Sony Electronics on Tuesday said it would retail its first Blu-ray disc (BD) burner for personal computers (PCs) in August for the price, which is the lowest in the industry. The device is still not designed for the mainstream public, but for those, who have to store extreme amounts of data due to their professions or hobbies.

“Now consumers, professional video-graphers and filmmakers can store, record and experience the highest capacity of high-definition video available – from capture to playback. Our Blu-ray Disc drive represents a significant leap in storage technology,” said Bob DeMoulin, marketing manager for branded storage products in Sony Electronics’ IT products division.

Sony BWU-100A drive can playback, read, record and re-write DVDs (8x speed for DVD+R/-R/+RW, 6x for DVD-RW, 4x for DVD+R/-R DL, 5x for DVD-RAM) as well as playback, read and record single-layer 25GB Blu-Ray discs (at up to 2x) and dual-layer 50GB BDs, it also can playback and burn CDs (24x CD-R and 16x CD-RW). The device integrates 8MB buffer to allow burning without data interruption.

Sony said the drive will come in 5.25” form-factor and will be intended for Parallel ATA interface, which is surprising, as modern computers do not support enough Parallel ATA ports in favour of more Serial ATA connectors.

The recordable/rewritable BWU-100A drive will be available starting from August 18 for about $750. Pre-orders are now being accepted at Sonystyle.com online store.

The price of Sony BWU-100A burner is lowest in the industry. Earlier Panasonic and Pioneer have already released their LF-MB121JD and BRD-101A Blu-ray disc burners, which cost $900 and $1000, respectively. Additionally, BenQ Europe promised to start selling its BW1000 burners in late August for Ђ799 ($1023).