New series of Blu-Ray drives will offer 4x writing for BD-R media. The Japanese company showcased at CEATEC the 2nd generation of its Blu-Ray burners. The successor of the BDR-101 series, will offer 4x burning for BD-R, 2x for the BD-RE, 12x for DVD±R and the 4x for DVD±R DL media. The drive will also play-back BD-ROMs at 4x and DVD-ROM at 12x. The drive is schedulled to reach the shelves by the end of the year.

It is uncertain whether the specific drive is the BDR-202 (SATA) series. Pioneer's current plans is to add CD-R/RW and DVD-RAM support for its 2nd generation BD writer. So the specific demosntration with Ricoh 4x BD-R media at CEATEC could be performed with a special prototype.



The company also unveiled a slim type is BD burner for notebooks. It features 2x writng for BD-R/RE and 8x for DVD±R and DVD±R DL. BD-ROM and DVD-ROM media are played at 2x and 8x respectively. The drive is expected to appear on the market within 2007.