Buffalo Hi-Def Combo USB Burner (Paying Tribute to HD DVD?)

Buffalo finally has the guts to announce its first external optical disk drive outside of Japan. Aimed squarely at hardcore HD DVD fans who are still mourning for the total loss of their beloved format, Buffalo's MediaStation (BRHC-6316U2) Blu-ray & HD DVD combo USB burner serves both backward and forward compatibility. What's so special about this is that the drive burns Blu-ray at 6x and also HD DVD at 3x. Since HD DVD-Rs could be going to for less than $5 a stack, this maybe a reason to pick this one over Blu-ray discs for one-time archival purpose. The 6x BD-R write speed is also as fast as you can expect from Blu-ray for now except Buffalo needs to tell us about the BD-RE performance as well.

The combo won't come cheap at 284 pounds or $568 USD, at least you get Turbo USB, SecureLock Ware and Nero 8 authoring software.