Buffalo offers up external HD DVD / Blu-ray combo drive in Japan

Nah, Buffalo isn't manufacturing the HD DVD / Blu-ray drive that sits comfortably within its new external enclosure, but those parked in Japan can reportedly get ahold of this peace maker for just ¥51,000 ($440). Apparently, Buffalo chose the GGC-H20N optical drive to read both high-definition formats in its BHC-6316U2, and CyberLink's PowerDVD7.3 Ultra will also be thrown in for good measure. Next month, Buffalo will be loosing the BRHC-6316U2, which will utilize the GGW-H20N Blu-ray burner / HD DVD reader and will run customers a respectable ¥74,800 ($644).

[Via EverythingUSB]

[ChrisG @ Aug 26th 2007 4:51AM]

I doesn't look as sleek as you'd hope for a hd dvd/ blu-ray player, but I guess its pretty cool. I doubt it'll make it to the states though.

[Waveblade @ Aug 26th 2007 4:59AM]

Why does Japan get this first =/

Oh well.

[iforgotwhereiam @ Aug 26th 2007 5:55AM]

Japan gets technology at least one year ahead of the U.S.


"New" technology that are comming out now in the U.S. is really 4-1 years old...No further comments on the subject...There are lots of good electronic devices that the U.S. and other countries never get because it stays in Asia...

[michas_pi @ Aug 26th 2007 6:04AM]

Japan gets it first, but they can keep enjoying Rev. A products.

I will wait until the bugs are weeded out in the North American release.

[MatthewJ @ Aug 26th 2007 9:35AM]

They get them first because (a) they're made closer to that area (b) the innovative tech companies are based there (c) there's a much larger market for that kind of stuff there.

Same applies to nearly all technology. I was shocked at the fact that the UK cellphone/mobilephone market is actually ahead of the US one.

[ethana2 @ Aug 26th 2007 12:40PM]

How does that shock you with our fricking closed networks? Competition breeds progress, surprise, surprise. Just another friendly reminder that our politicians are idiots in the US.

[Kumar @ Aug 26th 2007 7:25PM]

Yeah, our cell 'technology' is horrible. With all of the locked networks (and unportable numbers until a few years ago), there was no incentive to give us the good stuff.

The just tell us to be happy with ring tone downloads and a crappy camera.

Meanwhile, in Europe, people shop for a sweet phone (unlocked), and then pick a provider.

[theboss @ Aug 26th 2007 10:36PM]

Get with the times people. Whoever still buys phones from cingular kiosks and Bestbuy/circuit city is living under a rock. You gotta order the latest nokias and sony ericssons from online phone shops who get their phones unlocked straight from Europe, which happens to have a much larger and better cell phone market.

[itzkhoa @ Aug 26th 2007 5:11AM]

interesting

[CobraRob @ Aug 26th 2007 6:55AM]

Hurmmm.. I just got to Japan yesterday.. Anyone want me to bring back one? lol

[Mike @ Aug 26th 2007 8:22AM]

Sounds a helluva lot more interesting than a 600$ addon for an alienware PC.

[Bill @ Aug 26th 2007 9:02AM]

Needs a $199 price point to sell to us cheapskates here in the U.S.

Otherwise we'll just stick with our $30 dual-layer DVD burners.

[ethana2 @ Aug 26th 2007 12:42PM]

Or our internet connections.

[Mike @ Aug 26th 2007 9:35AM]

to be honest, at that price point, that really isn't a bad deal, 440 or 644, look at the price of those drives individually

[ssuk @ Aug 26th 2007 11:17AM]

Yeah, it's a pretty sweet deal. I'll wait until they come down in price before I start investing in any HD disc format though, probably because the UK doesn't have a lot of Bluray or HD DVD releases worth having at the moment.

[jeffharris @ Aug 26th 2007 3:22PM]

A $644 player/burner sounds reasonable. Hopefully something like this would be released with FireWire 400 or 800 ports so they can be used for data as well.

I'd use it with Netflix and for 50GB backups. Nice.

[Aaron @ Aug 26th 2007 8:43PM]

Great. Now if there were only a way to get a digital 7.1 signal to your receiver from your HTPC. Also, it would be nice if PowerDVD HD didn't downsample HD audio to 48 kHz before sending the signal to the driver. Not sure what the point is to set up an HD HTPC just to get downsampled 48 kHz ...and only 5.1 at that.

[XyliOS @ Sep 2nd 2007 2:41AM]

Something like this could make the HD fight a little faster in Australia where the HD Movie uptake isnt so fast. Could help put to sleep any worries the average joe might have when purchasing.

Best
XylIOS
www.stfunplay.com