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Samsung has recently announced that it will begin the mass production of the Blu-ray read-write drive in the 5.25” form factor, used by personal computers. Previously Samsung had been involved in a joint effort with Toshiba to produce HD DVD drives.

if you have one of these, an Xbox 360 HD DVD drive by Samsung – it could be worth lots of money someday, as the lst of its kind!

With the format war over, all the major manufacturers have been doing some rearranging and shuffling of parts and priorities. Hitachi has continued in partnership with LG to produce Blu-ray drives, and has been doing well in sales and  upcoming commitments.

you know what announcement means – it means that the first ones are already shipping in Japan

The first product introduced will be a Blu-ray read, combined with DVD-RW, drive. It is expected to sell the largest number of drives for quite some time. The low availability of Blu-ray writeable media, combined with high cost will keep the second projected product, a full read-write Blu-ray drive, out of most consumer hands for some time. This will, no doubt, keep the movie studios happy. It is in no small way that the relationship of Sony, the movie company, to Sony, the drive and player manufacturer, keeps the cost of Blu-ray media up.

don’t let the pictures fool, these things are still few and far between

No prices, or model numbers, were announced, as everyone at the press conference knew the adage about having to ask. It is simply assumed that the first runs of the read-write drives will likely cost as much as 50% of the combined cost of a Blu-ray equipped PC. On the other hand, the proliferation of Blu-ray read-only drives should make their inclusion in many more PCs probable. A Samsung executive was said to have projected 2010 as the timeframe for the beginning of significant market penetration of the read-write drives, pumped up by the high definition television adoption in many homes.  

While the ability to have one of these drives in an HTPC may seem great, remember that the price will come down with time, and there’s no scientific way to predict how quickly it might happen. You don’t want to be part of another HD DVD replay – where, in the space of 2 months the going price of a good drive goes to 33% of what you paid!

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