CDRLabs.com

Pioneer on April 17 debuted its BDC-S02 Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo drive model in Beijing, for immediate launch in China and later in other markets around the world at a recommended retail price of US$299, according to Pioneer's Taiwan subsidiary Pioneer High Fidelity Taiwan.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20070418PD202.html

Yeah, we finally have a price for that drive. Pioneer wouldn't tell me how much it would be when it was announced at CES. Personally, I think its about $100 too expensive. For $200 more you can buy a drive that can write as well as read Blu-ray discs.

Ian wrote:Yeah, we finally have a price for that drive. Pioneer wouldn't tell me how much it would be when it was announced at CES. Personally, I think its about $100 too expensive. For $200 more you can buy a drive that can write as well as read Blu-ray discs.

Actually, you can get the Lite-On burner for $450 - $50 MIR, for a total of $400 after rebate. So yeah, I'd say it's not worth it.

IMO it's competing against the XBox 360 HD-DVD drive, which is $200 or less, and it's in an external case w/ a free movie to boot. Format favoritism aside, it's overpriced.

This drive can read and write CD's and DVD's too. It would be nice if they had a read only BD drive though.

Ian wrote:This drive can read and write CD's and DVD's too. It would be nice if they had a read only BD drive though.

Ahh cool, I didn't realize it had any burning capabilities. Yeah, a BD-ROM only drive would be cool if it dropped the price more.

I didn't catch on to the writing capabilities either. A $100 Blu-Ray, or HD-DVD-Rom would be a wise move for either camp IMO. I read an article when the PS3 was being released where they had it broken down by component price, and if I remember right the BluRay ROM in it was valued at less than $90. Where are these available ?!

Grain wrote:I didn't catch on to the writing capabilities either. A $100 Blu-Ray, or HD-DVD-Rom would be a wise move for either camp IMO. I read an article when the PS3 was being released where they had it broken down by component price, and if I remember right the BluRay ROM in it was valued at less than $90. Where are these available ?!

You mean the blue laser diode? If the wholesale price of the part costs $90, that means a retail product will be at least $180, and that's not considering other costs...