Pioneer Launches BDR-101A PC-Based Blu-ray Recorder

Pioneer Electronics has announced the BDR-101A, a Blu-ray-based recorder that is expected to begin shipping in the first quarter of 2006. No pricing has been announced to date.

This first-generation product will be targeted primarily to professional users and serious enthusiasts, generally the first to adopt new technology. In particular, content creators will depend on Blu-ray Disc writers to test and evaluate high definition consumer Blu-ray Disc titles during the authoring process before replication.

The drive will come equipped with a data recording application to transfer digital files to Blu-ray Discs. As the market for high definition video camcorders grows, Pioneer says that users will increasingly rely on the Blu-ray Disc drive to store massive amounts of HD video. Likewise, a person with a television tuner on his or her personal computer could use the drive to record high definition television shows for later viewing. The drive also will be able to play consumer Blu-ray Disc movie titles on BD-ROM discs and will play and record standard DVD media. As one of the first products to utilize Blu-ray Disc technology, the drive significantly increases storage capacity, while reducing the number of discs currently needed to back up computer hard drives, digital files and applications. "

The half height BDR-101A Blu-ray Disc/DVD writer will read BD-ROM/R/RE, DVD-ROM/DVD-R/DVD-RW and +R/+RW discs. It offers the following write speeds:

* BD-R/RE (2X)
* DVD-R/+R (8X)
* DVD-RW/+RW (4X)