Rewritable media from TDK, and software from Roxio give this burner 50GB of capacity on a dual layer Blu-ray disc (BD-R & BD-RE).
LONG BEACH, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- May 17, 2006 Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. is now shipping the industry's first Blu-ray Disc (BD) computer drives. The new Pioneer BDR-101A will change the way digital and high-definition media are stored by increasing disc capacity and performance capability. By utilizing shorter wavelength blue lasers, the BDR-101A can burn up to 25 gigabytes (billion bytes) of information on a single layer Blu-ray Disc.
The BDR-101A will be bundled with Sonic Solutions'(R) Roxio(R) Blu-ray Disc software and blank media by TDK that will enable end-users to store data and recorded content.
Blu-ray Disc is an ideal format for storage and distribution of high definition content. "As we move deeper into the transition to high-definition content creation and distribution, increasing storage capacity will become more and more critical," said Andy Parsons, senior vice president at Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. "Blu-ray Disc technology fulfills the rapidly growing need for additional storage space and Pioneer is proud to be one of the first companies bringing it to market through the BDR-101A."
This first generation BDR-101A product is targeted towards professional users and technology enthusiasts who will be using the Blu-ray Disc drive for advanced storage needs. "In order to serve our clients' needs at the highest level, we must anticipate their needs for uses of new media formats," said Randy Hudson, member of the DVD Association, and president and CEO of Broadness, a media service company providing A/V media services, digital cinema media services, and online video and audio media delivery solutions. "The professional DVD production community has always counted on Pioneer to deliver technologies, products and support that allows us to exceed our clients' expectations."
The Roxio(R) software bundle will support professional, high-definition Blu-ray Disc (BD) authoring applications by transferring BD disc images to BD-R and BD-RE media. It also features data storage applications such as the backup of up to 25GB of data on a single layer BD disc. The software supports the following key capabilities:
-- BD/DVD Premastering
-- Data write support
-- Disc Image (create & record)
-- Erase (Quick & Full BD-RE and -/+RW)
-- Drive Utilities
"Pioneer is renowned for their contributions to the development of optical media, so we are extremely pleased to be collaborating with them on such a significant milestone in the rollout of Blu-ray Disc," said Stan Wong, general manager, Roxio division of Sonic Solutions.
Blank media from TDK will also be packaged with the BDR-101A. "TDK is the first company to offer recordable Blu-ray Discs," noted Bruce Youmans, TDK vice president of marketing. "Using TDK BD-RE media and the Pioneer BDR-101A computer writer, users can experience the full performance capabilities of Blu-ray. From archiving large data volumes to recording HD video at the highest resolutions, Blu-ray Disc extends new and exciting capabilities."