Blu-ray burners may been ten-a-penny these days, but LaCie's new d2, complete with 8x burning capabilities, is one external drive that stands out from the crowd.

The LaCie d2 Blu-ray Drive can burn four hours' worth of HD content on to one disc in superfast time, with the 8x speed applying both to single and dual-layer discs.

Oh, and it's "whisper-quiet" according to LaCie, so you won't wake the neighbours with your late-night disc burning.

Ideal solution

Compatible with both PCs and Macs, and housing connectivity in the form of FireWire and USB 2.0, the d2 is a versatile drive that LaCie is calling the "ideal solution" to your Blu-ray needs.

Discs can be created using either MPEG2, AVC or VC-1 codecs, and bundled software is included – Easy Media Creator 10 and Toast 9 Titanium – so authoring should pose no problems.

The d2 is out now in the US for $450 (around £320).

Now, if only 8x rewriteable Blu-ray discs weren't so expensive and hard to find, LaCie may well be on to a winner.