Philips and Lite-on announce a $199 Blu-ray drive

All the action in the next-gen format war might be at the front lines of cut-rate players, but the battle rages on across the entire spectrum of devices -- which is why we've seen the poor $199 DH-401S BD-ROM drive from Philips and Lite-on touted as the answer to those $200 HD-A2s in a couple places. That's quite a stretch, obviously, but it's still much cheaper than any other BD-ROM drives we've seen. The read-only SATA drive pulls data off BD media at 4X, single layer DVDs at 12X, DVD-DL and DVD±RW at 8x, and CDs at 32X. Giving up write capabilites is obviously limiting, but for those of you building out HTPCs, this bad boy might be just the ticket.

[Thanks, AG23]

[Mark @ Nov 13th 2007 7:49PM]

Not worth it without writing to DVD and CD...try again Philips..

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Nov 14th 2007 4:05AM]

At $200 hardly a piece of hardware for casual end user.

The thing is still targeted at early adopters and advanced users - since the disk war isn't yet over. And advanced users all have DVD burners already.

The price-wise BD/HD DVD hardly can compete against DVD-R - $40 for drive + $0.40 for disk is hard to match. And my observation that people burn less DVDs than they used to burn CDs - most content now is on Internet and only seldom it makes sense to burn it on disk.

If BD/HD DVD would be say only twice more expensive, then it would make sense to install by default in casual beige boxes. At $200 per drive and $XX per disk it is still a far cry.

[Ben @ Nov 13th 2007 7:54PM]

Wow, $199 for a Bluray drive. Then you just need $500 worth of PC parts and software to play movies with it.

[sr @ Nov 13th 2007 8:42PM]

Which some people already have.

[Reader @ Nov 13th 2007 8:48PM]

With the 100 buck 360 hd-dvd drive you could make quite the bad ass HD Media Center. 300 bucks and you got both formats covered.

[loci @ Nov 13th 2007 10:22PM]

no shit batman...
would bubba like a tv/monitor built into the drive?

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Nov 14th 2007 4:16AM]

> Then you just need $500 worth of PC parts and software to play movies with it.

Most modern cards - even cheap ones - do support all required color spaces suited for accelerated playback. BD/HD DVD do support more color spaces, but last I heard they are not used currently - what means in long run they will not be used by mainstream media at all.

IOW you need only software. And I expect at $200, targeted at early adopters, the drive would have all the software bundled.

[3v1lkr0w @ Nov 14th 2007 8:37AM]

Reader...the 360 drive is 180 dollars...not 100.

[JustMe @ Nov 14th 2007 4:47PM]

Not to mention, watching HD movies connected to a TV is far superior than watching HD movies on your computer, with a smaller screen, that you sit 2 feet away from. And isn't the greatest thing for multiple person viewing either. Yeah, yeah, before you say it, most people do not have their computer hooked up to their TVs.

But yeah, otherwise this computer add-on, which is more expensive than the cheapest HD DVD stand alone player, is otherwise a good deal in comparison to the other more expensive blu-ray players on the market.

[Josh @ Nov 13th 2007 7:54PM]

Whatever, most computers have slots for 2 cd/dvd drives on the front - even your precious HTPCs, and you can go and buy yourself a CD/DVD burner for 30$ extra if you really need that - or you could spend 200$ more and get them on your blue ray drive. Your choice.

I, for one, am happy to say Blue Ray players at less than the 400$ PS3

[bk00 @ Nov 13th 2007 7:59PM]

While I agree in spirit, the reality is that by the time free software support for Blu-Ray movie playback becomes available (including the obligatory DRM crack) standalone players will reach the level of commodity affordability. I have to admit even though I prefer BD, the $99 HD-DVD player is looking quite attractive.

[kuade @ Nov 13th 2007 7:58PM]

Fanboys! take what you can get...

[JTM @ Nov 13th 2007 8:02PM]

I was ready to click BUY NOW until I saw it's a reader.

I need a Blu-Ray burner and I want to pay $200 for it.

[willmore2000 @ Nov 13th 2007 8:11PM]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129015

There's a BD-ROM and a writer for just 40$ more.

[James Saxon @ Nov 14th 2007 4:51AM]

Need a *Blu-Ray* Burner... 5Gb is seriously not enough anymore...

[Cyberdemon @ Nov 13th 2007 8:13PM]

Why is this news - LG has had their GGC-H20L HD-DVD/Blu Ray unit out for almost a month. Reads Bluray AND HD-DVD, as well as burning DVD's and CD's for under $300. Seems to me like $100 extra for a dual-format drive with the ability to burn traditional media is a much better deal.

[Naveed @ Nov 13th 2007 8:20PM]

ive been trying to find that drive for weeks now, but no one has it in stock

[Jimmy @ Nov 13th 2007 8:43PM]

Naveed,

Is this the drive you are looking for?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136133

It's $299 and plays both Blu-ray and HD DVD and is a DVD / CD burner.

[T-Bone @ Nov 13th 2007 8:47PM]

It read CDs at 32X?! That's only 33% faster than my laptop's 4-yead-old DVD-RW drive.

[Adrian Williams @ Nov 13th 2007 8:55PM]

Whom ever is first with a sub 200$ burner wins

[tekdroid @ Nov 14th 2007 8:33AM]

amen. and $10 or less discs.

[SteveMB @ Nov 13th 2007 9:38PM]

Lite-on? I wouldn't touch that thing with a 10 foot pole.

[Aaron @ Nov 13th 2007 10:04PM]

I own the the $300 LG dual format drive. I got it at Newegg. It is a mixed bag and I don't really think you can really say it is only $300. It does come with an OEM version of Cyberlink's PowerDVD HD software. However, I have only got it to output 2 channels and I think you need to upgrade to the full version for another $79.95 to get 5.1 ability. Cyberlink's PowerDVD HD is buggy and it downsamples HD audio to DVD-equivalent quality. If you don't believe me check AVS Forums. Of course, as others have said, you need a decent spec'd HTPC to even watch HD content.

Also, you will never (at least for the foreseeable future) be able to get a
7.1 digital signal to the receiver as Optical/Toslink can only carry digital 5.1. Granted, there isn't much HD content that has 7.1 audio (Weeds comes to mind) but I'm sure that there will be more content eventually and you will need to rely on Dolby EX to simulate the 7.1 with downsampled HD audio courtesy of Cyberlink.

All in all, not a perfect solution. The price really should be $299 + $7 shipping + $79.95 to upgrade to the full version of Cyberlink software to output 5.1 (downsampled audio) + untold small fortune for HTPC.

[Erwos @ Nov 13th 2007 10:15PM]

That $300 combo drive Newegg has will be $200 within six months. I really, really don't see the point of buying a BR-only drive at this point.

[shawnmos @ Nov 14th 2007 1:20AM]

The combo blu-ray/hd dvd reader drive that was selling for $275 was a much better deal.

[Gav @ Nov 14th 2007 2:26AM]

Not wanting to dampen your parade, but the Pioneer BDC-202 Blu-Ray reader & DVD burner combo is available in the UK for £99.99 which is roughly $200 :)
(£117 if you want a box :P)

[superaktieboy @ Nov 14th 2007 4:34AM]

This is awesome philips!! That is just amazing 8-) .. if i didn't have a ps3 i'd get one of those.. at least if BD won lol :P

[hothotdisco @ Nov 14th 2007 10:52PM]

So who are those assholes that said that blu-ray was too expensive? And what did i say? That blu-ray would eventually get cheaper and cheaper? Yeah. Thats exactly what i said. All you have to do is buy this sucker along with a DVI to HDMI cable (or you could buy a video card with a HDMI connection) and hook up your PC to your HDTV and there you have it; a cheap blu-ray watching solution. Beggars can't be choosers and even though this blu-ray drive doesn't burn, its still a pretty good deal if you just want to watch blu-ray movies.