Pioneer’s Unveils its First Blu-ray Writer for PCs to Write at 8X on BD-R Media

Melsele – Belgium: Pioneer Europe today unveils its latest Blu-ray writer, the BDR-203BK, that’s capable of writing at 8X speeds to Single Layer (25GB SL) and Dual Layer (50GB DL) BD-R discs. The product is also compatible with a wide range of Blu-ray, DVD-R/RW, +R/RW, DVD-RAM and CD media types, with other key specifications including: 2X write speed for BD-RE (SL and DL), 16X write speed for DVD-R/+R, 8X write speed for DVD-R DL/+R DL and 32X write speed for CD-R media. With strong performance and, features to enhance read/write accuracy, the BDR-203BK adds further momentum to the growing demand for Blu-ray devices.

While initial Blu-ray writers were aimed at professional users, the BDR-203BK has far wider appeal. The growing community of consumers with large digital image, HD-video and music libraries will especially appreciate the greater convenience of higher capacity media. For instance, an average feature length movie of 135 minutes of HD footage requires approximately 19.6GB of storage space. This demands five single-layer DVDs – a job that can be managed by a single BD disc. With digital music, depending on the exact compression format, a 50GB BD disc can store around 12,000 digital tracks.

The availability of the BDR-203BK (BK denotes that the product is designed with a black front bezel), follows a strong Christmas season with Blu-ray movies in particular selling well both in the US and key European markets. “Now Blu-ray is cemented as the next generation storage and media distribution format, sales of Blu-ray content and devices have been strong on the back of greater consumer confidence in the technology,” says Brendan Sheridan, Product Manager, Pioneer Europe NV, Multimedia Division. “The availability of products such as the BDR-203BK with great flexibility in terms of disc compatibility, extensive DL capacities and faster writing speeds adds to the growing momentum behind Blu-ray.”

Main features

BD/DVD/CD compatible OPU

The optical pickup unit on the BDR-203BK achieves a maximum recording speed of 8X on Single and Dual Layer BD-R media and 2X on BD-RE Single and Dual Layer rewritable media.

Proprietary high-quality technologies for both BD and DVD discs

A range of technologies are incorporated into the BDR-203BK to enhance read/write capabilities. These include:

Ultra DRA: suppress vibration when reading and writing, a technology based on know-how that Pioneer has been cultivating in the development of DVD writers.

Limited Equalizer LSI: dramatically improves reading reliability

Multi-Effect Liquid Crystal Tilt Compensator: this advances recording and playback characteristics by adding correction to the laser beam which compensates for disc impurities such as titled media and media of various thickness.

Software support

The BDR-203BK includes CyberLink’s Blu-ray Disc Suite 6 to enable the creation and playback of BD movies and the creation and playback of DVDs and CDs.