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Optiarc and Buffalo each drop new Blu-ray drives
Those of you itching to take arms in the epic struggle for Blu-ray glory have a few more options today, as both Buffalo and Optiarc announced that they're shipping their second generation of BD drives. The Buffalo units (pictured) use the Pioneer BDC-202 mechanism we've seen popping up lately, so while they can't author Blu-ray discs, they'll read BD-ROM, BD-R and BD-RE discs at 5x, dual-layer recordable Blu-ray discs at 2x and write to the various CD and DVD formats at 1-32x. The ¥53,000 ($436) BRC-5125U2 is the internal model, while the ¥63,700 ($525) BRC-5125FBS-BK comes in a monolith-looking USB 2.0 external case. Both prices seem a bit high to us, since you'll be able to score the exact same drive labeled as the Pioneer BDC-2202 for like $300 next month, but maybe all that CyberLink software Buffalo bundles is worth the extra coin to you -- after all, it's not like Vista supports Blu-ray out of the box.On the other hand, if your needs involve Blu-ray authoring, the Sony / NEC joint venture Optiarc's got you covered with the BD-M100A, which we first saw previewed at CeBit. The internal drive writes BD at 2x, DVD at 8x, CD-R at 24x, CD-RW at 16x and reads at speeds up to 32x. Being able to burn BD will set you back, though -- Optiarc says the BD-M100A will cost around £400 ($789) plus VAT -- ouch. Both companies are saying these drives will be available imminently, so better start saving those pennies.Read - Buffalo BRC-5125U2Read - Buffalo BRC-5125FBS-BKRead - Optiarc BDM100A
Pioneer's BDC-202 "combo" 5x Blu-ray drive
At Pioneer's CES press conference it announced both its new plasma display technology and a new half height Blu-ray drive for PCs. Titled the BDC-202 combination Blu-ray disc drive it unfortunately isn't quite the "combo" drive we might have expected. No HD DVD compatibility is in store from Pioneer but this drive is still special, able to read BD-ROM, BD-R and BD-RE discs at 5x, dual layer recordable Blu-ray discs at 2x while also service as a DVD/CD read/write drive. As long as Blu-ray is your format of choice this is the type of drive that is most likely to end up in the PC of someone who wants to watch Blu-ray movies on their PC, but doesn't need to be able to author them or back up large files. Also, by forgoing Blu-ray burning capability it should (hopefully) be significantly cheaper than current Blu-ray burners (pictured) on the market. No price yet, but the drive should be available in the second quarter of this year.
