BenQ unveils tri-mode Blu-ray drive, hints at blue laser hybrid drive
Posted on 05/06/06 20:12 by Dan Bell
BenQ is
at Computex and according to a report from PC World, they have announced several new products.
Of particular interest is their Blu-ray, tri-mode drive that is capable
of reading and writing with CD and DVD media as well. The prototype
was unveiled at Computex and is a standard half height drive intended for PC
use. In an interview with BenQ's chairman, Mr. Ky Lee indicated they expect
shipment sometime later this year. But then, he went on to say something
even more interesting:
|
 BenQ has
put its weight behind Blu-ray Disc, but Lee said its support isn't
necessarily exclusive.
"I believe eventually we will have to support both,"
he said. Lee also expects a multi-drive that can read and write both of
the new formats to be available in the future. "Just look at the history
of the DVD standard. DVD+, DVD-, DVD-RAM, and eventually DVD Multi," he
said, referring to drives that support all three
formats. |
It would certainly be nice to have a drive that could
handle anything you throw at it! This way a consumer could make more advanced
choices in which type media to choose for archiving. Surely the blue laser media
will come in at different prices when we consider cost per megabyte. Also, this
would be better for the consumer as it would seem likely these hybrid drives
could cause some serious price wars for blank media between the camps. What do
you think, is a hybrid drive the way to go?
Source: PC World
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WHEN?????
I am sorry but I would really like to watch some High Def movies on my pc and not a single company has came out with a reader for the pc (yes I know there is a Blu ray writer/reader released but I dont have a grand to drop on a burner so a reader will be nice.) I am starting to get aggrivated that all these announcements are being made but nothing is being done.
By
hajj_3,
Monday 05 June 2006 21:12
yeah, announcements and prototypes have been shown for 1yr.
i would love a blue-ray/hd-dvd/dvd/cd drive, will cost a BOMB tho, only rich idiots would spend £600 on a blue-ray writer, waste of money!!!
i dream of £30 multi drives like current drives. hope 1 format dies tho!
Well your going to have to wait a few years on that. Your just going to have to stick with dvd's for now. Dvd's arn't going away anytime soon. It's just if you have the money why not give it a shot and impress your friends. Remember HD Tivo's were 1 grand when they came out and they were sold out real quick. They actually had them on a crate in Best Buy in the middle of the store that shows you how popular they were (1 grand by 50 units lets say is $50,000 worth of product.)
Remember it took 10 years for Dvd Burners to be 30-50 bucks a unit.
[edited by psychoace on 05.06.2006 21:58]
By
cas123,
Tuesday 06 June 2006 02:45
@psychoace you are wrong
You just can't look at it like this, times have changed everything is much more short-life than it was years ago.
Lots of years ago VHS tapes were 20years long a very common media.
But things have changed and everything is moving much muck quicker now than it was 30years ago 
Internal Blue Ray PC burners will cost less than 130$ within the next 12months... keep my words in mind.
P.S.: I am not talking about HD DVD players or so, because those prices won't drop much below 250$ in the future since the players have a build in mini PC in order to decode the information quick enough.
But who knows how the PS3 will influence on the prices of the HD DVD Player... time will tell within the next few months (not years)
I was talking about readers for the pc not full stand alone readers. They will be cheaper then burners and will do what I want for the time being. I am not going to spend 20-30 bucks a disc to burn hd or BD discs. Also Dvd's have been around for 20 years aswell so don't think there will just be some super speed up on changing formats. Nothing has shown such a progression will occur. Hell they are still making releases on vhs so why would dvd's just somehow die in wake of any high def media?
By
vdown,
Tuesday 06 June 2006 09:26
The dvd spec wasnt finalised until 1996 so unless its 2016 its only 10 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd
Well either way HD/Blu dvd's could end up as the laser discs of our generation.
By
ivid,
Tuesday 06 June 2006 18:40
A hybrid blu-ray/hd-dvd drive is the only plausible solution in this pathetic retarded format war. Anything less is foolish gambling !
I am a consumer glutton, an A/V home theater enthusiast, a nut for HD, and I will not spend a penny on either format until one officially dies or a hybrid player is availble. HEAR ME HOLLYWOOD ?
F'ers!
By
Kenshin,
Wednesday 07 June 2006 06:50
For that matter, recordable DVDs have been available to end users for only a few years. The first 2.4x DVD+R media and recorders appeared first time in the third quarter of year 2001. Only from around 2003 and 2004, they've become ubiquitous.
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