Philips, Lite-On Debut $199 Blu-ray Reader

The new joint venture between Philips and Lite-on has announced a new SATA Blu-ray reader...and it'll cost just $199.

The new joint venture between Philips and Lite-On is looking to bring Blu-ray support to the mass market this month, announcing its new SATA DH-401S Blu-ray combo drive will land at retailers soon with a suggested price of just $199.99.

"With the increasing availability of Blu-ray Disc movies and other video content, consumers now have an affordable way to view the brilliant picture quality Blu-ray technology offers right on their personal computers," said PLDS markleting manager Christine Hsing.

The drive offers a SATA interface, reads single or double layer BD-R/RE/ROM media at 4× speed, and can also handle single-layer DVD±R and DVD-ROM media at 12×, along with double-layer DVD±R and single layer DVD±RW at 8× speeds. It’ll also handle your conventional CD media at 32× speeds.

The drive will ship with an SATA cable and an extra silver faceplate, if the default black doesn’t work with your computer’s color scheme. Cyberlink Power DVD software will also enable playback of BD, DVD, or CD media.