As the only remaining high definition DVD format, BluRay is here to stay.  And although its adoption has been relatively slow (but improving), more people are standardizing on the technology for storage uses beyond that of the high definition movie industry.  With a 50GB capacity per dual layer disk and rapidly falling BluRay burner and media prices, the benefits of storing data on BluRay are compelling and attractive to consumers already familiar with the similarities of BluRay’s CD and DVD predecessors.  While 12X high speed IDE PC burners exist, the data throughput required to record a 50GB BluRay disk in a reasonable amount of time has hindered their expansion into the external USB peripheral market, given the theoretical (but practically unattainable) 480Mbit/s throughput limit of the ubiquitous USB 2.0 standard.

Fortunately, the much faster 4.8Gbit/s USB 3.0 standard was recently ratified and products certified to support these speeds are already being announced.  Taking advantage of USB 3.0, Buffalo Technology recently announced plans for a 12X external USB BluRay burner.  While the 12X speed seems attractive, the device’s $460 price tag is steep, USB 3.0 compatible PC’s aren’t yet mainstream, and 12X certified BluRay media isn’t yet widely available.  The Buffalo BR-X1216U3 is backward compatible with USB 2.0, but only up to 7x write speeds running Windows.  Overall, Buffalo’s 12X BluRay burner is a bit ahead of its time, but for those who burn a lot of BluRay disks, the time savings may be well worth the cost.

Recording speed

[Chart via:  Wikipedia]

[Via:  CrunchGear]