Sony on Tuesday announced plans to release a new dual-format DVD burner that's compatible with Macintosh computers.

The external double-layer DVD drive, dubbed the DRX-710UL-T, is designed to record up to four hours of MPEG-2 video or up to 8.5GB of music and images on compatible DVD+R DL media, the company said.

The DVD burner will begin shipping next month, Sony said. The device will cost about $230.

In March, Sony unveiled two double-layer DVD burners. Double-layer DVDs are single-sided discs with two information layers that can be independently recorded to and read from. Both layers can be accessed from the same side of the disc. Other companies, including Hewlett-Packard, have launched similar drives.

Sony said the drive will come bundled with Roxio's Toast 6 Lite for Mac compatibility and software from Nero for compatibility with Windows 2000 and XP.

Sony said the new drive supports i.Link and USB 2.0 digital interfaces, plus multiple reporting speeds and formats, including 2.4x DVD+R DL, 16x DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD+/-RW, 48x CD-R and 24x CD-RW.

From News.com