Sony BWU-500S 12x Blu-ray Disc Writer

While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.

Test System:

For Blu-ray Disc writers, the performance tests are normally broken down into six sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read, DVD write, BD read and BD write. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three. DMA has been enabled in device manager for all IDE devices supporting it.

CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 v3.0 and CD Speed v4.7.7.16 are used to test read speeds, access times and CPU usage. For DAE testing, CD Speed is used to give an overall speed rating.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 650MB and 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Roxio's Drag-to-Disc is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed v4.7.7.16 is used to test read speeds, access times, and CPU usage.

DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write a 4.38GB image to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Roxio's Drag-to-Disc is used to test packet writing speeds. For this, 4GB of random files and directories are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

BD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the BD benchmarks, CD Speed v4.7.7.16 is used to test read speeds, access times, and CPU usage.

BD Write Tests: To test the BD write speeds, CD Speed's "Create Data Disc" feature is used to burn an entire BD-R/RE disc. Times are recorded.

CD Winbench 99 Scores:

The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.

Sony's new Blu-ray Disc writer performed pretty well in our CD Winbench tests. In the transfer rate tests, the BWU-500S started reading at 14.8x (2220 / 150) on the inside and reached a maximum speed of 42.9x (6430 / 150) on the outside of the disc. As you can see, this resulted in a very good overall CD Winbench score.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.

 

	Sony BWU-500S	Lite-On iHBS112	LG WH10LS30	Plextor PX-B940SA
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	35.89x 20.81x 47.49x	35.86x 20.84x 47.43x	36.01x 20.78x 47.61x	31.40x 18.46x 41.39x
Access Times Random: 1/3: Full:	115ms 128ms 197ms	118ms 132ms 211ms	134ms 148ms 206ms	148ms 169ms 308ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	2% 1% 3% 6%	1% 1% 3% 5%	0% 1% 2% 3%	6% 9% 6% 71%

The BWU-500S didn't perform as well as I had expected when reading pressed CD's. While rated at 48x, Sony's new Blu-ray Disc writer came up a little short of this number in our tests. On a more positive note, the BWU-500S's access times were quite good. 

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-R Media:

For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.

 

	Sony BWU-500S	Lite-On iHBS112	LG WH10LS30	Plextor PX-B940SA
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	36.67x 20.94x 48.63x	36.63x 20.99x 48.57x	36.59x 20.96x 48.72x	31.66x 18.40x 42.02x
Access Times Random: 1/3: Full:	121ms 136ms 198ms	121ms 137ms 196ms	141ms 154ms 207ms	162ms 177ms 374ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	2% 2% 3% 6%	2% 2% 3% 6%	0% 1% 2% 4%	0% 1% 3% 6%

The BWU-500S was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this small speed boost, the drive was able to reach a maximum transfer speed of 48.63x in our tests.

Sony's new Blu-ray Disc writer had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The BWU-500S read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 52.36x.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-RW Media:

For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests. 

 

	Sony BWU-500S	Lite-On iHBS112	LG WH10LS30	Plextor PX-B940SA
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	30.01x 17.46x 39.65x	29.98x 17.45x 39.60x	30.60x 17.88x 40.42x	18.71x 11.01x 24.71x
Access Times Random: 1/3: Full:	121ms 137ms 214ms	121ms 136ms 198ms	134ms 152ms 203ms	157ms 180ms 319ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 2% 3% 6%	1% 2% 3% 6%	0% 1% 2% 3%	0% 1% 2% 4%

While the BWU-500S is rated at 48x when reading pressed and CD-R media, its CD-RW read speeds are limited to only 40x.  As you can see, the drive came very close to reaching this speed in our tests.

CD Speed v4.7.7.7 (DAE) - Pressed CD:

For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.

Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that the Sony BWU-500S supports accurate stream, caches audio data and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from audio CD's.     

 

CD Speed	Sony BWU-500S	Lite-On iHBS112	LG WH10LS30	Plextor PX-B940SA
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	36.21x 21.69x 47.84x 10 Yes	36.21x 21.74x 47.84x 10 Yes	30.80x 18.26x 40.69x 10 Yes	31.26x 18.84x 41.23x 10 Yes

The BWU-500S performed very well when ripping pressed audio CD's. With a maximum speed of 47.84x, it tied the Lite-On iHBS112 for the top spot in our tests.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (DAE) - CD-R Media:

For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media I used in the CD Speed tests.

 

CD Speed	Sony BWU-500S	Lite-On iHBS112	LG WH10LS30	Plextor PX-B940SA
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	35.87x 21.59x 47.31x 10 Yes	35.87x 21.47x 47.31x 10 Yes	30.20x 18.04x 39.81x 10 Yes	31.02x 18.79x 41.05x 10 Yes

The BWU-500S was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media. While the drive still performed relatively well, it reached a maximum DAE speed of only 47.31x. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

Sony's new Blu-ray Disc writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 34.10x. The drive had no problems passing all of the on-the-fly tests and did not create any errors. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the BWU-500S was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and lead in but failed to read the lead out section of the CD.