PLDS (Philips and Lite-On Digital Solutions) has announced the launch of a new Blu-ray drive, the DH-4B1S, which offers twice the speed at a more consistent rate than the previous model from the company.

The internal Lite-On DHX-4B1S burns data to Blu-ray discs at 4x speeds using the inbuilt "Constant Linear Velocity" (CLV) technology which allows data to be transferred at a consistent 4X rate throughout the burning process.

PLDS says this is a speedy alternative to some other drives on the market that may claim 6X burning but use "Constant Angular Velocity" (CAV) - a strategy that starts data transfer at a slower rate and gradually builds to its top speed only at the end of the session, so in reality the average speed is much lower than 6X.

"If you use only 75-80% of the disc capacity, a 4X CLV writing strategy will be a quicker solution then a 6X CAV strategy", says marketing manager Jelmer Veldman.

"We see a growing market acceptance for Blu-ray as the format of choice for High Definition content playback and for high volume archiving. With this 4X BD writer Lite-On delivers a faster solution for burning data to Blu-ray Discs."

The DH-4B1S will be available across Europe from the end of May with pricing to be confirmed.