Pioneer BDR-203BK BLU-RAY BD-R/RE DVDR/RW/RAM SATA WRITER inc. Software - BLACK (2009 Model)

Pioneer's latest optical drive employs the fancily-named Multi-Effect Liquid Cristal Tilt/Thickness Compensation Mechanism, which can compensate for various flaws in writable media and uses fewer moving parts than traditional mechanical mechanisms, while an Ultra Dynamic Resonance Absorber reduces vibration when discs are spinning out of balance. Of course the competition offers similar enhancements, but Pioneer products generally have a well-deserved reputation for reliability.

Both OEM and retail drives, meanwhile, will come with CyberLink's Blu-ray Disc Suite 6, which is an easy-to-use piece of software with a polished interface that will let you watch and burn all forms of optical media. As expected, our copy of Casino Royale played back perfectly with PowerDVD (which is part of the suite), and the drive was relatively quiet in operation.
At the moment, 8x BD-R media is about as easy to find as an Ion-based netbook, and the quickest discs readily available in the UK seem to be 4x. However, we were still able to test the drive's headline-grabbing speeds because certain 4x media from CMC, MBI, Panasonic, Philips, Ritek, Sony, TDK and Verbatim are 'overspeed' capable, meaning the Pioneer can actually burn them at 8x. For a 50GB dual layer BD-R, the BDR-203BK took just 30 minutes to burn 46GB-worth of files, a figure that will only improve when 'real' 8x media comes out.

Finally then we get onto price. At £160, the BDR-203BK is anything but an impulse buy. Bare Blu-ray drives are available from as little as £50 with writers coming in at around £115. While nothing can match this Pioneer's BD-R 8x write speeds (the next-fastest option