Sony BDX-S500U Portable 6x Blu-ray Disc Writer

The BDX-S500U is a good example of what we've come to expect from Sony's latest portable optical drives. This compact and lightweight Blu-ray Disc writer offers good looks, a number of useful features and some of the fastest reading and writing speeds available on a portable unit. Unfortunately, those looking for a truly portable solution will need to look elsewhere as the BDX-S500U's power requirements limit where it can be used.

The BDX-S500U is the first portable drive from Sony with the ability to write to BD-R media at 6x. At this speed, it took less than 22 minutes to burn an entire 25GB disc. The drive also performed fairly well when writing to BD-R DL media, burning a full 50GB BD-R DL disc in a little more than 61 minutes. The BDX-S500U wasn't as fast when writing to BD-RE media. However, its performance was on par with the other Blu-ray Disc writers I've tested.

Using the bundled software, the BDX-S500U played all of the Blu-ray movies I had on hand, including those protected by BD+ and with BD-Live enabled features. The drive also performed fairly well in our transfer rate tests, reading single layer BD-ROM's and BD-R discs at 6x. 

Sony's new drive also has the ability to read and write to all standard DVD formats, including DVD-RAM. The BDX-S500U performed relatively well when writing to DVD±R discs, taking less than 12 minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD. The drive also turned in some respectable times when writing to other types of media. However, the writing quality could have been better with some DVD-R DL discs. When it came to reading DVD's, the BDX-S500U was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's as well as DVD±R and DVD±RW media at 8x.

Reading CD's wasn't a problem for the BDX-S500U either. While its seek times were a little higher than I would have liked, the drive read data CD's at speeds as high as 24x and ripped audio CD's at 23x. As a writer, the BDX-S500U performed as expected. The drive was relatively quick when writing to CD-R media and its writing quality was quite good.

Sony's portable Blu-ray Disc writer also has its share of features. To prevent buffer underruns, the BDX-S500U has a 6MB buffer that is backed up by Sony's Power-Burn technology. The drive also offers a good number of writing and rewriting speeds to choose from and supports bitsetting for DVD+R DL discs.  Last but not least, Sony has included a great software bundle from CyberLink. My only real complaint is that the BDX-S500U cannot be powered off a computer's USB bus. Instead it relies on an AC adapter which limits its usage to locations where a power outlet is available.

The Sony BDX-S500U is available now and can be purchased from Amazon or the retailers listed on Pricegrabber for less than $200.

Highs:

• Writes to BD-R and BD-R LTH media at 6x
• Writes to BD-R DL media at 4x
• Writes to BD-RE and BD-RE DL media at 2x
• Writes to DVD±R media at 8x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD±R DL media at 4x
• Reads single layer BD-ROM's at 6x
• Reads BD-R media at 6x
• Reads BD-RE and BD-R DL media at 4x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 8x
• Reads DVD±R media at 6x
• Reads DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 6x
• Reads and writes to DVD-RAM media at 5x
• Features 24x CD-R and 16x CD-RW writing speeds
• Features Sony's Power-Burn technology
• Good DVD±R and CD-R writing quality
• Compact and lightweight design
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R DL media
• Includes CyberLink Media Suite 8 software

Lows:

• Not USB powered
• Questionable writing quality with some DVD-R DL media
• Cannot set the book type of DVD+R or DVD+RW media
• Does not support 99 minute CD-R media