Pioneer has launched two new UltraHD Blu-ray players for building into PCs in Japan. The disks are large and in a 5.25″ format for desktop PCs. The BDR-S11K is a ‘standard’ player, while the BDR-S11J-X is quieter and has improved audio. The drives only work on Windows 10 PCs with the Intel 7th generation (Kaby Lake) Core processors and a GPU and 6GB of RAM. The PC and monitor need to support HDMI 2.0a and HDCP2.2. The only player that works with the drives is CyberLink’s PowerDVD media player, which is bundled with the drivers. The drives will be available in February.
Analyst Comment
Content from these players should look good on the Asus and Acer HDR monitors that were shown at CES! The timing of this news was not great, given the comments made by Sony about the drop in sales that it is seeing in optical media. (BR)
