July 4th, 2006
BenQ 'Trio' BW1000 Blu-ray writer
Yesterday BenQ unveiled a new optical drive that can handle three disc formats - CD, DVD and Blu-ray. The drive, called ’Trio’ BW1000, will start selling in August and have price around the $1,000 mark (this is based on a European selling price of 799 Euro - no word on US prices yet).
I’ve been trying to peg down the features of the BW1000. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
- Writing speeds: 2x for BD-R/-RE single-layer discs (25GB), 12x for DVD+R/-R, 4x for DVD+R/-R DL, 8x for DVD+RW/-RW, 32x for CD-R and 24x for CD-RW
- Reading speeds: 2x for Blu-ray, 12x for DVD and 32x for CD-R
- A future firmware upgrade will be required for the drive to write to 50GB double-layer BD-R/-RE media (50GB) at 1x
- SATA interface
- SolidBurn automatically determines and optimizes the writing settings for different recordable media
- Precision Tilt Control System (PTCS) to protect against failed burns due to vibration, signal noise and irregularities in the media surface
- Write Right technology provides thorough protection during the writing process which includes Seamless Link (for buffer-under run protection), dynamical jitter calibration (for real-time writing quality consistency)
- Walking-OPC (Optimized Power Calibration) automatically adjusts the power of the laser during the write process to give greater consistency when writing
- Separate LED indicators for Blu-ray, DVD and CD
Sounds good so far. We’re already we’re seeing healthy competition in the Blu-ray market, but I’m still not ready to shell out a $20 per disc for 25GB of storage space.
Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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