Asus Teases Stylish BDXL Burner with 6x Max Write

By Kevin Parrish
published

Asus teased a new 6x Blu-ray burner supporting BDXL on Facebook.

After releasing teaser images on Facebook, Asus posted the specs of a new, unannounced 3D Blu-ray writer supporting the BDXL format (opens in new tab) on early this week. Called the SBW-06C2X-U, the external burner offers up to 6x Blu-ray writing speed, Blu-ray 3D playback support, 2D to 3D DVD conversion, DVD upscaling to HD 1080p, Dolby EX and DTS-HD (5.1 channels).

Thanks to BDXL format support, users can burn huge amounts of data on a single Blu-ray disc: up to 100 GB on a BD-R (TL) disc and up to 128 GB on a BD-R (QL) disc. Acer claims that a 25 GB BD-R (SL) disc can be filled and closed in just 23.39 minutes at 6X speed -- other 2X models out on the market today completes the same disc in 45.29 minutes.

"ASUS SBW-06C2X-U is external slim 6X Blu-ray writer supporting the latest BDXL format and life-like total Blu-ray 3D playback," reads the product description. "These all fit into an 2011 IF Award-winning design, inspired from miniaturized architectual forms of elegant squared lines and a unique metal stand. The included metal stand provides both vertical and horizontal placement, helping users save space with increased versatility."

The spec sheet states that the burner has a 2 MB buffer and connects via a USB 2.0 port. The access time of a BD (SL/DL) disc and a BD (TV/QL) disc is 300 ms and 450 ms respectively -- DVDs and CDs are accessed in 190 ms. It measures 157 x 140 x 18.5-mm (LxWxH), weighs 290g (410g with stand), and is compatible with Windows XP/Vista/7, Windows Server 2003/2008, and Mac OS X 10.6 or higher.

Currently pricing and availability are unknown, so stay tuned for something official to arrive.

Kevin Parrish
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • HyperBladeST
    Acer claims that a 25 GB BD-R (SL) disc can be filled and closed in just 23.39 minutes at 6X speed -- other 2X models out on the market today completes the same disc in 45.29 minutes.

    I thought we were talking about Asus no ?
    Reply
  • brotoles
    I would advise strongly against buying Asus optical storage products. The support is simply abismal.. I have a BluRay drive (BC-08B1ST) from them, and it doesn't read some of my BluRay discs, which in turn are read fine by other drives...

    I tried contacting them, and it seems they don't understand that the problem is a firmware update issue, instead they said i should RMA the drive... The drive NEVER had a single firmware update, in its entire lifespan.
    Reply
  • rantoc
    And the lovely part... the media prices!
    Reply
  • webbwbb
    john_4As afr as overpriced BD Burners and the blank media. You are way better off with a external Hard Drive or two for backups. If for some reason you require packs and packs of BD media to back your stuff up you are probably breaking the law.
    Or you are a content creator
    Reply
  • rosen380
    If it had an HDMI port on it, that it would connect to a TV and also act like a slim somewhat portable bluRay player as well, that'd be really cool :)
    Reply
  • eddieroolz
    Man, it's nice that design is improving but I don't need it this fancy!
    Reply
  • neon871
    I bought a Asus BD burner a while back but it came without Blu-ray play back software WTH! are they thinking? You buy A BD burner ($130.00) so you can burn BD-disc's and you can but can't play them on your PC un til you buy extra software for $99.99+ more, that bites.
    Reply
  • rosen380
    I suppose the only positive with that would be that if you plan on using it for backup only and will not use Blu-ray playback, then you are saving $100 by it being separate. Granted, if they could provide a bundled version for like $180 , then that would be great too.

    Atleast when you see the two on the shelf at the store you can see the difference and know that you want the more expensive one if you plan on using playback and don't already have the software ...
    Reply
  • hellinstic
    john_4As afr as overpriced BD Burners and the blank media. You are way better off with a external Hard Drive or two for backups. If for some reason you require packs and packs of BD media to back your stuff up you are probably breaking the law.
    I disagree with you and this is why. I typically can eat up between 7GB to 32GB in one photo-shoot. I used 16 and 32 gig CF & SD cards with my Canon 5D Mark III, which is a 22.3megapixel camera. I shoot RAW (.CR2) only so the file size varies between 22mb to 35mb with an average of 25mb. I just did a Sweet 15 photo-shoot and I took 817 images and deleted 98 right off the bat. That left me with 729 total images that consumed 19GB of space. For a wedding, I can fill up two or three 32gig cards depending on the size of the wedding and the size of the reception. Potentially, I can get very close to 100gigs worth of images taken in one whole day between myself, a second and third photographer. Before I even edit the images, I make two copies onto other CF cards, and a couple of copies on my computer and I lock up the original CF cards.

    I buy new CF cards often for storage purposes, because they hold a lot and take little room and they are fairly robust. Hard drives tend to be fragile and SSD drives are still not quite cost effective. A BDXL disc should be fairly cheap or close to the cost of the current Blue Ray disc, and I would expect them to be much cheaper that CF cards that I keep on buying.

    Just because someone needs packs and pages of BD Media does not mean that are breaking the law. There are legitimate uses other than copying overpriced movies from Hollywood.


    Reply
  • dreadlokz
    sexy! they should make PCs like that ;p
    Reply