
Pioneer has proudly introduced this morning the BDR-S05J-BK, which is the first BD burner that supports the 12x recording with selected BD-R SL and DL media (6x- certified). The SATA drive also supports 6x recording with BD-R LTH discs, 2x with BD-RE/RE DL, 16x with DVD±R, 8x with DVD±R DL and DVD±RW discs, 40x with CD-R 40 X speed and finally 24x with CD-RW discs. The Pioneer BDR-S05J-BK will be released at the end of this month for around 38,000 Yen ($416). [Pioneer]

Marshal has launched its slim external BD player for the Japanese market. The Marshal MAL BDP02U2 is not an ordinary BD player. It is capable of burning BD-R/RE 1 layer at 2x or 1x for the 2 layers version. It is compatible with Microsoft Windows 2000/XP and Vista OS. No word on pricing so far. [Akihabara]

You can now play and burn both Blu-rays and DVDs wherever you go with the Amex Digital BDR-S1/ BDR-T28 4x Blu-ray recorders for Mac. Available in black or white, these USB-powered Blu-ray burners support latest green ECO S.M.A.R.T that extends battery life more than 40% and STAT Drive with 30% faster data transfer rate. The drives also adopt Quiet Drive Technology that reduces the noise level of audio and video recording or playback and the ad Research technology that compensates for warped discs. The Amex Digital BDR-S1/ BDR-T28 4x Blu-ray recorders are priced at $599 a pop. [Press Release]

Other World Computing (OWC) offers its Mercury Pro BDR-203 quad-interface external Blu-ray burner that comes with 8x write speeds. It is able to burn up to 2GB worth of data per minute. Some of the connectivity options include FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0 and eSATA. The device is compatible with both Mac and Windows platform. Priced at $400, the BDR-203 can also write to DVD-RAM, DVD Dual-Layer R/RW, DVD-R/RW and CD-R/RW. [Electronista]

I-O Data today released a new and sleek external Blu-Ray burner. Known as the BRD-UXP8, the device offers a burning speed of 8x. The burner also provides USB and eSATA interface and costs for €279. [Press Release]

Panasonic will release a new SATA Blu-Ray burner (LF-PB371JD) on September 13th, 2008. The burner offers burning speed up to 8x with an 8MB buffer. It will be able to burn all recordable optical media formats including DVD-RAM (5x), DVD-R (16x), DVD-R DL (8x), DVD-RW (6x), CD-R (48x), and CD-RW(24x). It will retail for approx. €250. [Panasonic]