Panasonic introduces its new super-thin Blu-ray drive

As ongoing consumer confusion and "we win, no, we win" format backbiting continues in the high-definition video format war, electronics giant Panasonic has this week unveiled its latest Blu-ray drive, which just so happens to be the thinnest drive in the world. Panasonic unveils is new 9.5mm Blu-ray drive for PCs. Credit: Blu-ray.

Panasonic unveils is new 9.5mm Blu-ray drive for PCs. Credit: Blu-ray.Having already introduced the industry’s very first 12.7mm high internal DVD Super Multi Drive back in 2003, Panasonic has since relied on breakthroughs produced via its in-house development to give the world a 9.5mm and then a 7.0mm drive. It is now walking a similar path with the Blu-ray format.Rolled out for personal computer manufacturers, Panasonic’s new sample 9.5mm high Blu-ray drives (BD) have utilised in-house technologies including "low-profile 2-lens actuator and spherical aberration compensation mechanism and an optimized optical design for CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disc laser."According to Panasonic, the increasing need for data volume on modern PCs and the mounting demands created by high-definition media and imagery has seen demand for Blu-ray discs and drives swiftly rising. From that standpoint, Panasonic believes that its 9.5mm Blu-ray drive is ideally suited to meet such demand as it "provides a high added value for notebook PCs that are also becoming thinner and lighter."Boasting a thickness of just 9.5mm, the new drive also features double speed reading and writing for both write-once BD-R and rewriteable BD-RE discs. The drive is also able to read and write on BD-R DL (dual layer 50GB) and BD-RE DL discs, as well as being compatible with "future organic pigment-type BDs." Compatibility also includes a trio of optical discs, which are BD, DVD, and CD.Other reading and writing compatibility related to CD and DVD media includes DVD-RAM, DVD-R, +R, DVD-RW, +RW, CD-R, CD-RW, and also the reading of DVD-ROMs and CD-ROMs. Factor in 8x writing on DVD-R/+R and Panasonic’s new drive becomes a true DVD Super Multi Drive with added Blu-ray support.Samples of the new 9.5mm Blu-ray drive will be officially shown at the 2008 CES show in Las Vegas early next month.