Lite-On LH-2B1S Blu-ray Burner Review

Blue laser hardware is gradually becoming more affordable. On the consumer side, Blu-ray players such as the Samsung BD-P1000 are starting to approach the $500 price point. HD-DVD players are dipping below $300 for 1080i units like the Toshiba HD-A2, and you can pick up a 1080P Toshiba HD-A20 for under $400.

On the PC front, events have moved a little more slowly. Blu-ray burners have dropped in price by about a third. For example, the Sony BWU-100A we reviewed late last year initially weighed in at $750, but you can now find it for $599. The HD-DVD front for the PC has been somewhat slower to materialize. External HD-DVD drives from HP are available, as is the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive, which works fine on a PC. But both are HD-DVD ROM drives, not burners. The Toshiba SD-H903A internal HD-DVD burner has supposedly shipped, but you can't find it anywhere, and review samples from Toshiba haven't been available either.

It's also inevitable that combo drives that can handle both types of disks will become available. We recently previewed the LG GGW-H10N, but it's believed that particular drive will cost well over $1,000. Though this LG drive is a full-featured Blu-ray and DVD burner, HD-DVD support is limited to playback of HD-DVD ROM disks only.

Now Lite-On is jumping into the fray. The company famous for driving down prices of DVD recordable drives is shipping the LH-2B1S Blu-ray Burner, which can be found for under $500 (check prices). While a five hundred dollar drive isn't exactly a budget product, it does demonstrate that the price of blue laser technology is starting to come down from the stratosphere.

Let's take a closer look. Continue...

Source extremetech