14 DAY TRIAL // Since the BDXL specification was announced a while ago, it was just a matter of time before Buffalo joined in and created one or more optical drives that support it, and it seems that two of them will soon debut.
For those in need of a reminder, the BDXL specification defines Blu-ray disks with a maximum capacity far higher than the maximum possible on a regular BD.
In more specific terms, a BDXL disk can have 100 GB or 128 GB of storage space, depending on how many layers it is designed with.
This capacity should prove useful, among other things, when making games for the PlayStation that need more space than regular disks can provide.
Buffalo is preparing two Blu-ray writers, an internal unit and an external one, known as the BRXL-6FBS-BK and BRXL-6U2 respectively.
Their specifications are practically the same when it comes to the speed at which data is scribed onto the various optical disk formats.
CD-R/RE disks are written at 24x, while DVD-RAM go at 5x, DVD-RW at 6x and DVD-R/+R/+RW at 8x.
Furthermore, the actual Blu-ray formats can be written onto at 6x for BD-R SL/DL, 2x for BD-RE XL and BD-RE SL/DL and, finally, 4x for the actual BD XL.
The BRXL-6FBS-BK uses the SATA interface to communicate with the rest of the system, whereas the BRXL-6U2 relies on the USB 2.0 connection.
As for the so-called design, they do not exactly aim to stand out much, being apparently meant to go unnoticed instead.
The internal unit has a normal black bezel, while the other one is just as large as its sibling but is completely enclosed inside a black chassis.
They will start selling in Japan sometime this month, during the later weeks to be precise, and will have prices equivalent to $392 ans $523, respectively.
