I-O Data Japan sent out a couple of press releases this morning, announcing its new BDXL compatible 16x Blu-ray Disc writers. Like Buffalo's latest offerings, the internal BRD-S16X and external BRD-UT16X appear to be based on an LG design. Both drives are capable of 16x BD-R (with Sony 6x BD-R media), 12x BD-R DL, 6x BD-R LTH, 2x BD-RE and 2x BD-RE DL writing speeds and can write to triple- (100GB) and quad-layer (128GB) BD-R media at 6x and triple-layer (100GB) BD-RE media at 2x. They also offer support for Millenniata's M-DISC technology which uses an inorganic rock-like material to provide up to 1000 years of  permanent data storage.

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Both drives comes bundled with WinDVD 10, Roxio Creator BD and Nero Essentials 12. The BRD-S16X and BRD-UT16X are scheduled to ship in late December and are expected to retail for about 13,600 Yen ($166US) and 18,900 Yen ($231US), repsectively.

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