At the International Consumer Electronics Show, Pioneer Electronics announced the new BDC-202 combination Blu-ray Disc BD-ROM computer drive with DVD and CD writing and reading capabilities.

The newly designed Pioneer drive offers playback of BD-ROM discs allowing users to view Blu-ray Disc high definition programs directly on a properly configured computer. The Pioneer BDC-202 can play multiple Blu-ray Disc formats, as well as provide high-speed reading and writing of DVD and CD formats.

In addition to BD-ROM playback, the BDC-202 allows users to access and transfer A/V and data files to DVD and CD.

The Pioneer BDC-202 combines fast DVD and CD recording speeds with enhanced BD-ROM playback to the delight of audio video enthusiasts who now have the capability to view recently released film titles directly on a computer for times when they are not in a home theater environment.

The BDC-202 is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2007, and is targeted at computer OEMs and system builders.

Pioneer also showcased 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.The BDR-202 drive will support 4x recording for BD-R media. Availability is expected in Q3 of 2007.

Basic specifications Pioneer BDC-202:

Read:

BD-ROM 5x
BD-R/-RE 5x
BD-R DL/-RE DL 2x
DVD-ROM 12x
DVD-RAM 5x
DVD-R/+R 12x
DVD-RW/+RW 8x
DVD-RDL/+RDL 8x
CD-ROM 32x
CD-R 32x
CD-RW 24x

Write:

DVD-RAM 5x
DVD-R/+R 12x
DVD-RW/+RW 6x
DVD-RDL/+RDL 4x
CD-R 32x
CD-RW 24x