10. Lite-On LH-2B1S

This drive is a bit more expensive than its LG counterpart, and is also subject to some interesting limitations, chief among them its lack of support for DVD-RAM and for dual-layer Blu-ray media (reading or writing). Surprisingly, its speeds are also somewhat slower than the LG drive as well: 2X for writing either BD-R or BD-RE, and 2X for reading any type of single-layer Blu-ray Disc media. DVD write speeds range from 12X (DVD+R, DVD-R) to 4X (DVD+R9, DVD-R9), with read speeds at 12X, and rewrite speeds at 8X (DVD+RW) and 6X (DVD-RW). CD speeds range from 32X (reading) to 24X (rewrite) and 32X (writing to CD-R).

The LiteOn 2B1S can't cope with dual layer (DL) Blu-ray media for reading or writing, although a similar BenQ offering promises to do so with a pending firmware upgrade.

LiteOn is a joint Philips/BenQ venture, and BenQ offers a BW1000 model in both internal and external drive packages. The company promises to add to this dual layer read and write support with a pending firmware upgrade (April 2007) - but it's not available in North America. Despite the similarities between that unit and the Lite-On LH-2B1S, reports indicate that the vendor does not plan to make a similar firmware upgrade available for the latter item, nor to add dual layer support.

Given this unit's somewhat higher price, and its various limitations, we're inclined to recommend that prospective buyers consider these potential gotchas carefully before buying one of these drives.

Panasonic SW-5582

The Panasonic SW-5582 is something of a mixed bag. It delivers reasonable 2X support for Blu-Ray media at 2X, zips through DVD-RAM at 5X for both read and write, writes dual-layer DVD+R and DVD-R at 4X, and does the same for single layer at 8X for DVD+RW and 6X for DVD-RW. All reports indicate that error rates and write quality are quite good for DVD±R, DVD±RW, and CD-R media, with great overburn support for the latter as well (up to 99 minutes in some cases).

The Panasonic drive offers pricing and performance that's right in the middle of the pack for the drives in this group.

With both single and double layer Blu-Ray media (BD-R and BD-RE) the unit offers respectable 2X performance for both read and write (and of course, that's read only for BD-ROM media as well). DVD RAM is 5X for both read and write, 4-8X for writing to single layer DVD±R, and 4X for double layer media of the same type, with 8X read for all types. DVD-RW ranges from 4-6X and DVD+RW 4-8X for writing single layer, and 4X for double layer media. CD-R ranges from 12X to 24X for writing, CD-RW from 12X to 16X likewise, with read speeds of 32X for CD-R and CD-ROM, and 24X for CD-RW. Good specifications are available at CDFreaks.

This is a pretty solid and reasonably priced SATA Blu-ray burner as such things go (the definition of reasonable price definitely varies!). But it certainly has the kind of capabilities one would want for such a PC drive.