Audio Video News

Burn, Baby, Burn Blu-ray

Mark Fleischmann  |  May 9, 2017

Pioneer has introduced the world’s first Ultra Blu-ray rewritable disc drive for computers—in Japan, anyway. They can write to four-layer Blu-ray Discs (capacity 128 gigabytes) and rewrite to three-layer discs (100 GB).

You’ll need Windows 10—but being a smart cookie, you upgraded your Win 7 to 8.1 machines before the free upgrade expired, right? Unfortunately, you’ll also need Intel’s seventh-generation Kaby Lake-S Core i5 or i7 processor for desktop computers, or the Kaby Lake-H Core i5 or i7 for laptops. Kaby Lake-U won’t work. Other requirements include 6 GB RAM, 25 GB free storage space to facilitate the burning process, HDMI 2.0a, HDCP 2.2, and a UHD-worthy 2160 x 3840-pixel display with HDR. The drives come with a CyberLink software bundle. They will sell in Japan for $195 for the basic BDR-S11J-BK or $310 for the step-up BDR-S11J-X. No word on availability in the U.S

COMMENTS
jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on May 9, 2017 - 10:51am

literally for years! UHD/100GB capable drives are new and welcome though! Hopefully it will also allow PCs to playback UHD movies with appropriate software as well!

Sal1950's picture
Submitted by Sal1950 on May 10, 2017 - 5:55pm

Nice drive, prices will come down soon I'm sure.
Now all that we really need is some reliable software that will do bit perfect ripping! Ya HOOO

Sal1950's picture
Submitted by Sal1950 on May 10, 2017 - 6:01pm

BTW, Meant to mention don't forget to get your Windoz 10 update if you haven't already. Using the M$ Assistive Tech site you can still update your 7-8 installs to 10. I did mine just a month ago and looks like things are still running fine.
"When does this offer end?
We have not announced an end date of the upgrade offer for customers using assistive technology. We will make a public announcement prior to ending the offer."
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows10upgrade

wacio's picture
Submitted by wacio on May 10, 2017 - 8:26pm

I see Newegg selling 128Gb writers for long time (they are as low as $50). Is this drive something different?

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