I-O DATA BRD-AM2B/U Blu-ray Disc Writer

As a first generation drive, I-O DATA's new Blu-ray Disc writer is a little rough around the edges. Nevertheless, the BRD-AM2B/U's support for both single and dual layer BD media, as well as standard DVD's and CD's, make it the ultimate choice when it comes to flexibility and storage capacity.

Like the Panasonic drive it's based on, the BRD-AM2B/U can write to BD-R and BD-RE media at 2x. At this speed, it took the drive a little more than 45 minutes to burn an entire single layer, 25GB disc. It's media compatibility was also quite good as it was able to write to all of the BD discs we tried. Reading Blu-ray Disc media wasn't a problem for the BRD-AM2B/U either. However, with a maximum read speed of only 2x, it can take a considerable amount of time to read your data back.

Offering support for both the DVD-Multi and DVD+ReWritable specifications, I-O DATA's new drive can read and write to all standard DVD formats, including DVD-RAM. While no match for the current crop of DVD±RW drives, the BRD-AM2B/U beat out the Pioneer BDR-101A in all of our DVD writing tests. Unfortunately, there were a few cases where the writing quality could have been better. When it came to reading DVD's, the BRD-AM2B/U was able to read single layer data DVD's and most recordable media at 8x but slowed to 6x when reading DVD-Videos.

Unlike Pioneer's new Blu-ray Disc writer, the BRD-AM2B/U also has the ability to read and write CD's. While the drive's seek times were a little higher than we would have liked, it had no problems reading pressed and CD-R media at 32x and CD-RW discs at 24x. As a writer, the BRD-AM2B/U performed as expected. With its 24x CD-R and 16x CD-RW writing speeds, the drive won't break any speed records. However, they should be more than enough if you need to write an occasional CD or two.

I-O DATA's new Blu-ray Disc writer also has its share of features. To prevent buffer underruns, the BRD-AM2B/Uhas an 8MB buffer that is backed up by some sort of buffer underrun technology. For whatever reason though, the drive seemed to use only 2MB of it when writing to CD's and DVD's. The BRD-AM2B/U also features a bright blue LED and has the ability to set the book type of DVD+R and DVD+R DL media. To top it all off, I-O DATA has included a great software bundle from Ulead and InterVideo.

The BRD-AM2B/U is available now and can be purchased directly from I-O DATA through their online store for $899.

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Highs:

• Writes to BD-R and BD-RE media at 2x
• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 8x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 4x
• Writes to DVD-R DL media at 2x
• Reads Blu-ray Disc media at 2x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 8x
• Reads DVD±R, DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 8x
• Reads and writes DVD-RAM media at 5x
• Features 24x CD-R and 16x CD-RW writing speeds
• Includes buffer underrun prevention technology
• 8MB buffer (BD only)
• Good CD-R writing quality
• Includes software from Ulead and InterVideo
• Overburns to 99 minutes
• Bright blue LED
• Automatically sets book type to DVD-ROM for DVD+R and DVD+R DL media

Lows:

• Expensive
• Questionable writing quality with some DVD±R and DVD+R DL media
• Failed to write to Ricoh and Ritek manufactured DVD+R DL media
• Cannot set the book type of DVD+RW media
• Buffer limited to 2MB when writing CD's and DVD's