Panasonic's Blu-ray burner - LF-MB121JD
By Matt Burns 
posted Apr 21st 2006 8:59AM
posted Apr 21st 2006 8:59AM
Panasonic chose what camp they were going to be in early on so they have a huge head start. From the looks of things, Panasonic has a Blu-Ray burner coming real soon, the LF-MB121JD. This drive, yes it is a computer drive and not a set-top player, can read and write on the BD-R and BD-RE media at a whopping 2X (72Mps). Oh, and it also supports BD-ROM too along with normal DVD±R and normal CDs.The blank media is available in 25 and 50 gig formats. Judging by the cost of TDKs blank discs, it would be a lot cheaper just to buy a huge hard drive, but that's just me The drive itself is going to be available on June 10th for $850.
UPDATE: Akihabara News has a high-def clip of this drive you might want to check out. It is not of it in action still it is in high definition.
[via NewLaunches]
[via Akihabara News]
So, I am going to pay $875 (without including tax) to burn 1 BD disc? These costs are massive.
I think, Ill just go with streaming HD content to my 360 for now.
This is totally be expected. The first Pioneer DVD-R burners targeted to consumers were about an $900 MSRP (other commercial versions were released earlier in the $2k to $4k range).
I picked one up for $400 (street) and thought I was getting a screaming good deal. 12 months later the better models were going for $100 MSRP.
***All electronics always depreciate heavily over time (no matter what). ***
This is a constant and it is built into their business model. It allows the manufacturer to cash in on everyone on the upper-end of the demand curve (see your Econ 101 text book) and slowly work down the curve (cashing in on everyone else along the way) until the market hits an optimum efficiency (like how you can get a DVD+/-/DL burner for $40).
Exactly Dan, and considering that Sony, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Apple, HP, and Dell are all in the Blu-ray camp, Blu-ray should be heading down in price very soon as the economies of scale will be huge. Not to mention, the variety of content you'll get with Blu-ray since 7 out of the 8 major movies studios will be releasing on Blu-ray, 5 of which will be exclusively Blu-ray (Fox, Disney, MGM, Lionsgate, and Sony Pictures). Also with the majority of Pornshare on the Blu-ray boat, and and the majority of gaming companies, things look real good for Blu-ray.
Very True, you do bring up a good point.
I just dont know about all of this anymore. I am really stepping back from it for a while, like I will tell anyone that goes to me for tech info. It is just too risky right now to invest. DVD was a no brainer...it offered new things that no one has ever seen before, and there was no competition.
I feel like we are almost at the point where we are going to stream HD content. Verizon's TV service offers something like 40 HD channels.