With rumours abound that Microsoft is to offer a Blu-ray add-on drive for its Xbox 360 games console, laptop manufacturers now offering blu-ray enabled drives and a host of new stand alone players available or on the horizon, the options for playing the high definition format are expanding rapidly.
Although we can't confirm the rumours, drive manufacturer Lite-On (who already provide the standard Xbox 360 drives) will make a BD rom drive available for Microsoft's games console towards the end of 2008.
With the impressive success of Sony's Blu-ray enabled PS3 games console, it is no surprise that Microsoft wants to tap into the lucrative high definition disc market. Most of you will be aware that the Xbox 360 was originally offered with an optional HD DVD drive, the competitor to blu-ray, in the early days of the format war. With the ascendance of Blu-ray, Microsoft was suddenly competing not only against another games console (the PS3) but also against a very impressive stand alone Blu-ray player. With ongoing firmware upgrades available for the PS3 (the latest being 'BD live' - Blu-ray 2.0 spec capability) Sony's games console as a blu-ray player maintains a cutting edge appeal.
The PC manufacturer Dell along with HP, Acer and Asus already offer Blu-ray drives on some of their laptops. The standard Dell 'Inspiron' sells for $599 in the US with consumers having the option to add a Blu-ray drive for $180. Impressively, their is also the option to add a Blu-ray 'burner for $480.
In the UK the range of stand alone Blu-ray players is expanding rapidly. Samsungs latest BD-P1400 is available on-line for £199 and offers most of the High Definition sound formats. Consumers now have a good selection of players from the likes of Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Philips, Sharp and Pioneer with more kit on the way from the likes of Denon.
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