Sony Debuts Their First Slim External Blu-ray Drive With 3D Compatibility

The BDX-S500U is just another word for power performance. To make things even more exciting, it is also lightweight, slim, portable and more versatile than ever. The BDX-S500U is your premium choice for fast, perfect writing on BD-R (6x), BD-R DL (4x), and BD-RE (2x), storing up to 50 GB of HD video or data content on one disc. To make your entertainment complete, this drive also supports Blu-ray 3D. The BDX-S500U is supplied with the Media Suite 8 software from Cyberlink for authoring, editing, data writing and back up.

The portable drive offers quick and easy connectivity with a high speed USB (USB 2.0) digital interface for simple setup and maximum flexibility.

The BDX-S500U drive can record up to 50GB of data for random access storage and backup on BD-R (write once) or BD-RE (rewritable) discs, or up to 220 minutes of high-definition 24M bps MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video on a BD-R/RE 50GB disc.

The drive also records standard 4.7GB DVD+/-R discs at up to 8X speeds, 8.5GB DVD+/-R Double/Dual layer at up to 4X, DVD+RW at up to 8X, DVD-RW at up to 6X, CD-R at up to 24X, CD-RW at up to 16X, and supports DVD-RAM recording at up to 5X speeds.

Expect to see the BDX-S500U available at retail this month; its pretty affordable too, as we spotted it at Provantage for around $200USD. That’s a far cry from the Sony BWU-100A external Blu-ray drive that came out years ago for a price point around $800.