Sony Electronics today unveiled its fall line-up of DVD/CD burners, featuring three designs and four configurations packed with high performance and multiple format compatibility. Based on Sony's 12th generation of optical storage technology innovation, the new 830 series of multi-format DVD burners support all of the industry's leading recording formats in just one drive. Enabling the industry's fastest 18X DVD±R recording speed, the 830 burners deliver a full 4.7 GB of video, data, music or images on standard 16X DVD+R media in about five minutes.

The internal DRU-830A drive and external DRX-830U burner come bundled with the new Nero 7 software suite, a feature-rich package for burning, authoring and editing home movies, creating digital scrapbooks and backing up critical data. The external DRX-830UL-T drive is designed for dual Macintosh and Windows platform support. It also includes Roxio Toast 6 Lite software in the box.

For those looking for a space-saving burner to complement their notebook or desktop PCs, Sony's DRX-S50U drive offers all the advantages of a high-speed DVD/CD burner in a slim external design. This drive also comes with the Nero 7 software suite, including DVD authoring, video editing, photo retouch and disc label creation.

All four new burners support both dual and double layer formats. They also support CD-R/RW recording, eliminating the need for a separate CD burner.

"Our customers have continuously shared with us that when it comes to DVD burning, they value choice and using the DVD media that best suits their specific needs," said Robert DeMoulin, marketing manager for branded storage products in Sony Electronics' IT Products Division. "Our multi-format drives are designed to bring ease and flexibility to users so they can reap the benefits of a host of DVD and CD burning options."

The 830 series features 18X DVD±R, 8X DVD±R DL, 8X DVD+RW, 6X DVD-RW, 12X DVD-RAM for data backup, 48X CD-R, 32X CD-RW recording.

DeMoulin said they are designed at the optimum price/performance level for consumers who want to store and share home movies, digital photos and music; businesses deploying DVD video-based training and sharing large files; and filmmakers creating prototypes on recordable/rewritable DVD discs before proceeding with mass replication.

The internal DRU-830A drive comes with an ATAPI interface for easy installation inside a PC, and it includes a black replacement bezel for matching to black-colored PC cases. The external DRX-830U drive features a space-efficient vertical design and offers connectivity with hi-speed USB (USB 2.0) digital interface for simple setup. The external DRX-830UL-T drive sports dual i.LINK(FireWire/IEEE-1394 compatible) and hi-speed USB (USB 2.0) digital interfaces for fast and easy installation on a Macintosh or a PC.

The slim external DRX-S50U burner supports 8X DVD±R, 4X DVD±R DL, 8X DVD+RW, 6X DVD-RW, and 24X CD-R/RW. It also comes with the hi-speed USB interface for maximum flexibility.

Availability and Pricing
The internal DRU-830A drive is shipping now for about $70 after a $20 mail-in rebate; the external DRX-830U burner is expected to ship in October for around $100 after a $30 mail-in rebate; and the external DRX-830UL-T burner will be available in December for about $120 after a $30 mail-in rebate. The DRX-S50U drive will be available in October for about $130.