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

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-ROM:

For this test I used a single layer, single sided data DVD-ROM disc that is 4.37GB in size.

 

The BDX-S500U performed pretty well when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 3.32x and reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8.08x. Unfortunately, like in our CD read tests, the drive's seek times were a bit high.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disc using some general use 8x DVD-R and 6x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. For the DVD-RAM tests, media from Maxell was used. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD-R
 

	Transfer Speed			Seek Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x	8x
Sony BDX-S500U	6.05x	3.34x	8.08x	156ms	175ms	273ms	9%	19%	34%	66%

Verbatim DVD-RW

	Transfer Speed			Seek Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x	8x
Sony BDX-S500U	6.06x	3.34x	8.11x	150ms	168ms	270ms	11%	19%	34%	66%

Verbatim DVD-R DL
 

	Transfer Speed			Seek Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x	8x
Sony BDX-S500U	4.56x	2.53x	6.07x	160ms	176ms	278ms	11%	17%	n/a	n/a

The BDX-S500U had no problems reading DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. In our tests, the drive was able to read DVD-R and DVD-RW media at 8x, but slowed to 6x when reading DVD-R DL discs.

Maxell 5x DVD-RAM
 

	Transfer Speed			Seek Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x	8x
Sony BDX-S500U	4.11x	2.98x	5.01x	223ms	365ms	441ms	14%	22%	40%	n/a

Sony's new drive has a maximum transfer speed of 5x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot you can see that it starts reading at 3x and then jumps to 5x at about the 1.9GB mark. 

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disc using some 8x DVD+R and 8x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD+R
 

	Transfer Speed			Seek Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x	8x
Sony BDX-S500U	6.05x	3.33x	8.09x	155ms	174ms	274ms	9%	19%	34%	65%

Verbatim DVD+RW

	Transfer Speed			Seek Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x	8x
Sony BDX-S500U	6.07x	3.35x	8.11x	154ms	173ms	273ms	11%	18%	33%	64%

Verbatim DVD+R DL

The BDX-S500U's performance was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. The drive read DVD+R and DVD+RW media at 8x and DVD+R DL discs at 6x.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.

 

	Transfer Speed			Seek Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x	8x
Sony BDX-S500U	5.98x	3.29x	8.00x	150ms	168ms	268ms	11%	18%	33%	71%

The BDX-S500U didn't slow down very much when reading single layer DVD videos. It started out at about 3.29x and reached a maximum read speed of 8.00x. Sony's new drive was also relatively quick when reading dual layer discs. By looking at the screenshot below, you can see that the drive's transfer speeds peaked at about 6x.

To see how well the BDX-S500U worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith using the bundled version of PowerDVD. The drive had no problems playing back these movies and was fairly quiet.