Pioneer's new BDC-2202 Blu-ray Disc (BD) combo drive has been officialy relesed in the U.S. today, bundled with software by Corel.

Priced at $299.99, Pioneer's BDC-2202 drive offers a compelling solution for consumers who want to use their PC to view the growing number of high-definition Hollywood movies that are being released on BD. It can read Blu-ray at 5x, Blu-ray dual layer at 2x and reads and writes to DVDs and CDs as well. The drive is also available in the European market as BDC-S02 (see cdrinfo's review).

The bundled software includes special editions of Corel's WinDVD(R) 8, Ulead(R) VideoStudio(R) 11 and Ulead(R) Burn.Now(R)1.5.

Pioneer's BDC-2202 combo drive is available in the Americas now through Pioneer's resellers and online at www.pioneerelectronics.com.