Optical media specialist Plextor has just announced the introduction of two new optical media drives to its portfolio. The new drives are able to read and write Blu-Ray high-definition discs and even to read the now gone HD-DVD media.

Both drives are internal units targeted at desktop PC owners who want to take advantage of high-definition multimedia. The internal PX-B920SA is a Blu-Ray burner with a 4 MB buffer, that connects to the computer via a Serial-ATA interface.

It supports Blu-Ray recording speeds of 4X BD-R for a sustained data transfer rate of 18 MB/s and 2X BD-RE (9 MB/s) on single layer and double-layer media. The unit can playback BD-R media at maximum 4.8x, while HD DVD video speeds reach 3x.

The PX-B920SA also supports high-speed reading and recording of DVD and CD media formats, such as DVD-RAM, Dual Layer DVD, Double Layer DVD, DVD±R/RW, and CD-R/RW. The unit can write single-layer DVD±R discs at maximum 16x, while double-layer and dual-layer optical media can be written at maximum 4x speeds.

The drive comes with built-in LightScribe features for direct laser printing on special media, and comes bundled with a rewritable 25GB BD-RE media disc, as well as with InterVideo WinDVD 8, Ulead MovieFactory 5.5 SE, and Burn.Now 4.5 SE application software.

The second offering from Plextor is the PX-B300SA multifunction drive that can play both Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs. However, the unit lacks Blu-Ray burning capabilities, but it will burn DVD and CD media at maximum speeds of 16x for DVD±R discs, 24x for the CD-RW media, and 40x for the plain-old CD-R.

The device comes with a Serial-ATA interface and targets the mid-range market sector, especially the users who would like high-definition playback capabilities and DVD/CD recording.

Plextor will start shipping its two new offerings later this month. The products are expected to come with an estimative price tag of $599.99 for the PX-B920SA Blu-Ray burner and $449.99 for the PX-B300SA multifunction drive.