A sub-$200 BD-ROM drive has been announced by Sony for watching Blu-ray movies on home PCs.

The internal BD-ROM drive is claimed to be able to upgrade an existing desktop computer into a high-definition Blu-ray Disc player, as well as a DVD and a CD player.

The new BDU-X10S BD-ROM drive comes with CyberLink’s PowerDVD BD Edition software for playback of commercial movie titles, recorded Blu-ray Disc home videos, DVD-ROMs and CD-ROMs.

The BDU-X10S drive features a Serial ATA (SATA) interface and standard 5.25-inch form-factor "for easy installation inside contemporary desktop PCs running the Microsoft Windows Vista or Windows XP operating system".

The included CyberLink PowerDVD BD Edition software also supports playback of recorded Blu-ray Discs in MPEG2 or H.264 format, standard DVD-Video discs or recorded DVDs encoded with MPEG2 or AVCHD formats.

For high-definition viewing, an HD computer display connected to the PC with an HDMI cable is required.

The new BD-ROM drive will start shipping this month and pre-orders are being accepted now through the Sony Style website.

>> Link - Sony
>> Link - Sony's eStore