Blu-ray has officially trounced HD DVD in the high-definition format war, but LG's BE06 burner lets you keep a foot in each camp. The BE06 "Super Multi Blue All Format Drive" is an external optical drive that reads and writes CD, DVD and Blu-ray discs, plus it also reads HD DVD. The drive comes bundled with CyberLink's Hi-Def Suite of software, comprised of PowerDVD, PowerProducer, PowerBackup, Power2Go, Instant Burn and LabelPrint. The BE06 can burn BD-R discs at up to 6x and rewritable BD-RE discs at 2x - plus 16x DVD-R and 40x CD-R. It's a dual-layer burner, so it can cram up to 50 GB on a dual layer BD-R disc. An attractive slimline device, the BE06 connects to an XP or Vista machine via USB 2.0 and also requires an external power supply. We put the BE06 through its paces as a movie player using the supplied PowerDVD Ultra, which handles both high-definition movie formats. Hooked up to our Windows test machine, the BE06 happily played Blu-ray and HD DVD movies under XP and was extremely quiet. We were particularly interested in the Blu-ray burning speeds. To put LG's BE06 to the test, we used some email data files (some up to 3 GB), along with a load of office documents - a typical small office backup set. We stopped 100 MB short of the disc's capacity to reduce the chance of a dud burn. Unfortunately, LG only included a 25 GB BD-RE disc in the box. Right now, you can only buy 4x Verbatim BD-Rs in a 10 pack for $269, but Verbatim tells us you'll soon be able to buy singles for $24.95. We only had a 2x Verbatim BD-R at hand, which we've previously seen burn at 4x. Strangely, the CyberLink software under XP refused to write to the Verbatim BD-R at any speed, so we turned back to the LG BD-RE. When we started the burn under XP it optimistically said there was 13 minutes 12 seconds remaining, but the burn status remained at "preparing" for 25 minutes and then the drive spat out the disc, claiming "burn failed". A fresh install of XP and CyberLink failed to fix the problem, so we spat the dummy, plugged the BE06 into our Leopard MacBook and, 41 minutes later, we'd filled the 25 GB BD-RE disc without fuss. That's an impressive 2x burn time, yet the drive was so quiet, we questioned whether the disc was even spinning. Turning back to Windows, we rebooted our test rig into Vista and the CyberLink software ran more smoothly than under XP. Within 40 seconds the burn status switched from "preparing" to "writing data", but it still took 90 minutes and 40 seconds to finish the job. Even when reading Blu-ray data discs, the drive was sluggish under XP and Vista compared to the Mac. The verdict? The BE06 is a fast, quiet, well-priced, external Blu-ray burner that performs well in the right conditions.

LG's BE06 external Blu-ray burner retails for $549. For more details, visit www.lge.com.au.

Be a cheat

Lexar's Gaming Edition Memory Stick PRO Duo and Gaming Edition SD cards include free Xploder Lite software. It lets gamers take advantage of 10 free Cheat Saves - giving users the ability to skip levels, access secret characters, stock up on ammo and more, when used with Sony PS3, Sony PSP and Nintendo Wii systems. The software also offers advanced multimedia management. It is included in 512MB, 1GB, 2GB and 4GB Lexar Gaming Edition Memory Stick PRO Duo cards and in 1GB and 2GB Gaming Edition SD cards.

Lexar's Gaming Edition cards, from $12.85. For more details, call distributor Ingram Micro on 1300 651 124 or visit www.lexar.com.

Now hear this

Microsoft's LifeChat LX-2000 is a full-sized headset flexible enough to fold down for slipping into a travel bag. Utilising a behind-the-head design, the LX-2000 connects to a computer using standard 3.5 mm audio plugs and has in-line volume and microphone controls.

Microsoft's LifeChat LX-2000 retails for $39.95. For more details, call 132 058 or visit www.microsoft.com/hardware.