Pioneer Ships Bluray Combo Drive

Pioneer have confirmed the availability of its new 'BDC-202' Blu-ray Disc Combo Drive which has BD-ROM compatibility and includes read support for single and dual-layer Blu-ray disc formats together with high-speed read/write compatibility with a range of DVD and CD medias.


Pioneer's BDC-202 Bluray Combo Drive

Press Release: With Pioneer reliability and a competitive price point, the BDC-202 meets the growing demand for a versatile HD entertainment experience complemented by practical general-purpose back-up capabilities.

Awareness of the stunning quality of HD content is growing among end-users; knowledge that's gathering steam as the increasing numbers of high-profile movie titles are published and promoted in the Blu-ray format. At the same time, unit costs of powerful graphics processors, high-specification sound cards and attractive flat-screen displays are falling and, in combination with Blu-ray drives, provide the option of offering an exceptional PC-based movie experience.

'Blu-ray is in pole position to capture demand for HD movies: it's supported by seven out of the eight major Hollywood studios. We've ensured that BDC-202 is price competitive to existing next generation drives so systems builders can enable consumers to access this extensive catalogue of Blu-ray titles in stunning quality,' says Chris Tampsett, Director, Pioneer Europe Multimedia Division. 'And with DVD and CD read/write compatibility, the drive provides a compelling mix of high-quality entertainment and practicality. We anticipate that it will lead the emergence of the Blu-ray format for both professional and personal use on computers.'

Among the next generation storage formats, the movie experience is advanced furthest by Blu-ray. As well as the exceptional clarity of HD images, it enables up to 50GB of high-definition video and audio content to be stored on a single disc including the most innovative interactive features seen to date alongside extensive bonus materials. The drive also supports high-speed DVD read/write (including DVD-R/RW, +R/RW and DVD-RAM) and CD read/write to manage general-purpose data-intensive file transfer and archiving; from creating image libraries and MP3 catalogues, to home movies and system back-ups.

The internal BDC-202 combination Blu-ray disc computer drive offers the following read/write speeds:

• BD-ROM 5X Read
• BD-R/-RE 5X Read
• BD-R DL/-RE DL 2X Read
• DVD-ROM 12X Read
• DVD-RAM Read 5X Write
• DVD-R/+R Read 12X Write
• DVD-RW/+RW Read 6X Write
• DVD-RDL/+RDL Read 4X Write
• CD-ROM 32X Read

Availability
The BDC-202 will be sold to OEMs and systems builders. It will be available from the second quarter of 2007.