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

As one of the biggest names in the consumer electronics industry, Sony doesn't need much of an introduction. For more than 50 years, this Japanese company has lead the way, producing innovative products for the audio, video and computer markets. Sony is no stranger to the optical storage industry either. From the development of the first compact disc standards to the introduction of the first dual format DVD writer, Sony has played a major role in much of the technology used today.

Sony has also been one of the driving forces behind the Blu-ray Disc format. The company offers a wide range of Blu-ray products, including a series of drives for the the portable and desktop computer markets. This fall, Sony announced its new slim external Blu-ray Disc writer, the BDX-S500U. This stylish and compact drive is capable of 6x BD-R, 4x BD-R DL and 2x BD-RE writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 6x. The BDX-S500U is also backwards compatible with all major CD and DVD formats and includes features like a 6MB buffer and a USB 2.0 interface. To top it all off, the drive comes with CyberLink's Media Suite 8 which includes software capable of playing back Blu-ray movies in 3D.

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what the BDX-S500U has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect from Sony's portable Blu-ray Disc writer, we'll take a look at some of  the drive's features and then put it through its paces to see how it performs. Is the BDX-S500U the best choice for the person on the go? Read on as we find out.

What's in the box?:

• Sony BDX-S500U Portable 6x Blu-ray Disc Writer
• Operating Instructions
• Sony Software Disc v9.20W
• AC Power Adapter
• USB Cable
• Warranty Information

Physical Features:

The drive Sony sent us for this review was manufactured in August of 2010 and had firmware 1.D1. This is the newest firmware currently available for the BDX-S500U.

The BDX-S500U is one of the smallest Blu-ray Disc writers on the market today. Measuring 136.5 x 19 x 146.5 mm, it's not much larger than a couple of jewel cases stacked on top of one another. The BDX-S500U is also constructed of a lightweight, black plastic. It's hard to tell by looking at the pictures below, but there are some sparkly bits in the plastic that help hide the finger prints and smudges that glossy plastic tends to attract.

On the top of the BDX-S500U you can see a large "Blu-ray" logo as well as a few showing support for Ultra Speed CD-RW media and the DVD+ReWritable and DVD Multi specifications. There's also a long, rectangular LED that lights up green whenever the drive is powered on.

On the bottom, the BDX-S500U has four small rubber feet to keep it from sliding around when placed on a flat surface. The plastic also has a matte finish which makes it a little easier to hang onto the drive.

The eject button is located along the front of the BDX-S500U. The drive also has a second LED that lights up orange when both reading and writing. 

Along the rear, you can see the BDX-S500U's USB 2.0 interface and power connector. Instead of being powered off a computer's USB bus, Sony's new drive uses the included AC adapter as a stable power source.

Technical Specs:

Most of the specs below have been taken from Sony's website and the manual that came with the drive.

More Features:

By looking at the picture below, you can see that Sony's new Blu-ray Disc writer is identified as a "SONY BD RW BDX-S500U."

Nero also shows that the BDX-S500U has a maximum CD writing speed of 24x and a 6016KB buffer which is actually larger than what is listed in the drive's specs.  This buffer is also backed up by Sony's Power-Burn buffer underrun protection. According to Nero, the BDX-S500U can also write CD-Text and overburn. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to test the drive's overburning capabilities as it was not able to recognize CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media.

Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the BDX-S500U is a "two sheep" burner. This means that Sony's new drive is capable of backing up titles protected by SafeDisc 2, including version 2.51.

Here is a screen shot from Erik Deppe's Opti Drive Control. Among other things, this program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. Opti Drive Control had no problems detecting the BDX-S500U's reading and writing speeds and supported disc types.

Opti Drive Control also shows that the BDX-S500U is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. Unfortunately, a patched RPC-1 firmware is not yet available for this drive.

While Opti Drive Control gives us a quick glance at the BDX-S500U's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that Sony's new drive can read and write to most BD and DVD formats.

The BDX-S500U doesn't let you set the book type of single layer DVD+R or DVD+RW media. However, using software like Nero, you can set the book type for DVD+R DL discs to "DVD-ROM." This greatly reduces compatibility problems, especially with older DVD players.

For the BDX-S500U's software bundle, Sony has turned to CyberLink. The DVD that comes with the drive contains CyberLink's Media Suite 8 which includes PowerProducer, PowerDirector, Power2Go, PowerBackup, LabelPrint, InstantBurn, MediaShow and PowerDVD.

CyberLink PowerProducer 5 - With CyberLink's PowerProducer you can create your own movie discs quickly and easily. Right from the start, this wizard based software gives you a number of options to select from. From here you can choose to produce a new movie disc, edit an existing one or record video directly to DVD or BD.

PowerProducer lets you create a number of different movie discs. Looking at the menu below, you can choose to create a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Disc. The software also supports various disc capacities and formats including DVD-VR, DVD+VR and BDAV.

While you can capture your own video, PowerProducer gives you the ability to import video files in a number of different formats. Once added to your production, you can use the built-in editor to trim, merge or split your video clips. PowerProducer also allows you to set chapters within the video content and add your own custom menus, backgrounds, fonts and titles.

You can also use PowerDirector's "Magic" editing tools to clean up video clips and images, condense long video segments and apply pre-designed style templates. When you're done editing your video, you have the option to save it to your hard drive, create a streaming file, write it back to DV tape, make a disc or upload it to YouTube and Facebook.

CyberLink Power2Go 6 - Power2Go is the main disc burning program included with the BDX-S500U. With this software, users can create various types of CD's, DVD's and BD's or make backups of existing discs. Power2Go also offers enhanced security features, allowing you to password protect and encrypt the names of files on your discs.

While small in size, Sony's new Blu-ray Disc writer isn't short on features. Along with a great looking design, the BDX-S500U offers some of the fastest BD reading and writing speeds available on a portable unit. The drive is capable of 6x BD-R, 4x BD-R DL and 2x BD-RE writing speeds and a maximum BD read speed of 6x.  The BDX-S500U is also backwards compatible with all major CD and DVD formats and includes features like a 6MB buffer, Power-Burn buffer underrun protection and a great software bundle from CyberLink. Unfortunately, it lacks bitsetting support for single layer DVD+R and DVD+RW media and cannot be powered off a computer's USB bus. With this in mind, the Sony BDX-S500U scores a solid 8 out of 10 for its features.

Sony's new portable Blu-ray Disc writer was very easy to install. Thanks to its USB 2.0 interface, the entire installation process took only a matter of minutes. With no jumpers to worry about, it was as simple as connecting the USB and power cables. Once connected to our test computer, it took a few seconds for plug and play to install the necessary drivers. After making sure that the drive was recognized correctly in the Device Manager, I was ready to start installing the software.

Software Installation:

As I mentioned earlier, the BDX-S500U comes with a DVD full of software from CyberLink. If you have autorun enabled on your computer, the menu shown below will appear when you insert the disc. As you can see, the software and documentation is available in a number of different languages. 

After selecting your preferred language, you'll be given a short list of options. From here you can choose to install the bundled software, check out the manual or visit Sony's user support web page.

Clicking the "Application Install" button will bring up another menu where you can read about the various applications included in the suite. Otherwise, you can start the setup process by clicking the "Install Now" button.

After selecting your preferred language and entering your customer information, you'll be presented with a number of installation options. From here, you can choose to install InstantBurn, LabelPrint, MediaShow, Power2Go, PowerBackup, PowerDVD Copy, PowerDirector, PowerDVD or PowerProducer. Simply select the components you want and click next a few times. Once the files are copied over, you can start burning your own discs.

Documentation:

The documentation that comes with the BDX-S500U is a bit different than what we're used to seeing from Sony. Instead of spreading the information out between a number of small guides, Sony has crammed everything into a single set of "Operating Instructions." While a bit short on words, this fold out guide contains a variety of information including the BDX-S500U's specifications, system requirements, package contents and bundled software. Sony also provides a number of diagrams showing the various buttons and connectors located on the front and back of the drive as well as how to hook it up to your computer.

Like the other Sony drives we've reviewed, the BDX-S500U was very easy to install. Even though Blu-ray is still a relatively new technology, there were no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working correctly. If you need help for some reason, the documentation provided by Sony should be more than sufficient. With this in mind, the BDX-S500U scores a solid 9 out of 10 for the installation portion of this review.

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, seek 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, seek 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, seek 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 portable Blu-ray Disc writer performed fairly well in the CD Winbench portion of our tests. In the transfer speed tests, the drive started reading at about 10.9x on the inside of the CD and was able to reach 22.9x 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.

 

The BDX-S500U performed a little better in our CD Speed tests. The drive started reading at 10.47x and quickly accelerated, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 24.03x. Unfortunately, its seek times were a little higher than we'd like to see.

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.

The BDX-S500U was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this speed boost, the drive was able to reach a maximum transfer speed of 24.05x.

Sony's portable Blu-ray Disc writer had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The BDX-S500U read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 24.81x.

 

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.

 

The BDX-S500U also reads CD-RW media at 24x. As you can see, the drive came very close to reaching this speed in our tests.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (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 while the Sony BDX-S500U supports accurate stream and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from the CD, it does not cache audio data.

 

For a portable drive, the BDX-S500U did fairly well in our DAE tests. The drive started out at 10.25x and reached a maximum speed of 23.70x.

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.

The BDX-S500U was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media. This time around, it reached a maximum DAE speed of 23.41x. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

Sony's portable Blu-ray Disc writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 16.89x. While the drive was able to go through the tests without creating any errors, it was unable to pass all of the on the fly copying tests. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the BDX-S500U was able to read the CD-Text and subchannel data but failed to read the lead in and lead out sections of the CD.

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 9.4.26.0 and Drag-to-Disc 9.0:

For this test I randomly generated 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep. All of the times below include not only the actual writing time, but the lead in and out times too. This gives a more realistic idea of how long it takes to write a CD.

The BDX-S500U has a maximum CD writing speed of 24x. To reach this speed, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that the drive uses a total of five "zones." The BDX-S500U starts writing at 8x and quickly jumps to 12x at the 5 minute mark. When it reaches the 21 minute mark, the drive changes to 16x and then to 20x at the 43 minute mark. The drive writes at this speed until about the 67 minute mark. When it reaches this point, its writing speed increases to 24x and stays there until the end of the session.

To test the drive's writing times,  I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden media rated at 52x. The results are below.

The BDX-S500U took about six and a half minutes to write an entire 701MB CD. While most of the internal writers we've looked at lately can do this in half the time, this is fairly good for a portable drive.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Lite-On IT's KProbe2. Written by Karr Wang, this utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52327S (firmware QS09) and read the discs at 32x. 

Moser Baer 52x

Taiyo Yuden 52x

Verbatim 52x

The BDX-S500U's writing quality was very good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors. More importantly, there were no C2 errors at all. 

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using Drag-to-Disc from Roxio. Verbatim's 24x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

The BDX-S500U also uses Z-CLV when rewriting at 16x. The drive starts writing at 8x and jumps to 12x at about the 5 minute mark. The BDX-S500U writes at this speed until about the 21 minute mark. When it reaches this point, its writing speed increases to 16x and stays there until the end of the session.

Sony's portable DVD writer did fairly well in our rewriting tests. The drive took 4:11 to write 400MB with Nero and 4:13 to do the same with Drag-to-Disc. Erasing wasn't a problem for the BDX-S500U either. In our tests, it took 28 seconds to do a quick erase and 6:14 to fully erase the disc.

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.

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 9.4.26.0 and Drag-to-Disc 9.0:

To test the DVD writing performance of Sony's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW and 8x DVD+RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 8x, the BDX-S500U uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that Sony's new drive starts writing at about 3.38x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.

The BDX-S500U also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. In both cases, the drive uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum writing speed.

The BDX-S500U performed as expected in our DVD writing tests. While not as fast as some of the internal DVD writers we've looked at recently, it turned in some respectable times with DVD±R and DVD±RW media.

To check the media compatibility of the BDX-S500U, I ran a few tests using some of the media available in my area. The media types, along with the average time it took the drive to write our 4.38GB image, are listed below.

So what about writing quality? Thanks to KProbe, we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates. For these tests I used a Lite-On SHM-165H6S (firmware HS0E) and read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively. For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 is able to report PI Errors, PI Failures, Parity Outer Failures and even jitter levels. For this test, the discs are read at 8x with both the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? With KProbe, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. When testing with CD Speed, the number of PI errors should stay below 280 as well. However, because it scans with an ECC sum of 8, a higher number of PIF errors is acceptable, as long as they do not exceed 32. Since POF errors are uncorrectable, we really don't want to see any of them at all.

I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x with the DW1640. By reading these discs back at this speed, we can see if there are any readability issues caused by the number of errors or high levels of jitter. 

The BDX-S500U's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media we tested. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. While the writing quality varied from one manufacturer to another, the results were fairly good for the most part.

To test the BDX-S500U's packet writing performance I used Drag-to-Disc 9.0. Verbatim 6x DVD-RW, Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and Maxell 5x DVD-RAM media were used once again.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 9.4.26.0:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the BDX-S500U, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from Verbatim and RiDATA. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

The BDX-S500U performed as expected when writing to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media. In our tests, the drive took 29:47 to write 8001MB of data to DVD+R DL media and 32:24 to do the same with DVD-R DL discs. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The writing quality was pretty good with Verbatim's 2.4x DVD-R DL media. Aside from a few isolated spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits. Unfortunately, the results weren't nearly as good with Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media. When tested with CD Speed, the error and jitter rates were fairly high throughout the second layer of the disc.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - BD-ROM:

To test the BDX-S500U's BD-ROM reading performance, I used the Blu-ray Disc version of The Fifth Element. This single layer disc is about 23GB in size.

 

The BDX-S500U performed relatively well when reading single layer BD-ROM discs. In our tests, it started reading at 2.52x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 6.03x.

Sony's portable Blu-ray writer had no problems playing back The Fifth Element and The Simpsons Movie using the bundled version of PowerDVD. Just keep in mind that if your monitor is connected to your video card using DVI or HDMI, both need to be HDCP compliant to play AACS protected titles. If not, you can still play them by switching the connection to VGA or using software like Slysoft's AnyDVD HD.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - BD-R and BD-RE:

Next we'll look at the drive's BD-R and BD-RE reading performance. For this I created a few data discs using single layer BD-R and BD-RE media from Memorex and TDK and then ran our BD read tests with CD Speed.

TDK BD-R DL

Sony's new drive had no problems reading BD-R, BD-RE and BD-R DL media. In our tests, the BDX-S500U read BD-R discs at 6x and both BD-RE and BD-R DL media at 4x.

BD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16:

To test the BD writing performance of Sony's new drive I used BD-R, BD-R DL and BD-RE media from Sony, TDK and Verbatim. To get the writing times, CD Speed's "Create Data Disc" feature was used. I also ran the discs through CD Speed's transfer rate test to make sure that the BDX-S500U could read them back.

The BDX-S500U is the first portable drive from Sony that can write to BD-R media at 6x. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that Sony's new drive starts writing at about 2.59x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.

With a maximum BD-R writing speed of 6x, the BDX-S500U wasn't nearly as fast as some of the desktop Blu-ray Disc writers we've looked at recently. Nevertheless, the drive performed very well, taking less than 22 minutes to burn an entire 25GB disc. Sony's new drive didn't disappoint when writing to BD-R DL media either. Thanks to its 4x writing speed, the BDX-S500U took a little more than an hour to burn an entire 50GB worth of data.

The BDX-S500U completed our Blu-ray writing tests without any problems. The drive wrote to all of our test media at its rated speeds and, looking at the transfer rates, you can see that it had no problems reading the discs back. 

Performance Revisited:

Sony's new portable Blu-ray Disc writer performed as expected throughout most of our tests. The BDX-S500U turned in some relatively good times when writing to BD-R and BD-R DL media and was able to read Blu-ray Discs at speeds as high as 6x. The drive also did reasonably well in our CD and DVD read tests. It read CD's at speeds as high at 24x and single layer DVD's at 8x. Writing CD's and DVD's wasn't a problem for the BDX-S500U either. For a portable drive, it turned in some respectable times and the writing quality was fairly good for the most part. With all of these things considered, the Sony BDX-S500U gets a solid 8 out of 10 for its performance.

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