Pioneer Offers 8x Dual-Layer Blu-ray Writer

News
By
published

Earlier today, Pioneer introduced the BDR-2203, its internal 8x dual-layer Blu-ray writer, however general consumers may tremble at the knees by the sight of its monstrous pricetag.

Earlier today, Pioneer introduced the BDR-2203, its internal 8x dual-layer Blu-ray writer, however general consumers may tremble at the knees by the sight of its monstrous price tag.

Looking for a way to archive a crazy amount of data? Then Pioneer's BDR-2203 may be the ticket, its latest internal Blu-ray disk drive that features 8x dual-layer write support. What that means to consumers is that they can store up to 50 GB of data on one Blu-ray disk. According to the company, it will take users 15 minutes to write 25 GB of information to a single-layer BD disk; 30 minutes to write 50 GB of data using the new writer. However, the drive doesn't come cheap, requiring consumers to fork over a whopping $249.99. Is it worth it? Perhaps so, but general consumers may want to wait a while.

“As one of the earliest advocates of Blu-ray Disc technology, Pioneer recognized the many advantages the format could have for consumer and professional users, which has culminated in our development of one of the industry’s most robust BD writers to date,” said Steve Cohn, director of optical disc sales for Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. “When considering that a dual-layer Blu-ray Disc is equivalent to ten single-layer DVDs, our BDR-2203 is a viable PC upgrade for those who are looking to enter this new era of HD playback, storage and picture performance in every facet of their life.”

In addition to the hardware, the BDR-2203 comes packed with CyberLink software: PowerDirector, PowerDVD, and Power2Go. CyberLink's PowerDirector enables end-users to capture, edit, and burn high-definition and widescreen formatted video. PowerDVD, on the other hand, is nothing more than a commercial media playback tool which usually comes bundled with PC systems and internal DVD/Blu-ray drives. Power2Go is CyberLink's all-media disc burning software, allowing users to perform drag-and-drop burning, audio file conversion, video disc authoring. And more.

As for the specifics of the drive, the BDR-2203 indicates that the drive is capable of burning up to 8x using BD-R and BD-R DL discs, and up to 2x using BD-RE and BD-RE DL discs. Additionally, the drive reads up to 8x speed on BD-ROM/BD-ROM DL, BD-R, and BD-RE discs, and up to 6x on BD-R DL and BD-RE DL media. As for serving the DVD consumers, the drive writes up to 16x speed on DVD-R/+R, up to 8x on DVD-R/+R (DL), up to 8x on DVD+RW, up to 6x on DVD-RW, and up to 5x on DVD-RAM. Working as a CD drive, the BDR-2203 writes up to 32x on CD-R, and up to 24x on CD-RW.

Pioneer said that the Blu-ray drive is shipping this month, so expect the BDR-2203 to hit your local electronics store soon.

Kevin Parrish
21 Comments Comment from the forums
  • bustapr
    $250 is hard to waste these days for something, although a little bit worst can be found at $150.
    Reply
  • scook9
    unless i have missed something, that price isnt high, its amazing for a drive of these characteristics.....considering that they have been at this price anyway for months...one this speed at that price is great. Hopefully it is not too loud

    just my 2 cents
    Reply
  • When you said the drive didn't come cheap, I was already imagining a $500-1000 price tag. Honestly I don't think $249.99 for a dual-layer BD is that bad. We purchased our first CD burner in 1999 for the same price back when it was fairly new. And I also remember DVD burners fetching about the same price when we were looking at them. It may be worth it to someone who wants to start archiving lots of data.

    Having said that, I'd probably wait until a price drop or two until I'd get one for myself. Since there isn't an OS that natively supports Blu-ray playback, I don't mind waiting anyway.
    Reply
  • HermDawg
    $250 is not a bad MSRP for an 8x BD-R burner. That's on par for what's out there on the streets for 8x BD burners. Plus if Pioneer says $250 it doesn't mean $250 from online retailers. I would expect the street price for this drive less than that.
    Reply
  • mavroxur
    Doesnt seem like a horrible price really. Descent specs/price point imo
    Reply
  • pug_s
    The problem is not the price of the burners, but for the disc themselves. If you want to buy a bd-r, it cost about $5 for each disc. My guess is that unless the price goes down to say about $1 per disc, there's going to be little interest in buying these discs.
    Reply
  • tacoslave
    double headers again *smacks Parrish with a newspaper roll* thats the 3rd time today.
    Reply
  • solymnar
    I was thinking the exact same thing pug.

    For the storage space it IS cheap. But a company won't use it for a backup solution until there is data showing how long the DLBR disc will reliably read, and a consumer won't likely go for it when they can just get a second and third hard drive that is likely far larger than the one they currently use for less than the cost of this drive (ignoring media price) and just backup data to the alternate hard drive/s, easier, cheaper, and quicker.

    That leaves people who want to burn HD movies. I have no clue how large that market is but I doubt its terribly large.
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    i personally am done with spinning disks and moving objects, flash is the way of the future, taking 30 mins for a disk to burn sounds to unreal for me, im thinking more like 5.

    just have games released on thumbdrives, and all shall be swell
    Reply
  • Bandwidth requirements for most things I'd put on a bluray disc and cost of bluray discs are the two reasons I can't afford one of these.

    External HDDs, HTPCs, thumbdrives, and the much lower cost of DVDs are the reasons I'll continue to live without until the above factors change.

    For me, the 250$ price tag is not a determining factor.
    Reply