Gamernode: News - Sony to release PC Blu-Ray player for under $200

Sony to release PC Blu-Ray player for under $200

Sony Electronics has announced the new BDU-X10S BD-ROM, an internal Blu-Ray player that will transform any PC into a Blu-Ray player.

The BD-ROM will be bundled with a special Blu-Ray edition of Cyberlink's PowerDVD player, allowing users to play commercial Blu-Ray discs, burnt Blu-Ray discs, DVDs and CDs. The BD-ROMs will use SATA connections and features the standard 5.25 inch form-factor, allowing it to fit into any computer that can hold a CD/DVD-ROM drive.

At under $200, the drive is quite competitively priced, and could see an outcome similar to when DVD-ROMs exploded onto the PC scene. Maybe we'll see PC games coming on Blu-Ray to save us from multiple DVDs.

"PC-based DVD-ROM drives helped accelerate mass DVD adoption, primarily because they were the least costly way to experience the technology," said Wolfgang Schlichting, research director, removable storage at IDC. "Similarly, we expect sub-$200 PC-based BD-ROM drives to be a driver for cost-conscious consumers to experience Blu-ray Disc high-definition video technology."

Now this is all nice and good, but I think most people will hold out for a Blu-Ray burner, or get a player/PS3 if they really want to watch high def movies. Other than giving a sharper and cleaner image, the next biggest appealing factor of Blu-Ray for me is the size of the disc. A disc that can hold 25 to 50GB of data would be incredibly handy for backing up all of your por.... saved games.

This development also makes the next-gen format wars interesting. If Sony does manage to get affordable BD-ROMs into PCs and make Blu-Ray movies that much easier to watch, HD-DVD could be in serious trouble.

If you want to pre-order the new BDU-X10S BD-ROM just head on over to the SonyStyle website.

[via Sony]

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