Pioneer USA launches Blu-ray Disc writer for PCs

[Bob Crabtree]

Pioneer Launches One of Industry's First PC-Based Blu-ray Disc Drives

Revolutionary Technology Results in Five-fold Increase of Storage Capacity

December 27, 2005 - Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. today announced one of the industry’s first Blu-ray Disc computer drives, expected to revolutionize digital and high-definition media storage. The new Pioneer BDR-101A will utilize shorter wavelength blue lasers in order to store up to 25 gigabytes of information on a single layer Blu-ray Disc. It is expected to begin shipping in the first quarter of 2006.

This first generation product will be targeted primarily to professional users and serious enthusiasts, generally the first to adopt new technology. In particular, content creators will depend on Blu-ray Disc writers to test and evaluate high definition consumer Blu-ray Disc titles during the authoring process before replication. The drive will come equipped with a data recording application to transfer digital files to Blu-ray Discs.

Find out more.

[Steve]

I wonder how much these will cost.

So, will I be getting a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD burner in six months when I built my MCPC?

Also, what's the data rate of 1x on a Blu-Ray disc, just so I have an idea of how long it'll take to burn to these things.

[Bob Crabtree]

By the time these burners are available in the UK, I'd hope they'd be under £100 - hopefully, a good bit less.

Trouble is, there are virtually no clues as to when they will be turning up over here nor any real indicators of pricing - here or in the USA.

My view, though, is that that if either format has any hope at all, then sub-£100 really should be the target when burners initially come available in the USA or VERY soon after.

As for what Blu-ray's 1x data rate equates to, it's 36Mbps - ie 36Megabits per second (which I prefer to think of as 4.5MegaByte/sec).

I've included reference to this in a HEADLINE news story I've just written, along with some other facts (and speculation) about relative write speeds, and factors affecting the launch date in the USA.

[Funkstar]

I think Bobs right. These drives way be released at a permium to start with, but they are going to drop like stones within no time. Wouldn't be surprised if you see at least one speed hike and multiformat drives within the year.

Everyone (appart from Tochiba and Sony probably) is going to want to get BluRay/HD-DVD/DVD/CD all in one drives, out the door as soon as possible. Pioneer are only going to be able to charge a premium until the second company releases their drive.

[autopilot]

Is anyone else as completely unexcited by these as me? I reckon it will be a good 2-3 years before i see any need for them.

And i bet the media is going to be very expensive too, but maybe a good archiving/backup option for small businesses.

[Funkstar]

For me I can see the point...as long as the media isn't silly prices. If you can get better gb/£ than hard disks then i'll probably take the plunge for media file backup