Sony BWU-100A Blu-ray Burner
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The Sony BWU-100A offers every possible optical-media support except for HD DVD, of course. Its sleek, transparent-black faceplate would make it an attractive part of your living room media center's PC. Unfortunately, Blu-ray drives are still very expensive--this one costs $700. Though Blu-ray burner prices have and will continue to fall, they haven't fallen far enough for the average consumer. Keep in mind, too, that as prices fall, read and write speeds will continue to ramp up. The BWU-100A is a bit slower with its non-HD tasks when compared to a non-HD burner, but given all that this drive can do, we think it's not a bad trade-off. If you have the $700 to burn, the BWU-100A is a good choice.
We did have a few gripes with this drive. It was a bit finicky when it came to compatible media brands. We had no problems when using Sony's recommended media brand (Verbatim), but it wouldn't recognize discs from RIData, a huge multivendor supplier.