Pioneer is expected to release its second generation of Blu-Ray drives as well as a series of red-laser DVD burners in the following months.

The Japanese company has scheduled the release of its 12th generation DVD writer models next year. The introduction of the DVR-112 series, the successor of the DVR-111 is expected in February 2007. The drive will offer 18x writing for DVDs and will have an ATAPI interface. One month later, Pioneer is expected to launch a S-ATA version of the 18x DVD drive, code-named DVR-212.

Both DVR-112 and DVR-212 series are also expected to come in LightScribe-enabled versions. The LightScribe PATA DVR-112C and the SATA DVR-212C are expected later in March and April 2007.

But before then, Pioneer fans should expect the DVR-111C (LightScribe model). The drive has passed HP's LightScribe verification and currently Pioneer's engineers are making the final tweaks to the drive before its release, early 2007.

Pioneer will also release its second generation of Blu-Ray drives, the Pioneer BDR-202. The drive will have a SATA interface and it is expected to support DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-RAM and CD-R/RW writing support. Although Pioneer has not yet confirmed it, the BDR-202 drive is expected to support 4x recording for BD-R media. Availability is expected in April 2007.