Finally the $200 Sony Blu-ray drive for a PC

While we like Blu-ray burners as much as the next guy, we've never understood why the burners came first. Well, the wait is finally over and Sony has just announced the BDU-X10S (reader only) for both the PC (pictured) and laptop (after the jump) with a MSRP of $200 -- curiously not 199.99. If this isn't a good enough deal for you, luckily Sony is also including CyberLink's PowerDVD BD Edition. The drives feature a SATA interface, which makes sense since this is the interface of choice on the type of newer PCs that will actually have the juice to playback HD.

[Xyzzy Posted Jan 6th 2008 8:55PM]

So is this a burner or isn't it? I'm confused...

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 6th 2008 9:00PM]

It is a Player only, and Amazon already has it on pre-order at $199 it seems.
From release on, unless demand is bat-s crazy, price should go steadily down :)

If a Burner is what you are looking for, Liteon has one at $399
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106037

[EQC Posted Jan 6th 2008 9:04PM]

it's a little strange that it seems to read DVD's, but doesn't burn them too...For a computer with just 1 optical drive, a burner of some kind is a must, IMHO. No need to burn Bluray...but at least CD or DVD.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 6th 2008 9:14PM]

Still waiting for price drop on both burners and readers to come down as well as media of Single Layer discs.

[Roberini Posted Jan 7th 2008 12:09AM]

I'd wait for the second incarnation of it, when it comes with a DVD burner. I'm sure the price would drop fast once Blu-Ray has complete studio support. Sony is not known for selling their stuff cheap. But, that hasn't stopped other manufacturers from licensing Sony's products and selling them cheaper. Case in point, SanDisc's version of Sony's Memory Stick ProDuo is at least 40% cheaper. So, I have full confidence that prices will be pushed way down once competition between manufacturers kicks in.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 6th 2008 9:45PM]

Awesome, only $200 for the drive... now I just need $400+ to assemble a PC to go with it (more if it is to be a HTPC).

I will stock with the Panasonic BD30 or BD50.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 6th 2008 11:13PM]

Seems like Sony announced the PS3 wil be upgraded to BD-Live (2.0) via a firmware upgrade.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=813

[DaveBG Posted Jan 7th 2008 5:10AM]

WE NEED BURNERS FOR PCs!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 7th 2008 11:19AM]

Who cares. The real news is, how much is it going to cost at Newegg?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 7th 2008 5:36PM]

My thought on this is... Microsoft could use it to make a Blu-ray add-on for their Xbox 360!

Of course they won't, because it's Sony, but they could!

(Or, some brilliant kid out there could create drivers for this thing to install onto the 360, throw this drive in a kit to make it an external USB drive, and BOOM we've got Blu-ray on our 360's!)

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 7th 2008 5:56PM]

You could use this to make it USB.

http://www.cooldrives.com/saandidehadr1.html