Group test: what's the best external Blu-ray/DVD drive?

5. TDK TB150U

• Reviewed on: 19 January 12
• RRP: £115 inc. VAT
• Rating:

This is Its more than up to the job and, indeed, faster than its rivals, but you can do better for your money.

4. Buffalo MediaStation BR-X816U2

• Reviewed on: 16 January 12
• RRP: £129 inc. VAT
• Rating:

This well-priced external drive makes its presence known with a bulky power adaptor. The Buffalo is by no means portable, but offers very good performance with today’s recordable Blu-ray media.

3. Buffalo MediaStation BR3D-12U3

• Reviewed on: 17 January 12
• RRP: £200 inc VAT
• Rating:

The Buffalo MediaStation BR3D-12U3 performed well as a writer and a player, with a good turn of speed and low noise levels. For general video editing there’s better software out there than the bundled Cyberlink suite.

2. Asus SBW-06C1S-U Slim

• Reviewed on: 16 January 12
• RRP: £111 inc. VAT
• Rating:

The Asus is a good external Blu-ray writer, provided you have enough USB ports on your laptop to power it. Its performance in our tests with both four- and six-speed media was slow, but reliable. This drive is also quiet, portable and affordable.

1. LG BE12LU38.AUAE10B

• Reviewed on: 17 January 12
• RRP: £126 inc. VAT
• Rating:

Using four-speed TDK media we recorded 21GB of data in a very fast 15 mins 48 sec.