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Tags OK, so Blu-Ray won the next-gen format wars but you still have a ton of HD-DVD that you'd like to look at occasionally. Step forward LG with its Super Multi Blue BE06 Blu-ray disc rewriter.
The BE06 will read both formats as well as write to blank Blu-ray discs, DVDs and CDs. With Blu-ray, if you have up to 50GB to fill you will need something that can burn that amount of information quickly (alternatively you could head down the pub for a swift half or three). But this external BD-ROM can write at up to 6X speeds, which LG claims is industry leading.
Looks wise, it isn't too bad the white, shiny plastic top is reminiscent of an iPod. (it's black underneath). and the chrome touch-sensitive eject button can be a bit disconcerting to those that expect something physical to make a sound. As expected it is about the same size as most 3.5-inch drives and weighs around 1.5kg.
Unsurprisingly, this rewriter can be hooked up to a computer via the USB 2.0 port on the back of the external drive. You also have to power the thing with an external power supply, which some may find a tad inconvenient.
As mentioned earlier not only can the drive read DVDs andCDs, it can alo write to them as well. It has to be sadi that the DVD rewriter is not quite as fast as standalond DVD writers, it is good enough. The deivce is a six-spped writer, but at present it is difficult to buy (actually we think damn near impossible) to actually buy 6X media, which makes the writer a 6X in theory.
Continued... {mospagebreak}Also, a nice touch is the addition of LightScribe which means that your disc can have an image printed on the other side of the disc. Unfortunately, it is not in colour so may put off those looking to use this in a professional capacity.
When testing the drive we managed to write to a Blu-ray disc in around 40 minutes at double speed and about 25 minutes at quad-speed.
The LG BE06's software bundles in CyberLink Suite. This is a reasonably good choice of software for the drive and the interface is easy enough to navigate.
The price for the writer works out at around £200 at the moment, so it isn't a cheap option when compared to DVD writers and normal external hard drives. But if you really need to write to a Blu-ray disc, we couldn't think of anything better at present.
Rating: 8/10
