Sony BWU-300S 8x Blu-ray Disc Writer

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - BD-ROM:

To test the BWU-300S's BD-ROM reading performance, I used the Blu-ray Disc version of The Fifth Element. This single layer disc is about 23GB in size.

 

	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L	Lite-On DH-4B1S	LG GGW-H10N
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.99x 4.14x 7.99x	3.61x 2.01x 4.82x	3.02x 1.67x 3.99x	3.05x 1.70x 4.07x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	91ms 171ms 479ms	117ms 175ms 223ms	108ms 4ms 3ms	148ms 275ms 385ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 0% 1% 2%	0% 1% 1% 2%	2% 1% 3% 4%	0% 1% 2% 3%

The BWU-300S performed very well when reading BD-ROM discs. In our tests, the drive started reading at 4.14x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 7.99x.

Sony's Blu-ray Disc writer had no problems playing back The Fifth Element and The Simpsons Movie using the bundled version of PowerDVD. Just keep in mind that if your monitor is connected to your video card using DVI or HDMI, both need to be HDCP compliant to play AACS protected titles. If not, you can still play them by switching the connection to VGA or using software like Slysoft's AnyDVD HD.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - BD-R and BD-RE:

Next we'll look at the drive's BD-R and BD-RE reading performance. For this I created a few data discs using single layer BD-R and BD-RE media from Panasonic and Memorex and then ran our BD read tests with CD Speed.

Panasonic BD-R
 

	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L	Lite-On DH-4B1S	LG GGW-H10N
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	7.02x 4.25x 7.98x	4.55x 2.58x 6.04x	3.02x 1.71x 4.03x	3.06x 1.75x 4.07x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	95ms 165ms 464ms	121ms 167ms 217ms	109ms 4ms 3ms	206ms 317ms 441ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 1% 2%	0% 0% 2% 2%	2% 1% 3% 5%	0% 1% 2% 3%

Memorex BD-RE

	Sony BWU-300S	LG GGW-H20L	Lite-On DH-4B1S	LG GGW-H10N
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	2.00x 1.99x 2.00x	2.30x 2.29x 2.30x	1.99x 1.96x 1.99x	2.51x 1.43x 3.34x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	101ms 219ms 391ms	150ms 263ms 766ms	111ms 10ms 10ms	223ms 330ms 441ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 2% 4%	0% 1% 2% 2%	8% 9% 14% 24%	0% 1% 2% 3%

Panasonic BD-R DL

Sony's new drive had no problems reading BD-R, BD-RE and BD-R DL media. In our tests, the BWU-300S was able to read both BD-R and BD-R DL media at about 8x and BD-RE discs at 2x.

I should point out that the BWU-300S will not read all BD-R and BD-R DL media at these speeds. If you want to read discs at 8x, you will need to use media that is capable of writing at this speed. If not, BWU-300S will limit the read speed is to the disc's maximum writing speed.