BD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16:
To test the BD writing performance of Sony's new drive I used BD-R, BD-R DL and BD-RE media from Moser Baer, Sony, TDK and Verbatim. To get the writing times, CD Speed's "Create Data Disc" feature was used. I also ran the discs through CD Speed's transfer rate test to make sure that the BWU-500S could read them back.
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The BWU-500S is the first drive from Sony that can write to BD-R media at 12x. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it starts writing at about 5.2x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.
| Sony BWU-500S |
Lite-On iHBS112 |
LG WH10LS30 |
Plextor PX-B940SA |
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| BD-R | 11:37 | 11:26 | 11:35 | 10:55 |
| BD-RE | 44:51 | 44:49 | 39:50 | 45:20 |
| BD-R DL | 33:00 | 31:54 | 27:08 | 25:06 |
The BWU500S performed very well when writing to BD-R media. While not as fast as the Plextor PX-B940SA, it took a little more than 11 and a half minutes to burn a 25GB disc. Sony's new drive didn't disappoint when writing to BD-R DL media either. Thanks to its 8x writing speed, the BWU-500S took 33 minutes to burn 50GB worth of data.
| Manufacturer ID | Max Write Speed |
Write Time | ||
| Moser Baer 25GB 6x BD-R | MBI R06 | 6x | 16:07 | Transfer Rate |
| Sony 25GB 6x BD-R | SONY NN3 | 12x | 11:37 | Transfer Rate |
| Sony 50GB 6x BD-R DL | MEI RB1 | 8x | 33:00 | Transfer Rate |
| TDK 25GB 6x BD-R | TDKBLDRBD | 6x | 16:58 | Transfer Rate |
| TDK 50GB 2x BD-RE DL | TDKBLDWfa | 2x | 89:33 | Transfer Rate |
| Verbatim 25GB 2x BD-R LTH | VERBATIMw | 2x | 45:12 | Transfer Rate |
| Verbatim 25GB 2x BD-RE | VERBATIM0 | 2x | 44:51 | Transfer Rate |
The BWU-500S completed our Blu-ray writing tests without any problems. The drive wrote to all of our test media at its rated speeds or better and, looking at the transfer rates, you can see that it had no problems reading the discs back.
Nevertheless, I should point out that if you want to write at 12x, you're going to need to use 6x BD-R media from Panasonic, Ritek or Sony. Currently, these are the only BD-R discs that the BWU-500S will write to at this speed.
Performance Revisited:
While Sony's new Blu-ray Disc writer had a few rough spots, it performed pretty well throughout most of our tests. The BWU-500S flew through our BD writing tests, turning in some impressive times with BD-R and BD-R DL media. Reading Blu-ray Discs wasn't a problem for the drive either. The BW-500S was able to read single layer BD-ROM's as well as recordable BD media at 8x.
The BWU-500S also did reasonably well in our CD and DVD read tests. Along with some fairly good access times, the drive read CD's at speeds as high at 48x and single layer data DVD's and DVD±R media at 16x. When it came to writing CD's and DVD's, the BWU-500S held its own throughout most of our tests. However, there were writing quality issues with some DVD-R and DVD-R DL media. With all things considered, the Sony BWU-500S gets a solid 8 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.
