Buffalo Technology has announced it'll move into the optical disk market with a range of external DVD drives, aimed at "tech-savvy consumers".

The new flagship product will apparently be the only one on the European market to support Blu-ray (with read/write capabilities) and HD-DVD (read-only).

It will also be compatible with existing DVD formats and come bundled with Nero software.

A plug-and-play setup is promised and it will also come equipped with Buffalo Technology's TurboUSB technology.

Gerardine Lynch, product marketing manager at Buffalo Technology, says: "The formatting war is hotting up in the wake of the Warner Brothers announcement to go with the Blu-ray camp, but the battle isn't over yet".

"We therefore feel it's important to offer consumers a choice between Blu-ray and HD-DVD which guarantees that their investment won't be wasted in the future."

Two other products will also be launched, one with just read-only functionality for Blu-ray and HD DVD while the other will be a "cost-effective" DVD read/writing option.

The range will be available in the UK from mid-March.