Plextor, a leading supplier of various optical disc drives (ODDs), on Wednesday unveiled two new drives that are compatible with all optical media available to consumers, including Blu-ray disc (BD), HD DVD, DVD and CD. The new devices outline importance of dual-format high-definition optical drives due to relative popularity of both competing standards.

The new drives from Plextor are combo drive PX-B300SA with BD and HD DVD support as well as Blu-ray burner PX-B920SA that is also compatible with HD DVD, which are scheduled to arrive in late February to Europe. The announced products are likely to substitute Plextor’s Blu-ray only PX-B900A burner, which was announced last year, and enable end-users to watch high-definition movies regardless the type of media they are released on.

“[Plextor PX-B300SA] is an ideal way for buyers to get into High Definition – it’s a high spec DVD-rewriter that plays both standards Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies,” said Rudy de Meirsman, sales and marketing manager of Plextor.

The Plextor PX-B300SA drive can playback/read, record and re-write DVDs (16x speed for DVD±R, 8x/6x for DVD±RW, 4x for DVD±R DL), playback/read single- and dual-layer Blu-ray discs (6x for BD-ROM and BD-R, 2x for BD-RE), it also can playback/read HD DVD media as well as read and record CDs.

The Plextor PX-B920SA drive can playback/read, record and re-write DVDs (16x speed for DVD±R, 8x/6x for DVD±RW, 4x for DVD±R DL), playback/read and record single- and dual-layer Blu-ray discs (6x read speed for BD-ROM and BD-R, 2x for BD-RE; 4x or 2x burn speed for BD-R), it also can playback/read HD DVD media as well as read and record CDs.

“Plextor has developed its second Blu-ray drive to be faster, dual-format, as it reads HD-DVD discs, and utilises the SATA interface. Plextor has a long history in providing premium, high reliability optical drives and the new PX-B920SA sets the standard again,” noted Ms. De Meirsman.

Both new drives from Plextor feature LightScribe technology to enable custom text and designs to be printed/burned onto discs and are intended for Serial ATA interconnection.

Pricing of Plextor PX-B300SA and PX-B920SA was not announced. In fact, the success of the new dual-format ODDs from Plextor depends on their actual cost: if the price of one dual-format optical drive is higher than the price of two single-format drives that offer comparable capabilities, then not a lot of enthusiasts are going to acquire such drive.

Despite of constant claims by Blu-ray Disc Association as well as HD DVD Promotional Group regarding the “win” of the format war, analysts believe that in future the vast majority of optical drives will be compatible with both Blu-ray and HD DVD.