Computex 2006: Philips unveils Blu-ray Drive, dual layer media

June 7, 2006

D4rk0n3 used our news submit to tell us that over at Computex Phillips has unveiled a new (of course) Blu-ray drive and the appropriate media for working with 2 layers allowing a whopping 50 gigabytes of storage. This drive will also write to CD and DVD as well. In this story from Trusted Reviews, we can read quite a bit of good information such as dates to expect these products.

The drive will be shipping in August, while writable media (BD-R) will be available from July. Re-writable media, or BD-RE, will be available around September. Initial media will only be single layer and will fit up to 25GB, compared to the 50GB of the dual layer discs, which won't be available until Christmas. At 1x speed, it will take roughly 135 minutes to burn 25GB, or close to 70 minutes when at 2x.

There are no set dates planned for a notebook drive, but expect to see them in 2007. Due to the slower than DVD spin speeds, burning a Blu-ray disc actually uses less power than burning a DVD, should you be concerned about your current power supply. Pricing will be around 849 euros for the drive, 15 euros for the 25GB BD-R writable media and 20 euros for the BD-RE re-writable media. Nero 7 will be bundled with the device, which has been Blu-ray compatible for some months and makes burning a Blu-ray as easy as burning a DVD. Expect a full review in the near future.

The article can be read in it's entirety by visiting this link to Trusted Reviews.

Source: Trusted Reviews