Sony today announced the BWU-200S, its second generation internal Blu-ray Disc writer drive for the computer aftermarket, which supports 4X BD-R 2X BD-RE DL and 16X DVD+R recording speeds. The new BWU-200S model cuts BD-R burning time by half compared to the first generation model, allowing for a full 50GB BD-R disc to be recorded in about 45 minutes.

The drive comes with CyberLink BD Solution software for capturing, authoring, editing, burning and viewing high-definition personal content captured in the native HDV 1080i format from an HDV camcorder. In addition, the software supports recording on DVDs and CDs, as well as playback of DVDs recorded in the AVCHD format.

The BWU-200S drive can record up to 50GB of data for random access storage and backup on BD-R (write once) or BD-RE (rewritable) discs, or up to 230 minutes of high-definition HDV 1080i video on a BD-R/RE 50GB disc. It also supports recording on standard single layer 4.7GB DVD+R/+RW/RAM discs, 8.5GB DVD+R double/dual layer discs, and CDs.

The internal drive features a Serial ATA (SATA) interface and standard 5.25-inch form-factor for easy installation inside a desktop PC with Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista software.

The new drive is supported by Adobe Encore CS3 that now comes bundled with Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 software, providing video production professionals with another option for outputting high-definition video on a Blu-ray Disc with MPEG-2 or H.264 compression.

The BWU-200S drive will be available directly from Sony at sonystyle.com next month for about $600.

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