Sony Electronics has taken the wraps off of a new dual-format RW DVD burner that can write to DVD+R discs at speeds up to 12x on existing 8x DVD+R media, allowing for a full write-once disc to be recorded in approximately six minutes.

The company said that PC users will benefit from its fastest ever DVD drive for their video and audio projects, together with much better data backup performance.

The 12x drive also supports 8x DVD-R and 4x DVD+/-RW burning, as well as 40x CD-R and 24x CD-RW recording speeds.

For easy integration with desktop computers, the DRU-540A drive comes with an ATAPI interface.

"Now that DVD burning is a mainstream technology, users are seeking faster speeds to reduce the time it takes to burn their home movies, digital scrapbooks and music DVDs," said Robert DeMoulin, marketing manager at Sony Electronics' IT Products Division, in a statement.

"This new DVD drive is Sony's fastest to date, and should quench the need of first-time buyers and DVD burning veterans alike."

Included in its estimated selling price of $180, the DRU-540A comes with DVD video authoring software, as well as DVD/CD burning software for creating data, music and video DVDs and CDs.

The Nerosoftware suite also includes packet-writing software for users to easily record files and folders by dragging them to the appropriate icon on their hard drive.