Pros & Cons
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- Capable DVD burning.
- Blu-ray movie playback.
- Lower price than Blu-ray burners.
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- At $300, you're still paying too much for the privilege of watching Blu-ray movies.
Pioneer BDC-2202 BD-ROM drive Specs
| CD-R Record Speed: | 24x |
| CD-RW Rewrite Speed: | 24x |
| Dual-layer?: | Yes |
| DVD-R Dual Layer Record Speed: | 8x |
| DVD-RW Rewrite Speed: | 6x |
| DVD+R Double Layer Record Speed: | 4x |
| Interface: | Serial ATA |
| Internal or External?: | Internal |
| System Weight: | 2.16 pounds |
The combo drive is back. A few years ago, when DVD media was pricey and the cost of DVD burners was still well north of $300, a bunch of manufacturers shipped optical drives dubbed "combo drives." These were DVD-ROM drives that could burn CD media but only play back DVD-ROMs, whether they were data or movie disks.
Pioneer's new BDC-2202 takes that old idea and refreshes it, offering an optical drive that burns all DVD formats (including DVD-RAM) and, of course, will burn CDs (both CD-R and CD-RW), but will only play, not burn, Blu-ray discs.
Of course, LG and Samsung are proposing a new type of combo drive that will burn both blue laser formats (Blu-ray and HD DVD). But the currently shipping LG GGW-H10 model is extremely expensive.
Given the ridiculously expensive pricing of Blu-ray media, it's likely that most users interested in having a Blu-ray drive on their PC may just want to burn DVDs or CDs and watch Blu-ray movies. This is where the BDC-2202 comes in. Let's take a look at the new Pioneer drive. —
Final Thoughts
Pioneer BDC-2202 BD-ROM drive
The Pioneer BDC-2202 BD-ROM drive is a great idea, but priced about $150 too high. We suggest waiting for lower prices.