ASUS has released the new ASUS HR-0205T Optical Disc Drive. This new generation HD DVD ROM drive also supports reading data from DVD+R/RW/DVD-R/RW formats.

The HR-0205T is able to support 2.4x HD DVD ROM/2.4x HD DVD ROM(DL)/2.4x HD DVD-R Read, 5x DVD±R/ 5x DVD+RW/ 5x DVD-RW/ 5x DVD±R (DL), 15x CD-R/ 15x CD-RW; and 15x DVD-ROM/ 15x CD-ROM Read formats.

The access time is 155 ms for HD DVDs, 140 ms for DVDs and 130 ms for CDs. The HR-0205T has 8126 KB data buffer.

The HD DVDs have much more capacity – about 3 times to 6 times more capacity in comparison to ordinary DVDs. HD DVDs come in two variants – single and double layers; they are equal to 4 hours of HD TV or 8 hours of HD content. The HR-0205T is capable of reading both single layer (15GB) and double layer (30GB) HD DVD-ROM media at 2.4x read speeds. Another advantage of the HR-0205T is the fact that it takes full advantage of the shared physical structure of HD discs and standard DVD discs, which allows it to read HD-DVD-R, and in doing so allow users to read the diverse line-up of discs in the HD DVD-ROM disc family, including twin format disc and pick-up head with only a single objective lens.

The HR-0205T provides quiet operations for better movie enjoyment – operating at only 23.7dB for DVD-9 Movie Disc playback and 21.1dB for HD Movie Disc playback – much lower than other models.

The HR-0205T can utilize a PATA-SATA adaptor for high-speed and stable read capabilities with both SATA and PATA interface compatibilities, and can also be able to be mounted horizontally or vertically. It is also fully supported by Windows XP/2000/ Vista.

The new ASUS HR-0205T has 146 x 41.5 x 189.5 mm (W/H/D) and it weights 990g. The company predicts a mean time between failures (MTBF) of 100,000 h.