While most of us prefer accessing media content via streaming services, there still exists a segment that would much rather stick with hardware. Pioneer today launched a couple of new products just for them. The company has unveiled its first Ultra HD Blu-ray PC drives today and has confirmed that they will be available for purchase next month.
Pioneer BDR-S11J-BK and BDR-S11J-X UHD Blu-ray players are fully compatible to read the triple-layer 4K-ready discs. The drivers will be shipped with a copy of Cyberlink’s PowerDVD software that can play 4K movies from the disc.
That’s not all, though. Those who pick up one of these drives will also need a Windows 10 PC running a 7th generation Intel Core i5 or i7 Kaby Lake processor and an HDCP 2.2 compatible HDMI 2.0a connection.
Both of these PC drivers can perform read and write functions but it’s going to be read-only for UHD Blu-ray discs. They’re pretty much identical in their functionality it’s just that the BDR-S11J-X has some additional tweaks for CDs.
Pioneer has only said that it’s going to start shipping these drives next month but it hasn’t confirmed how much they’re going to cost and when they’re going to be released in the United States.