As expected, Pioneer Electronics, a leading maker of consumer electronics, on Wednesday unveiled its Blu-ray disc read only memory (BD ROM) optical drive for personal computers, which will go on sale next month and will cost $299 in retail.
The Pioneer BDC-2202 drive can playback, read, record and re-write DVDs (12x speed for DVD±R, 6x for DVD±RW, 4x for DVD±R DL) as well as playback, read and record single- and dual-layer Blu-ray discs (5x for BD-ROM and BD-R/-RE, 2x for BD-R DL/-RE DL), it also can playback and record CDs. It is unclear whether the new drive is meant for outdated Parallel ATA or contemporary Serial ATA interface. In order to playback high definition movies from Blu-ray discs, end-users will also need a graphics card and an output device (monitor, TV-set, etc.) that support HDCP copyright protection technology.
"With the BDC-2202, computer savvy consumers are now privy to what was previously only available to professional users. In addition to maintaining the same benefits of current optical disc drives, the included software means users can now enjoy their favorite Blu-ray disc movies as well as their own personal disc creations," said Andy Parsons, senior vice president at Pioneer Electronics USA.