumpeted its latest 4x external Blu-ray writer, along comes LG to re-up the ante. Its latest trifecta -- the BE06 (pictured), GBC-H20L and GBW-H20L -- all offer SecurDisc capabilities and LightScribe technology, not to mention the ability to toast BD-Rs at 6x (and BD-REs at 2x). As for the external USB 2.0 BE06, you'll be looking at $379.95; for the GBC-H20L and GBW-H20L, however, you can expect to pay $199.95 / $279.97 respectively. The trio is available as we speak.

Regrettably, there's not a lot to go on just yet, but DigiTimes has it that HP will soon be launching "next-generation PCs with a Blu-ray / HD DVD dual-format burner." The announcement was reportedly issued at a product presentation held in Singapore, and while no model numbers were doled out, we can purportedly expect the two-faced machines to land in Europe and America sometime next month. Notably, HP has hemmed and hawed between formats in the past, but we're all for a rig that burns (and reads) both.

[Via TG Daily]

Ah, the sweet aroma of competition in the air. That's what we've gotten a whiff of after catching an (admittedly grainy) shot of what appears to be an internal Blu-ray writing / HD DVD reading combo drive from Hitachi. The GGW-H20N should have no issues playing your favorite high-definition films on either format, and it can also burn 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray discs, BD-R, BD-RW, and the typical flavors of writable DVDs and CDs. Reportedly, the drive will also boast a speedy SATA interface and will posses a read rate of up to 6x and burn rate of 4x, but the most important detail (read: worldwide release details) was unsurprisingly omitted. Bring on the price drops.

[Via FormatWarCentral]

The list of internal Blu-ray burners hitting the test bench just keeps on growing, and if you've been holding off on picking one up as prices begin to sink, here's yet another to mull over. Lite-On's LH-2B1S Blu-ray writer doesn't deviate too much from its major competitors, sports a 2x maximum write speed to BD-R and BR-RE single-layer discs, and toasts up to 8x on certain formats of writable DVDs. The unit was tested using Nero CD/DVD Speed v4.70, and was primarily pitted against Sony's own BWU-100A. During traditional transfer rate testing, the Lite-On lagged behind in average transfer speeds, random seek times, and full stroke times, while actually using more CPU power all the while. Interestingly, the LH-2B1S' write performance was better on vanilla DVD+Rs, marginally slower on DVD+R dual-layer, and a wee bit less quick than the Sony burning to BD-RE. As expected, reviewers weren't mauling crowds at their local retail shop in order to grab on of their own as the ho hum performance really wasn't groundbreaking, but if you've got to have such a unit this very moment in time, the comparatively cheap $499 pricetag still makes the LH-2B1S a viable option.

Just because HP has buried the Digital Entertainment Center doesn't mean that it's forgetting about the media-centric crowd, as the company's forthcoming m8010y and d4890y will offer up some fairly swank high-definition niceties. Aside from offering customers the option for an Intel Q6600 Core 2 Quad processor and NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 GTS graphics card, this duo will also include a mysterious dual-format combo drive to handle both BD and HD DVD responsibilities. While we can only assume that the GGW-H10N will be the drive of choice, both PCs will boast HD DVD / Blu-ray playback with burning abilities including on the latter, and as if that wasn't enough HD goodness crammed into a PC, moneyed consumers can also opt to have ATI's TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner pre-installed as well. There's no word just yet surrounding pricing, exact configurations, or a launch timeframe, but word on the street suggests that the combo drive should be made available to the adoring public within "four to six weeks."

While Sony's certainly had its fair share of blue laser supply issues, and the current generation of HD DVD / Blu-ray burners are sluggish at best, it looks like the first step towards marginally acceptable write speeds to next generation formats has been taken. According to Nikkei, Sanyo has developed a blue laser diode which will speed up data access, and moreover, should be able to reach write speeds of "up to 6x for dual-layer discs." Similar to LG's combo unit, this diode also plays nice with both HD DVD and Blu-ray recorders, but there's no word if a hybrid writer using the laser is in our immediate future. Still, any progress towards harmony between the formats -- not to mention being able to burn a dual-layer Blu-ray disc in time for your next birthday -- is a step in the right direction, so we're expecting nothing less than a 6x burner to be hitting shelves sooner rather than later, Sanyo. [Warning: read link requires subscription]

[Via Inquirer]

Hot on the heels of all this last minute, pre-CES HD DVD-related action is the SD-H903A, which Toshiba touts as "the world's first dedicated PC-based HD DVD burner" that writes "to all main optical discs." Aside from the obvious (albeit expected) hand-to-the-face to BD-Rs in that last claim, the burner does manage to write nicely to HD DVD-R (single and dual-layer at a measly 1x), DVD +/- R, DVD-RAM, DVD +/- RW, CD-R, and CD-RW. Additionally, it'll include an 8MB buffer, and if all goes well, should play back all your precious HD DVD titles without complication. While we've no idea how much coinage will be required to pick this (admittedly sluggish) drive up, sample shipments are scheduled to take off this month, and we should get a good look at just what it's capable of at next week's CES.

We've seen the first wave of Blu-ray burners receive their appropriate testing, and while most were deemed satisfactory, all demanded a mighty (and most likely unworthy) pricetag for such sluggish write speeds. Plextor's PX-B900A sports the same ultraslow 2x write speeds for both single and dual-layer BD-R / BD-RE discs, but offered decent burning speeds for the "other formats." PC World was most impressed with this particular drive's ease of installation -- something other drives haven't exactly provided -- and the fleshed-out bundle of software that comes packed in. Reviewers were thoroughly pleased with the inclusion of Blu-ray movie playback software, as well as the video editing / authoring and packet writing programs. While they were none too pleased with the $999 price, they did feel that the cost was somewhat more justified thanks to the smattering of great software that came along with it, and crowned it "a solid value" if you just can't wait another day to pick up an internal Blu-ray burner.

Blue laser shortage or not, Sony's hoping to avoid the delay bug with its first Blu-ray disc recorders, just announced at CEATEC 2006 for early December release in Japan. Both models will record two TV programs at once via their two digital and one analog tuners. Backing up video to Blu-ray discs is limited to 25GB -- no 50GB BD-R/BD-RE writing or reading here -- but it will play cartridges from the old Blu-ray recorders, as well as the new AVCHD discs. With the right NTT cellphone you can schedule recordings from anywhere, but at home owners will enjoy the slick PSP-style XMB crossbar menu like other Sony products. The high-end BDZ-V9 is the only choice if you must have 1080p output, DLNA streaming to connected PCs or compatible displays and video conversion to MPEG-4 to transfer directly to a PSP. All the connections you'd expect are a go, including HDMI out, plus i.Link and USB inputs to hook up digicams and make as many sentimental James Blunt-soundtracked slideshows as you can with the included x-Pict Story HD software. The BDZ-V9 will set buyers back a cool ¥300,000 ($2,543 US) or so on December 8th, with the value-priced BDZ-V7 only expected to go for ¥250,000 ($2,119 US) when it hits on December 19th. They may not have the 4x Blu-ray recording of Panasonic's lineup or the soul-crushing bulk of Toshiba's 1TB RD-A1, but with a simple menu system and joystick based remote control Japanese gamers who didn't get one of the 100,000 launch PS3s will still bring Blu-ray to their living room this year.

[Via Impress]

The Toshiba RD-A1 HD DVD recorder will face competition from Blu-ray (sans-cartridges) in Japan before the end of the year, Sony confirmed while showing off the device during their Dealer Convention 2006. Other than showing the device, they were incredibly short on details. No price, no official name, not much in the way of specs just a box and some hype, who does Sony think they are, Apple? We know it will be HDD equipped, but capacity, speed, tuners? You're on your own for now, but be sure to check out the pics, from a purely aesthetic standpoint the Sony Brr (Blu-ray recorder) definitely has the gargantuan 1TB HDD RD-A1 beat.

That was quick. We just received word a few days ago that Lite-On was making HD DVD drives but wondered if they were going to receive any OEM orders from big players in the HD DVD camp. They received a order and it sure is from a big player -- Toshiba. The key HD DVD player ordered these units so it can concentrate on producing slim-line HD DVD drives which we assume are for their laptops. Lite-On is expecting the production lines to ramp up to full power by March of '07 so don't expect any of these drives for Christmas this year. Lite-On might also receive another big order from Microsoft to power their Xbox 360 drive but that is still in the speculation category right now.