ASUSTeK Computer, the world’s largest maker of mainboards, and Pioneer, one of the world’s biggest producers of electronic equipment, recently began to ship their new DVD burners that are capable of recording DVDs at 16x speed, broadening the offerings of high-speed disc recorders on the market.

The latest DVD burner from ASUS, DRW-1604P, is capable of recording DVD±R discs at 16x, DVD±RW discs at 4x, DVD+R DL (Dual Layer) at 4x, CD-R discs at 32x, CD-RW discs at 24x and also read DVD-ROM and CD-ROM discs at 16x and 40x speeds respectively. The optical disc drive is equipped with technologies aimed to avoid buffer underrun and other errors while writing. Pioneer’s DVR-A08XLA recorder boasts the same specification, as ASUSTeK is an OEM supplier for Pioneer.

Earlier this year when Philips Electronics initiated production of its DVD recorders capable of burning DVD discs at 16x speed some Japanese and Taiwanese companies, such as Pioneer, Sony, BenQ, Lite-On and ASUSTeK said they would postpone the volume production of 16x DVD burners at least till the end of July citing inadequate supply of appropriate laser diodes because of insufficient yields as well as necessity to match 16x DVD burners with 16x DVD+R discs.

Philips’s latest DVD burner retails for around 180 euro, while ASUSTeK’s is projected to cost $150-$160 for end-users.

With three makers manufacturing DVD burners with 16x speed, other companies who deal with optical disc drives are likely to initiate production shortly, which may affect pricing of such devices and move them to the mainstream market sometime in late 2004.