BD gaining upper hand over HD DVD in PC-use drives, say Taiwan makers

[Tekman]

While Toshiba has enjoyed exceptionally booming sales of its HD-A2 HD DVD player in the North America market, Blu-ray Disc (BD) appears to have gained the upper hand in the PC-use drive segment.

Sony has recently launched a new BD burner, the BWU-200S, and Taiwan-based Asustek Computer is promoting its BC-1205PT BD Combo drive in the China market, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

The BWU-200S features maximum write speeds of 4x for BD-R (recordable, write once) and BD-RE (rewritable), 16x for DVD+R/-R SL (single-sided single-layer), 8x for DVD+R/-R DL (single-sided double-layer) and DVD+RW, 6x for DVD-RW, 5x for DVD-RAM, 40x for CD-R and 24x for CD-RW, the sources pointed out.

Pioneer and Philips have also launched BD drives, the sources noted, while Lite-On IT will launch a BD-ROM drive for sale under its own brand Liteon soon. Additionally Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) will debut a BD Combo drive later this quarter, the sources indicated.

In contrast, Toshiba has not offered PC-use HD DVD burners or drives since it launched a HD DVD drive model in the fourth quarter of 2006, nor have any other members of the HD DVD Group, the sources noted.

However, notebook vendors, including Acer and Asustek, plan to offer high-end notebook PCs with built-in HD DVD drives later this quarter, the sources cited Toshiba Electronics Taiwan as saying.
http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20071128PD216.html