Sony BDX-S600U Portable 6x Blu-ray Disc Writer

Model: Sony BDX-S600U Portable 6x Blu-ray Disc Writer
Manufacturer: Sony Optiarc
Provided By: Sony Optiarc America

When it comes to consumer electronics, there are few names as well known as Sony. 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-S600U. This sleek and lightweight drive is capable of 6x BD-R, 6x BD-R DL and 2x BD-RE writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 6x. On top of that, it offers support for 3 and 4-layer BDXL media, which can hold up to 128GB of data on a single disc. The BDX-S600U is also designed to be powered completely off a computer's USB bus and includes features like a 6MB buffer, Power-Burn buffer underrun protection and CyberLink's Media Suite 8.

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what the BDX-S600U 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-S600U the best choice for the person on the go? Read on as we find out.

What's in the box?:

• Sony BDX-S600U Portable 6x Blu-ray Disc Writer
• Operating Instructions
• Sony Software Disc Rev. 1.0
• Warranty Information

Physical Features:

The drive Sony sent us for this review was manufactured in June of 2011 and had firmware 1.D0. This is the newest firmware currently available for the BDX-S600U.

The Sony BDX-S600U is one of the smallest Blu-ray Disc writers to come through the 'Labs. Measuring 136.5 x 19 x 152 mm and weighing in at a mere 330g, the drive is not much larger than a couple of jewel cases stacked on top of one another. The DRX-S600U is constructed out of a lightweight, black plastic. The plastic has a matte finish which does a pretty good job of  resisting fingerprints and scratches.

On the top of the BDX-S600U 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.

The LED and eject button are located along the front of the BDX-S600U. This LED lights up orange when both reading and writing. 

Unlike the BDX-S500U, the BDX-S600U is USB powered. The drive has two USB cables which can be stored in an integrated cable duct when not in use. My only complaint here is that one cable is dedicated to data and the other to power, and both must be used. With other portable drives, the second USB connector is optional and is only needed if a computer cannot provide enough power through a single USB port.

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-S600U."

Nero also shows that the BDX-S600U has a maximum CD writing speed of 24x and a 6016KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by Sony's Power-Burn buffer underrun protection. According to Nero, the BDX-S600U 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-S600U 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-S600U's reading and writing speeds and supported disc types.

Opti Drive Control also shows that the BDX-S600U 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-S600U'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-S600U 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-S600U'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 7 - Power2Go is the main disc burning program included with the BDX-S600U. 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-S600U offers some of the fastest BD reading and writing speeds available on a portable unit. The drive is capable of 6x BD-R, 6x BD-R DL, 4x BD-R XL and 2x BD-RE writing speeds and a maximum BD read speed of 6x.  The BDX-S600U is also backwards compatible with all major CD and DVD formats and includes features like a 6MB buffer, Power-Burn buffer underrun protection and built-in dual USB cables that provide power for the drive. Unfortunately, it lacks bitsetting support for single layer DVD+R and DVD+RW media. Even then, the Sony BDX-S600U 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 two USB cables. Once connected to our test computer, it took only a matter of 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-S600U 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 LabelPrint, MediaShow, Power2Go, PowerBackup, PowerDVD Copy, PowerDirector, PowerDVD 10 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:

Most of the BDX-S600U's documentation is located in the "Operating Instructions." While a bit short on words, this small, fold out guide contains information on the drive's specifications, system requirements and package contents as well as a few diagrams showing how to hook it up to your computer. The "User's Guide" on the software CD contains a lot of the same information. However, it covers a few additional topics including the basic operation and physical features of the BDX-S600U.

Like the other Sony drives we've reviewed, the BDX-S600U was very easy to install. I had no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working. If you need help for some reason, the documentation provided by Sony should be more than sufficient. With this in mind, the BDX-S600U 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.

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, access 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 CyberLink's InstantBurn 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, access 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 CyberLink's InstantBurn 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, access 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 gave us some mixed performance in our CD Winbench tests. In the transfer speed tests, the drive started reading at about 9.7x on the inside of the CD and was able to reach 22.9x on the outside of the disc. While this is fairly good for a drive with a maximum read speed of 24x, the BDX-S600U's overall score was not as high as some of the other portable drives we've looked at. 

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-S600U performed a little better in our CD Speed tests. The drive started reading at 10.84x and quickly accelerated, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 24.91x.

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.

While the BDX-S600U performed well when reading regular CD-R media, it had some trouble with CompUSA's 99 minute discs. The drive was able to recognize the disc correctly but would not read beyond the 93 minute mark. 

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-S600U also reads CD-RW media at 24x. As you can see, it had no problems 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-S600U 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-S600U did very well in our DAE tests. The drive started out at 10.28x and reached a maximum speed of 25.14x.

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-S600U was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media. This time around, it reached a maximum DAE speed of 24.85x. 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 17.90x. 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-S600U 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 InstantBurn 5:

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-S600U 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-S600U 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-S600U took a little more than six 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 Nero CD Speed. This utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors as well as the jitter level on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52327S and read the discs at 32x. 

HP 52x (CMC)

MBI 52x

Taiyo Yuden 52x

The BDX-S600U's writing quality was very good. By looking at the 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 InstantBurn from CyberLink.. Verbatim's 24x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

The BDX-S600U 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-S600U 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 4:10 to write 400MB with Nero and 3:52 to do the same with InstantBurn. Erasing wasn't a problem for the BDX-S600U either. In our tests, it took 25 seconds to do a quick erase and 6:22 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-S600U 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 8.07x.

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-S600U	6.05x	3.33x	8.08x	201ms	6ms	4ms	10%	17%	30%	63%

Verbatim DVD-RW

	Transfer Speed			Seek Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x	8x
Sony BDX-S600U	6.06x	3.32x	8.10x	201ms	6ms	4ms	10%	17%	30%	61%

Verbatim DVD-R DL

	Transfer Speed			Seek Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x	8x
Sony BDX-S600U	4.56x	2.53x	6.07x	224ms	7ms	4ms	9%	14%	n/a	n/a

The BDX-S600U had no problems reading DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. In all three cases, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8x.

Maxell 5x DVD-RAM
 

	Transfer Speed			Seek Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x	8x
Sony BDX-S600U	4.08x	2.98x	5.01x	266ms	7ms	5ms	18%	24%	38%	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-S600U	6.05x	3.32x	8.09	201ms	6ms	4ms	10%	16%	30%	61%

Verbatim DVD+RW

	Transfer Speed			Seek Times			CPU Usage
	Average	Start	End	Random	1/3	Full	1x	2x	4x	8x
Sony BDX-S600U	6.07x	3.34x	8.11x	198ms	5ms	4ms	10%	16%	29%	57%

Verbatim DVD+R DL

The BDX-S600U's performance was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media.  Once again, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8x.

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-S600U	5.98x	3.20x	7.99x	193ms	5ms	4ms	10%	16%	29%	79%

The BDX-S600U didn't slow down very much when reading single layer DVD videos. It started out at about 3.20x 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-S600U 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 InstantBurn 5:

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-S600U 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-S600U 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-S600U 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.

While Sony has a list of supported media on its website, I wanted to see for myself how well the BDX-S600U worked with some of the DVD+R and DVD-R discs 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? Using CD Speed we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner), PIF (Parity Inner Fail) and Jitter rates. For these tests I used a Lite-On iHAS424 and read the discs at 8x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? When testing with the iHAS424, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. 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. 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-S600U'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-S600U's packet writing performance I used InstantBurn 5. 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-S600U, I used DVD+R DL media from Verbatim and Memorex. 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-S600U performed as expected when writing to DVD+R DL media. In our tests, the drive took 27:47 to write 8001MB of data to Verbatim's 8x DVD+R DL discs. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The BDX-S600U's writing quality was pretty good with the DVD+R DL media from Verbatim and Memorex. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits and there weren't any readability problems.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - BD-ROM:

To test the BDX-S600U'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-S600U performed relatively well when reading single layer BD-ROM discs. In our tests, it started reading at 2.51x 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 all three cases, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of about 6x.

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 MBI, 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-S600U could read them back.

The BDX-S600U is the first portable drive from Sony that can write to BD-R and BD-R DL media at 6x. In both cases, the drive uses CAV to reach this speed.

With a maximum BD-R writing speed of 6x, the BDX-S600U 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 a little more 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 6x writing speed, the BDX-S600U took 44 minutes to burn 50GB worth of data.

The BDX-S600U 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. 

Sadly, I was not able to test the BDX-S600U with any BDXL media. The discs are not available in the United States or Canada and importing them from Japan really isn't feasible as they cost anywhere from $30 to $90 each, depending on the type and capacity.

Performance Revisited:

Sony's new portable Blu-ray Disc writer performed pretty well throughout most of our tests. The BDX-S600U 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-S600U 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-S600U gets a solid 9 out of 10 for its performance.

When I reviewed the BDX-S500U, I was left with mixed feelings. While Sony's first portable Blu-ray Disc writer offered good looks, impressive specs and a number of useful features, its power requirements limited where it could be used. With the BDX-S600U, Sony has addressed many of the BDX-S500U's shortcomings. Along with a number of performance improvements and support for BDXL media, their new drive has the ability to power itself off a computer's USB bus.

The BDX-S600U is the first portable drive from Sony with the ability to write to both BD-R and BD-R DL media at 6x. At this speed, it took a little more than 22 minutes to burn an entire 25GB BD-R disc. The drive also performed fairly well when writing to BD-R DL media, burning a full 50GB BD-R DL disc in about 44 minutes. The BDX-S600U 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. Without compatible media, I was not able to see how well the BDX-S600U supports the new BDXL format. These discs are still quite expensive and very hard to get a hold of in markets outside of Japan.

Sony's new drive also has the ability to read and write to all standard DVD formats, including DVD-RAM. The BDX-S600U performed relatively well when writing to DVD±R discs, taking less than 11 and a half minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD.  The drive also turned in some respectable times when writing to other types of media and its writing quality was pretty good, even with DVD+R DL discs. When it came to reading DVD's, the BDX-S600U was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's as well as most recordable media at 8x.

Reading CD's wasn't a problem for the BDX-S600U either. In our tests, it read data CD's at 24x and ripped audio CD's at speeds as high as 25x. As a writer, the BDX-S600U performed as expected. The drive was relatively quick when writing to CD-R and CD-RW media and its writing quality was quite good.

Sony's new portable Blu-ray Disc writer also has its share of features. A truly portable drive, the BDX-S600U is powered completely off a computer's USB bus. Without the need for an AC power source, you can watch a Blu-ray movie or burn a disc wherever you go. To prevent buffer underruns, the drive is equipped with a 6MB buffer that is backed up by Sony's Power-Burn technology. The BDX-S600U also has the ability to set the book type of DVD+R DL media and comes with a great software bundle from CyberLink.

The Sony BDX-S600U is available now and can be purchased from Amazon or the retailers listed on Pricegrabber for less than $170.

Highs:

• Writes to BD-R, BD-R DL and BD-R LTH media at 6x
• Writes to BD-R XL 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 6x
• Reads single layer BD-ROM's at 6x
• Reads BD-R, BD-RE and BD-R DL media at 6x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 8x
• Reads DVD±R, 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 and CD-R writing quality
• Compact and lightweight design
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R DL media
• Built-in USB cable holder
• Powered off the USB bus
• Includes CyberLink Media Suite 8 software

Lows:

• Both USB cables must be used
• Cannot set the book type of DVD+R or DVD+RW media
• Does not support 99 minute CD-R media