Posted by Ian on March 25th, 2008 at 11:59 AM CST

With the price of DVD writers reaching new lows, LG and Samsung have announced that they will be launching 22x DVD writers later this year. While many enthusiasts are looking forward to 4.5 minute burn times, the higher price tag associated with these drives and the lack of compatible media is expected to prevent them from going mainstream.

While Samsung Electronics launched its Super-WriteMaster SH-S223 22x DVD burner in early March 2008 and LG Electronics will follow suit to launch its latest Super Multi series GH22, in the second quarter of 2008, 18x and 20x are still the mainstream burning speed levels, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

22x DVD burners take 4.5 minutes to burn a 4.7GB 16x DVD+R/-R disc, faster than 6-8 minutes using an 18x or 20x model, the sources pointed out. However, the highest write speed of blank DVD+R/-R discs currently available is 20x, and 22x DVD burners are significantly more expensive, the sources indicated. Therefore, 22x is unable to replace 18x and 20x to become the mainstream DVD burning speed, the sources noted.

The article also states that Sony is expected to introduce a 22x DVD writer later this year. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes.