Pioneer promises Blu-ray recorder for 2006

Pioneer is expected to start shipping a Blu-ray recorder for PCs by the first quarter of 2006, the company said.

The recorder is one of the first available Blu-ray devices in the market and brings the optical storage standard's launch date close to that of the competing HD-DVD format.

Sony will start shipping samples of Blu-ray certified components this month, enabling manufacturers to start producing drives.

The HD-DVD format suffered a set-back earlier this month when Toshiba was forced to delay the launch its HD-DVD players until the first quarter of 2006. The players were originally scheduled for availability by late 2005.

The Pioneer BDR-101A will support Blu-ray as well as all DVD writable and rewritable discs. It offers write speeds of 2x for Blu-ray, 4x for DVD rewritables and 8x for single writable discs.

Pioneer said that it expects the first-generation device to appeal to professional users and enthusiasts. Pricing information was not disclosed.