A lot of announcements have been coming out at the CeBit expo in Hanover, as with any large consumer electronics show. The latest releases regarding the next generation dvd format are internal and external drives for your PC, laptop, game console, what have you.

First we start with Samsung’s external Blu-ray burner, which I have to say (and I’m not the only one) looks a bit like someone has PS3 envy. The SE-B046 is a 2nd generation disc drive of the SE-B026A, which also looked like a PS3 but with out the high gloss finish.

The latest external Blu-ray disc drive/ burner writes BD-R discs at 4x and BD-RE at 2x and uses a second laser for DVD and CD burning. It will also sport a dual USB 2.0/Firewire interface and you will be able to connect it to the PS3. I guess that is why it got the shiny makeover. The SE-B046 will be available sometime in 2008, and Samsung has not announced a possible price point yet.

As for the HD DVD side, Toshiba showed off their internal desktop and notebook drives which included the SD-H903A. This drive is an internal desktop drive capable of writing HD DVD at 1x speed and can also write DVD/CD with a single objective lens.

Earlier this month, Toshiba released their external HD DVD drive that can only read HD DVD but it still can read and write DVD/CD and it is not as invasive as Samsung’s PS3 twin. The PA35 will connect to your PC via USB 2.0 and will read HD DVD at 1x speed. Let’s hope they come out with a 2nd gen of this little guy. You can get one now though for only $370.

R.Hollis

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 at 1:25 pm and is filed under Blu-Ray News, HD-DVD news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.