DigiTimes has reported that Qisda (formerly known as BenQ) plans to
introduce two new Blu-ray drives later this year. The low cost BR1000 BD-ROM is capable of reading Blu-ray Discs at 4x and is backwards
compatible with CD's and DVD's. For those that need to burn their own Blu-ray Discs, Qisda is offering the DW1001. This new drive
features a SATA interface and is capable of 4x BD-R and 2x BD-RE writing speeds.
The BR1000 is intended to target users
who just want to enjoy high-definition (HD) BD movie discs, the company pointed out. In terms of price, a BR1000 in combination with a
DVD burner is significantly less expensive than a BD Combo drive such as the Pioneer BDC-S02 which sells at US$299. In addition, the
after-sale maintenance costs for a BD Combo are higher, Qisda noted. Qisda will not consider offering BD Combo drive models, the company
indicated.
BW1001 supports writing in the following formats and speeds: 4x BD-R (recordable, write once), 2x BD-RE (rewritable),
12x DVD+R/-R, 4x DVD+R/-R DL (single-sided double-layer), 8x DVD+RW/-RW, 32x CD-R and 24x CD-RW.
According to Qisda's
press release, the BR1000 and BW1001 are priced at 1,699
Yuan ($225US) and 4,999 Yuan ($663US) respectively. More information can also be found at DigiTimes.
