Abstract: An optical recording apparatus (101; 201) is described, for writing information to an optical storage medium such as for instance an optical disc, the apparatus comprising a laser diode (30), an encoder device (10; 210), and a laser driver circuit (120; 220) which comprises a flipflop device (25), a write strategy generator and a laser current driver (26). A single encoded signal (SEFMdata; SMUX) containing data information and clock information is transferred over one common transfer path (14) from the encoder (10; 210) to the driver circuit (120; 220), which further comprises signal generator means (130; 230) designed to generate a digital data signal (SEFMdata) and a digital clock signal (SCLK) from the single encoded signal received from the encoder.