Pioneer announce Blu-ray drive for $299

Pioneer USA has officially announced the availability of the BDC-2202, a combo drive which will read Blu-ray discs (including movies) as well as read/write DVDs and CDs.

The drive, which will be the first Blu-ray drive to not have burn capability, will retail for the ultra low cost of $299 when it hits store shelves in June, making it the cheapest Blu-ray drive on the market by a few hundred dollars.

[techie]

5x :O

[Torch]

if you just want to watch movies...but the inevitable emergence of affordable BR writers will be a Godsend...finally, the added security of being able to back up my ENTIRE hard-worked-for current MP3 collection onto a single, easily transportable and inconspicuous (unlike hard drives) disc.

Bring it on, baby!!!

[SmokeyMcBear]

and so it begins

[gta_cb]

this is good news! maybe 1 more step to having a winner?
i dont care who wins BUT i now have a HDTV aswell as someone else in my family, we all enjoy watching movies, and with HD movies (on HD DVD and BluRay) being as cheap as what normall DVDs are and use to be (around the £20 mark) we would like to start making up our collection, but... well theres no point until we can say yes thats the format to go with :(

[sabbath420]

This will not determin a winner in the format war. This is a drive for your pc, Not a stand alone player. This is great for media storage but will not propell it as a movie format.

[TriggerHappy]

A drop in ps3 sales, this is bad and good in a way. The ps3 is not selling like hot cakes so people buying the system as a bluray player cant just pick this up and say bye bye to the ps3.

Good part, Bluray is going to have appeal to customers even more.

[Lex Luthor]

this is a pc drive isn't it?

[techie]

yes

[SimmoUK]

but it's a pc drive?

[Sphinx]

This is just a drive... not something you'd sit next to your TV.

[Cartesian3D]

Price cut begins!! :D ... imagine this news : " blueray burner for under 100$ " ..

[consolecrusader]

BR PC player for under 300 is fine by me just another huge step in bluray they killed HD DVD past week 72% of market to 28%, not looking good for HD-DVD

[snoop_dizzle]

i mean in a year or two i could understand a price drop, but did they just make a really crummy Bluray player for 200 dollars?

In the long run this is good news, but ill save up for a better bluray player.

If its really good though, HD-DVD might have a little problem.

[techie]

it's 5x!!! like the ps3 is only 2x

[risk]

pioneer always makes high quality products. i still have a dvd drive for my computer since 2001 and it still works perfectly.

[snoop_dizzle]

while thats good, i am still very skeptical about this player, in a year or two i think that a 200 dollar player would be fairly good, but a few years ago when the really cheap DVD players started to sell, it wasn't depreciation, they just made really crappy players for 40 dollars.

And yes risk Pioneer is a good company so it could be ok.

Aside from the PS3, if i bought a Bluray player, it would be that multiblue player.

[Cartesian3D]

5x is amazing.. but just for single layer.. omg I want a burner.. I can capture all of my videos in High def and store it never like before .. lol
1x =36Mbps .. so 5x means 180 Mbps .. Holy $hit!!

[Boink]

but not for sony, the best reason to get a ps3 is that it's a cheap blu-ray player.

good for fans of old fashioned discs anyway.

[Cartesian3D]

plz dont start flame war... and its a really good news for Sony ... and its not a good news for Ps3..

-----------------------
@JCDenton its just a Pc DRIVE... Pioneer and Sony will do their business in parallel , and dont hurt each other for sure (about BR)..
thats about Money...

[SimmoUK]

What was the main factor that pushed up the price of PS3? The Blu-Ray drive

What is now cheaper? The Blu-Ray diodes to manufacture

What does this meen to the electronic giants? Cheaper Blu-Ray Players

What does this meen to Sony and PS3? Cheaper PS3's

[Boink]

I mean seriously, I have a few friends who are HD movie freaks have no interest whatsoever in gaming, but do have a ps3 cause it's the cheapest blu-ray player out there.

if there becomes a cheaper option for a quality bluray player aside from a ps3, it's not good news for their gaming division. good news for them and their little format war though.

relax members of the ps3 defence force...no battle here.

[JCDenton]

This could hurt PS3 sales, but not too much. If Pioneer (or any other BD player manufacturer) releases a standalone BD player, then PS3 sales will probably take a serious hit since many people want a BD player right now, and are willing to spend 600$ on PS3 (because it's still cheaper than standalone player). If there are 300-400$ standalone players available, then most of the people won't by PS3 just to watch HD movies.

[mr_steveo]

Soz to bring the competition into this.... but whats the cheapest HD drive equivilant?
The 360's add on is now only £110 now over her in gd ole bliety. Quiet the price drop from £200. So when can we expect real public penetration in terms of price. Compared to the well established Dvd.
Deep, whats ur opinion? :p

[sak500]

Its not a standalone player, its a PC drive. Its almost the same as the HD-Drive for 360 which is like $120 or something but that one comes with usb port. This one you have to plug it in the pc. You guys really dont know jack and just jump up on anything that says bluray just cuz you are sony fanbois.

Do you even have good pcs at home or just having celerons in your pcs. Even if you have the drive in your pc you need a HDCP compliant vga card to play hd content.

[risk]

why the HD-DVD player for the 360 is 120$? ha

[sak500]

@mr_steveo

Did i reply to your post or post a new one? I was just making a general remark and not replying to your post.

[mr_steveo]

Duh, excuse me sak500... but i never said its a standalone player, what i asked is whats the cheapest HD dvd equivilant to whats in the artical. No need to be so offensive in the way you talk, especially when you dont know me or the fact im a computer engineer. But no i dont hav pc's at home. I own a mac

[tehcellownu]

if blue ray take off..the price of the ps3 will get cheaper..and everyone whos broke or jus cheap can finally get one!!lol..

[BubblesDAVERAGE]

If blu ray wins sony profit will match that of microsoft.

[XxZxX]

i wouldn't go that far. You still can beat monopoly.
Sony profit only match microsoft, if they lost every lawsuit they got.

[BIadestarX]

I think that's great, it's a great move towards cheaper blu-ray drives... but compared to the microsoft hd dvd drive (which you can use for the PC and the xbox 360) it may not sound that great. HD DVD is cheaper. If you are crazy interested in blu-ray you may want to save the extra $300 and buy a PS3, it has better value since it also pays games.

[brianodom]

if this happens sony could turn profit on the prices it pays for the drive.. correct me if i'm wrong...either way a price drop is a real reality..

[Mr Murda]

I bought a PS3 specifically for the Blu-Ray player. I sensed that Blu-Ray would begin to win the next gen DVD format, so I slowed down on my HD-DVD purchases and got a PS3. The PS3 is a logical choice since it was $300 cheaper than a stand alone Blu-Ray player. If there was a $300 BR player on the market then I would have got that before a PS3.

Double Damn!

[Frulond]

Well... yeah if this drive is only $300 (I saw some BD drives 2 weeks ago going for $1000 @_@) 5x is Ok and I'm sure every month there will be a faster one (remember when CD writers were 2x and 4x... and like $400? hehe) and price will be dropping eventually to that of curred DVD drives (let's say... 1-2 years) still this is a PC drive and not a Standalone player, so PS3 still at a ... let's say decent price since you could get a X-box for $299 + this drive (btw I thought Xbox HD-DVD drive was $199) still $598 or maybe Xbox Elite (thinking HDMI) + HD-DVD for about the same price.

I do hope things get cheaper but logic tells me wont be this year unless we get many surprises :D

[lil bush]

well wish it was a stand alone player........

[Saint Sony]

Just wait like 1,2 or 3 months and there will be one announced. Maybe even in less than a month.