The first Blu-Ray recorder (405nm) from Sony is scheduled to hit the market on May,2004.Two different models will be available and are mainly addressed for professional and business data archieve. The Sony BW-RS101 will offer an Ultra 160 SCSI interface, while the second model (June 2004) will be equiped with USB 2.0 interface. The SCSI model will cost 3,200 EUR and the price for the USB 2.0 version is expected to be 200 EUR higher. The company will also launch auto disk-loaders for both drive models. The supported media are made by Sony. The PDDRW23 series (rewritable-single sided) offers a 23.3GB capacity, as well as the PDDWO23 series (write-once).

Both drives use a Blu-Ray laser diode (405nm) to achieve high density recording. In addition, with numerical aperture set to 0.85, the provided recording capacities reach the 23.3GB per disk side.

Data rates reach the 9MB/s when writing, which is almost twice the currently available for DVD-RW and approximately 1.5 times higher than the magneto-Optical devices. Furthermore, the maximum data rate for reading reaches the 11MB/s.

Main specifications

- Drive type: External
- Supported media write: PDDRW23, (rewritable), PDDWO23 (recordable), 23.3GB
- Interface: Ultra 160 LVD/SE SCSI, USB2.0
- Disk capacity 23.3GB
- Data rates:
Read 11 MB/s (CLV), 4.5 - 11 MB/s (CAV)
Write 9 MB/s (CLV), 3.8 - 9 MB/s (CAV)
- Sector size: 2,048Bytes
- Seek time (CAV):
Full seeking 200ms
1/3 seeking 110ms
- Load/eject time: 6.0 seconds/3.5 seconds
- Buffer memory: 16MB
- MSBF: 300,000 times
- Dimensions: 199.3 (W) ×59 (H) ×306.3 (D) mm
Weight: 4.5Kg
Power source: AC100V±10% 50/60Hz
Electric power consumption: 20.1W (average)