Buffalo first with 8X Blu-ray burners

Buffalo has claimed a first in the industry with the announcement of the first-ever Blu-ray drives to record at 8X speed. The external BR-816U2 and the internal, Serial ATA-based BR-816FBS will equally write even 50GB dual-layer discs at the new speed, theoretically completing a single-layer disc in as little as 15 minutes. The drives also burn rewritable Blu-ray discs at 2X and record both CDs and DVDs.

The external drive is also rare in its category through the inclusion of both a heavily optimized USB 2.0 interface as well as an external Serial ATA connection that provides the same bandwidth as if the drive were attached internally. All drives come with Cyberlink software to help Windows users play, author, and burn Blu-ray content.

Buffalo ships its new disc drives to Japan in early August at prices of $382 for the internal model and $435 for its external counterpart. An international release is likely, while the drives themselves should lead to equivalents for other manufacturers.