As promised, Pioneer is bringing their new Blu-ray combo drive to the US market.
The company announced this morning that the BDC-2202 will be available beginning next month for a suggested retail price of
$299.
Demonstrating its continued commitment to high definition optical disc technology, Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. today
announces the BDC-2202, a robust Blu-ray Disc computer drive, which will be available to consumers beginning next month for a suggested
price of $299. When installed in a properly configured PC, the Pioneer Blu-ray Disc combination drive allows users to playback new high
definition Blu-ray Disc film titles as well as read and write digital content to DVD and CD, fulfilling their storage and entertainment
needs.
The drive can read BD-ROM/BD-R/BD-RE at up to 5X and can read BD-ROM (DL) and BD-R/-RE (DL) at up to 2X speed. It comes
bundled with media software that ensures compatibility with commercially released Blu-ray Disc movies. It also allows users to create
personal DVD movies and digital photo slideshows, securely backup personal data and media files to DVD or CD, and create and burn
favorite music to CD. The software also offers a Direct-to-Disc feature allowing aspiring filmmakers to capture movies directly from the
camcorder to DVD without the inconvenience of using vital hard drive space.
While the BDC-2202 is still a bit pricey, its
considerably cheaper than most of the Blu-ray drives currently on the market. If you'd like to read more, Pioneer's entire press
release can be found here.
