ASUS Exhibits $270 Blu-ray Drive

[WriteSimply]

You can read the full article here. Here's a quote:

At COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2007 being held in Taipei, Taiwan, Asustec computer Inc. (ASUS) of Taiwan is exhibiting the BC-1205PT Blu-ray Disc (BD) drive and HR-0205T HD DVD drive, both for a desktop PC.

These models are available at very low prices of about $270 and $180 (USD), respectively, because they do not have data writing functionality for BD and HD DVD. Reportedly, the company is also planning to launch the products in Japan, targeting the release as early as summer 2007.

The BC-1205PT boasts a high reading speed of 5x from BD-ROM/R/RE. It is capable of both reading and writing various types of DVD and CD formats. The HR-0205T can read at 2.4x speed from HD DVD-ROMs.

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[HDTV1080P]

QUOTE
“Asked about the reason why these models are dedicated to reading with BD and HD DVD, a demonstrator answered: "The drives would become far too expensive if we were to develop recordable models at this point of time. In addition, recording media cost more than $30, which is unsatisfactory for many users."
So far no company has made a BLU-RAY drive that only reads for all formats. I am not interested in a DVD writer or CD writer since I already own one. I am looking for some company to make a drive that reads only BLU-RAY, all forms of DVD-ROM, and CD-ROM. The writing of standard DVD and CD’s adds to the cost. These drives if they only read media most likely could be made for under $200.
For $30-$40 one can already purchase a 20X DVD-ROM writer.
I would like to see two product levels,
1. a read only BLU-RAY drive that read DVD’s and Cd’s with no writing for $199.
2. Later on I would be interersted in paying $500+ for a Blu-ray drive that would do both reading and writing of BLU-RAY, DVD, and CD media.
I currently own a DVD read only drive and a DVD writer drive. I like having two separate drives and when making backup copies having two drives is faster. All I am interested in now is building a new computer with Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit edition and getting a BLU-RAY drive for movie watching and later on a receorder to record family videos in HDTV.

[JadedRaverLA]

HDTV108p -- I understand your point, but really, the new ASUS drive looks to just be a rebadge of the new Pioneer drive, which writes DVDs and CDs. Although many may not really want the feature, you can bet OEM's do! The ability to sell a drive "upgrade" to Blu-ray that still writes DVDs and CDs is essential to OEM's like Dell, Gateway, etc. FWIW, I doubt it has much effect on the cost at all. The cost of a red laser capable of burning discs is barely more than that of one only capable of reading, so why not include it in a drive that is going to have to retail for more than $200?

I've always been a believer in having separate drives for reading and writing as well, though writer's (for DVD and CD) have advanced much farther than readers, so I find myself using my DVD burner to do just about everything at this point.

[saljr]

In 6 or 8 months from now. I can see 30%-50% off the retail prices.

[Dave]

Give it to me baby!

[Chris Gerhard]

Originally Posted by saljr

In 6 or 8 months from now. I can see 30%-50% off the retail prices.

Do you have a 1-800 number? I can see what happened yesterday but I am not very clear on what is going to happen in the future. I recently purchased some lottery tickets for the first time in years and then dreamed I didn't win. I woke up in the morning and thought what kind of a dream is that? It was absolutely correct and maybe it is the start of my psychic abilities.

Chris

[Capmaster]

Kind of pointless watching Blu-ray movies on a PC monitor. First of all, you'd need to find a monitor that'll do 1920x1080p. Good luck.

Secondly, I doubt with a 17 or even a 19" monitor your eyes would ever pick out the difference between SD and HD. The smaller the screen, the better the pic - up to a point. At some point your eyes no longer can pick out the difference between two resolutions.

Now, if Asus markets that same drive with BD writing ability enabled, for $280, they'll have my immediate and undivided attention

[baccusboy]

A lot of people will pipe HDMI out of these into their TVs to make a Media Center PC environment.

[Capmaster]

Originally Posted by baccusboy

A lot of people will pipe HDMI out of these into their TVs to make a Media Center PC environment.

I see a few problems with that approach:

1. DVI-to-HDMI isn't an exact science yet. DVI's older and will probably require separate audio. That might put the kaibash on someone's plans for having 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 sound with their movies. Lots of gremlins out there in the graphics card world. And to my knowledge there aren't many cards that output pure HDMI yet.

2. A desktop dedicated to playing Blu-ray? Seems kinda nutty to me when players will be $200 before long.

3. A laptop lashed to the TV dedicated to playing Blu-ray? Even more nutty. And more expensive. And even more dicey with the graphics adapter in the laptop.

It seems to me that a dedicated player is a much cleaner approach. Which brings me back to the point I was making about how useless a Blu-ray play-only drive is for a PC

Just my humble opinion, FWIW

[Deciazulado]

There's a Gateway 24" 1200 x 1920p monitor with DVI/HDCP that I've seen for $625. Does both 1080p and deinterlaces 1080i correctly, with an HDMI to DVI cable.

[saljr]

Originally Posted by saljr

In 6 or 8 months from now. I can see 30%-50% off the retail prices.

When will they be available.

[dakota81]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

I would like to see two product levels,
1. a read only BLU-RAY drive that read DVD’s and Cd’s with no writing for $199.
2. Later on I would be interersted in paying $500+ for a Blu-ray drive that would do both reading and writing of BLU-RAY, DVD, and CD media.
I currently own a DVD read only drive and a DVD writer drive. I like having two separate drives and when making backup copies having two drives is faster. All I am interested in now is building a new computer with Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit edition and getting a BLU-RAY drive for movie watching and later on a receorder to record family videos in HDTV.

The current retail price difference between dvd/cd readers & dvd/cd burners is $10. It's $20 for a dvd-rom, $30 for a dvd burner.

So the current price schemes might be:
1. a read only Blu-ray drive that reads dvds and cds with no writing for $260.
2. a Blu-ray drive that reads Blu-ray/dvd/cd, and writes dvd/cd for $270.

Everyone would by #2. There's no a market for #1 right now, considering the price for #2.