Buffalo Unleashes USB 3.0 Blu-ray Burner

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

Buffalo's 12X external Blu-ray burner uses a USB 3.0 connection.

On Turkey Day (last Thursday), Buffalo revealed the BR-X126U3, an external Blu-ray burner that can cram data on both single and dual layer Blu-ray disks at 12x write speeds. While the new external burner certainly makes a tasty alternative to shoving an internal drive into an open bay (or chucking out the current lame DVD burner), the USB 3.0 connection should make it even that more appealing.

That is, of course, if consumers have swapped out current motherboards for newer ones with USB 3.0 support. Those who want the SuperSpeed love without having to tear apart the desktop could always resort to various PCI-e cards just hitting the market, providing USB 3.0 without all the fuss.

But don't fret: consumers who want Buffalo's self-touted "fastest Blu-ray burner ever" can still plug the external drive into a USB 2.0 port. The drawback is that Buffalo's burner throttles the burn speed down to 7X, making it a slow burn compared to the speedier option of 25 GB in 11 minutes.

According to Akihabara, the new Blu-ray burner is expected to hit Japan by the end of December for a whopping $453 USD (39100 Yen). Currently there's no word of when the external drive will appear in the States, so stay tuned for more.

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Kevin Parrish
9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ssalim
    Not for average Joes. Me included.
    Reply
  • sunflier
    (or chucking out the current lame DVD burner)
    "lame"?? What?!

    I still burn DVD's and their cheap too.

    No plans to purchasing blu-ray burner/reader anytime soon. Plus they cost hundreds of dollars. Who's "lame" now?
    Reply
  • redgarl
    The prices of hard drives have fallen to a level were DVDs are less and less a viable option. I didn't burned anything in months...
    Reply
  • pharge
    Sounds nice, but where can people get the Bluray-R that can take 12x speed?
    It is great that there are starting to have USB3.0 on the market. Now I just need to wait till everything gets much more popular and cheaper.

    Anyway, this burner is almost useless for most of the people. However it is defintely a good start.
    Reply
  • mr_tuel
    redgarlThe prices of hard drives have fallen to a level were DVDs are less and less a viable option. I didn't burned anything in months...

    No kidding, I stick to my 8gb thumb drive or my portable hdd...much easier to work with.
    Reply
  • Manos
    This is so not worth the money. Blu-Ray burners are just a bad option for PC users. Specially an external one at the price of 453$. Without including delivery costs and IF thats a price for consumers. With 453$ I can buy me a very sweet ass SATAII internall HDD. And have spare money as well. And if you include the money you have to spend to reach the ammount of GBs from the same priced HDD into BR discs to same ammount of capacity the cost skyrockets by the disc. Screw Blu-Ray burners.
    Reply
  • PLATTERMAN
    For that money i can buy 4 WD Caviar 1TB internals and create all the Blu-ray movie files i want. I can't ever see the need for a Blu-ray burner for myself I just play the files on my 40" HDTV. The only thing i can't do is get the DTS audio stream to my home theater audio system no HDMI on my A/V preamp. Is there a work around for this? Maybe if the blanks were the price of dvd blanks.
    Reply
  • EXT64
    Wow, I didn't expect USB 3.0 devices so soon. Still, for this specific product I still prefer thumb drives over massive CD/DVD/Blu-Ray discs.
    Reply
  • wiyosaya
    Now if someone would only release a consumer stand-alone Blu-ray burner in the US, I'd be happy.
    Reply