SonyNEC Optiarc projects sub-$100 Blu-ray optical drives by year's end

If you'll recall, SonyNEC Optiarc was the same company that suggested BD prices would be halved by 2008 from what they were in late 2006, and while stickers are still relatively high on standalone decks, the prediction actually wasn't too far off. A new report from Tom's Hardware notes that the aforementioned outfit is expecting Blu-ray combo drives "to reach the $100 line before the holiday season." For around $50 more, it reckons you'll have access to slim-line notebook drives that handle the same duties. Granted, there's no real confirmation surrounding the assertions, and we'll be the first to blindly hope such wishful thinking comes true, but we'd say BD prices in general have a whole lot of falling to do in six short months for this one to even stand a chance.

[Via TechDigest]

[anabouboula @ Jun 6th 2008 2:58AM]

Take that LG!

[Shinigami @ Jun 6th 2008 3:07AM]

Guys maybe its time to stop with these kinds of comments? Its really pointless....

[Kurian @ Jun 6th 2008 5:42AM]

I got a replacement PS3 Blu-Ray drive for Rs.900 from China.
Thats like 25$!!!!!

[Kobe_No_Means_No @ Jun 6th 2008 6:57AM]

I believe 1US = 8ChineseMoney.... so 900 is like $115. I think you were thinking of Taiwan money, which is 30 = $1. I hope you didn't go over your budget!

[benjasmine @ Jun 6th 2008 7:16AM]

don't forget that the dollar is crashing... right now, 1 US == 6.92 Chinese Yuan... it was 6.99 few days ago...

[Down @ Jun 6th 2008 10:46AM]

I think you mean Rs. 900 from India, which is where Rs. (Rupees) is used, and that is around USD $25.

[Shinigami @ Jun 6th 2008 3:05AM]

Okay, now we might have sub-$100 blu-ray drives. DVD burner+Blu-Ray reader. Right?
Now, if Blu-Ray burners are sub-$100, and Blu-Ray empty disks from Verbatim or similar brand go sub-$1, I'm all sold.
Till then...
At this point of time I still can buy half a hundred DVD disks from Verbatim for the price of a single Blu-Ray, not mentioning DVD burners for $30... So it seems pointless to me to pay 20 times per GB for Blu-Ray.

But if you consider buying a blu-ray movie and have the money (five-eight times compared to DVD here), nothing should stop you (if you have a proper TV), the quality is really great. Its just me not seeing five to eight times the pleasure of watching a movie on Blu-Ray compared to good old DVD.

[Andrew @ Jun 6th 2008 3:05AM]

Doesn't change the fact that half the people I know do not know what a Blu-Ray is.

[BobTurbo @ Jun 6th 2008 3:54AM]

They probably don't know what Windows XP is either even though they use it every day.

[Intrepid @ Jun 6th 2008 5:01AM]

True. A lot of people don't know the difference between Windows XP and Microsoft Office, let alone Blu-ray and DVD. But they'll use what we tell them to.

[david @ Jun 6th 2008 3:10AM]

It still costs too much, it's not worth to have one. For burner + discs price you could few TB hdd.

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Jun 6th 2008 3:17AM]

For $100?

[Shinigami @ Jun 6th 2008 3:59AM]

For $100 you get a reader. For $700-1500 you get a writer. And for $300 you get a TB HDD. But for $300 you can also get... 250gb on blu-ray disks - 10 of them (approximate price for Ukraine). So for $3000 you can either get 10TB of get a burner + lots of disks.

But still, $100 for a reader is nice, compared to Blu-Ray players for $400 at least.

[SimbaDogg @ Jun 6th 2008 4:01AM]

surely because you dont see the value in backing up huge amount of data on a portable medium, no one else should...

::thumbsdown:: to you

[matt @ Jun 6th 2008 5:20AM]

@shinigami


$700-$1000 for a burner, what crack are you smoking?
About $300 here in the uk, which means that they are probably cheaper in the us.
http://www.ebuyer.com/cat/CD---DVD-Drives/subcat/Blu-Ray-&-HD-DVD

[JJ @ Jun 6th 2008 4:14AM]

I know these are for comps and all but I wonder if this means that we'll see sub $200 stand alone players by the holiday season as well.

[nxtiak @ Jun 6th 2008 5:16AM]

Why do Sony drives always look like that?
I had a 4x dvd +/- r drive a long time ago and it looked EXACTLY like that (except the body was white)

[Dave @ Jun 6th 2008 6:41AM]

The price drops fast. Today is this post in a week it will be $50...

[tekdroid @ Jun 6th 2008 6:46AM]

combo drives under $100 by holiday season. Zzzzzz.

Blu-Ray recorders (the only thing worth bothering with) "could be" $150-200 then. Nice speculation there.

In any case, proof is in the pricetag.
Until then...

[Gavin @ Jun 6th 2008 7:37AM]

Uhm... Fine and dandy but BD movie titles are still $30 and up while DVD prices are around $10-$15. So 10 BD movies equals $300, while 10 DVD's equals $150. That $150 difference is absurdly huge bordering on ripoff... Sorry, next!!!

[z0phi3l @ Jun 6th 2008 10:48AM]

New BR releases are $40 here in PA and then there's tax, at those prices and considering the price of the hardware I won't be touching this till maybe next year's holiday season

[David @ Jun 6th 2008 10:30AM]

still....I don't think anyone really cares until BR burners are $100 and discs are cheap.

[I Cook on My Notebook @ Jun 6th 2008 11:14AM]

How about I just buy a Sub-100 Upconvert DVD Drive?

[Sporkinum @ Jun 6th 2008 12:45PM]

In my mind, it's not mainstream until most people have HD tv's. Right now I'd have to spend $400+ to get a 32" HD that would be equivalent viewing size to my current 27" SD TV. Why would I want to do that while it still has a great picture? I think a lot of people think the same way and cant see replacing stuff that still works well. It's not a huge improvement like going from tape to DVD. The numbers may say it is huge, but visually, not so much.