BLU-RAY disc

Blue-Ray and HD DVD formats are next generation of optically burned disks. So far, I have seen a few brands of Blue-Ray drives available for sale. However, the competing HD DVD drives seem to be still a promise not yet to hit the market.

Okay, what does this really mean to you. Blue-Ray drives can write either to single or double sided disks, single sided being 25gigabytes and double sided at 50gigabytes. Rather surprising and you surely are asking, "Hey, Mystic... where can I get one of these new writer drives for my PC and what is it going to cost me?" The truth is... I have only found a couple of website that offer the single sided writer drive and the going price seems to be just under $1,000. The blank media is $20 for one 2 5gig blank disk, (not re-writable). You can tell we are at the bleeding edge of this technology, just like when DVDs or even 1.44mg floppies first became available. The sooner we have mass marketing of this technology, the sooner the price will drop down to what we are currently paying for DVD writer drives. Currently, I found the Pioneer BDR-101A Blu-ray / 2x2x BD-R/RE / 8x4x8x DVD±R/RW / 2.4x+R DL / 2x-R DL / Blu-ray Disc Internal Writer at Tiger-Direct ready for shipment at $999.99. You can also find the blank media available there.

Now, for the good news... Blue-Ray technology is backward compatible with DVDs and CDs... so, we are only talking about one drive for your PC that can read and/or write Blue-Ray, DVDs and CDs. The HD DVD format is suppose to be coming soon, but as of this writing I have found it available.

Any one who has seen a great HDTV knows that once you start watching TV in HD, you don't want to go back to standard definition programming. Even the DVDs that looked so crisp and clear when they were first introduced in 1996 seem to fade in comparison. Along comes Blue-ray Disc and soon enough you'll be able to get movies and other programs in HD from your local video retailer. Likewise, you'll be able to record HD programming from your cable, satellite or TV antenna to relive the "big game" as many times as you like. And, with a Blue-ray Disc computer drive, you can store up to 50 gigabytes at a time when you back up your data, photos, portable music files and home videos.

Specifications for the Pioneer
BDR-101A PC drive
Cache Size 8 MB

BD-R Write Speed 2X

BD-RE Write Speed 2X

BD Read Speed 2X

DVD+R Write Speed 8X

DVD-R Write Speed 8X

Color Beige

Interface Type E-IDE

Special Features

* Blu-ray Disc delivers the capacity for the best possible high definition audio and video quality.
* HDTV provides six times more picture information than standard definition TV so you don't miss a single detail. In order to do that, HDTV requires more bits per second and more gigabytes per disc. So if you want great HDTV, you'll also want a Blu-ray Disc player or recorder to watch movies in HD and to record HDTV programming.
* You'll find Blu-ray Disc hardware from Pioneer and nearly all other consumer electronics companies.
* In addition, the world's largest and best recognized computer companies also support Blu-ray Disc, as well as the most popular video game manufacturers.
* Many major movie studios are planning to release their hottest new titles on Blu-ray Disc as well.