Benq to ship Blu-ray burner next month

Benq is planning to ship its BW1000 Blu-ray burner to Europe next month. The unit can read and write to 25 GB and 50 GB Blu-ray discs at up to 2X speeds, which equals about 9 MB per second. The BW1000 will also burn older DVDs and CDs.

BenQ's BW1000 burner. Image courtesy of Digitimes.

The player was first shown at the 2005 Computex trade show and was scheduled to be commerically by mid-2006. At this time, it appears that Benq will be able to beat Sony and other large manufacturers to market with a burner. Sony, for example, has delayed its BDP-S1 burner until October 2006.

Phillips, Plextor and Pioneer plan to ship their burners in the fall.

Sony's Blu-ray drive.

There is no word when or if Benq will ship the burner to the United States. The BW1000 will sell for 799 Euro (about $1022).