Blu-ray announcements ramp up
BenQ has become the first major manufacturer to announce a Blu-ray disc recorder. The drive, which can record to both single-sided 25GB discs and double-sided 50GB discs, uses Philips' triple-laser optical pick-up which supports blue laser, red laser and infra-red.

This means the drive will be able to read and write to CD and DVD as well as Blu-ray discs. BenQ says the recorder will be available in the second half of 2005.

Sonic Solutions used BenQ's new drive to demonstrate its RecordNow software which can burn data onto Blu-ray discs and CinePlayer HD which can play back Blu-ray discs from the BenQ drive.

Last week Apple announced it had joined the Blu-ray Association board. "Consumers are already creating stunning HD content with Apple's leading video editing applications like iMovie HD and are anxiously awaiting a way to burn their own high def DVDs," said Apple CEO, Steve Jobs.

In January, Jobs and Sony president Kunitake Ando joined forces to proclaim 2005 "the year of HD" and Apple launched HDV versions of its iMovie and Final Cut editing suites.