Pioneer reportedly pulls out of Blu-ray drive business

Pioneer leaves the optical recorder business after 30 years of making drives for computers. (Image source: Pioneer)

Pioneer has reportedly pulled out of the optical drive business, including Blu-ray and DVD recorders, after 30 years of manufacturing such drives. Moving forward, the company will focus on electronics for cars such as navigation systems.

David Chien, Published 05/03/2025 🇪🇸 🇵🇹 ...

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Pioneer has allegedly pulled out of the Blu-ray optical drive business, according to Impress.

The company has transferred shares in its optical drive subsidiary Pioneer Digital Design and Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (PDDM) to Shanxi Lightchain Technology Industrial Development Co., Ltd. in China. This move came after it decided to focus on automotive electronics, which include its popular car navigation units, moving forward.

Pioneer began making optical drive recorders for the computer market in 1995. The company's CD, DVD, and Blu-ray recorders were known for their high quality writes, with low error rates, across a variety of recordable media. One of its last models was the Pioneer BDR-X13U-X BDXL Blu-ray recorder released in 2024.

Readers who want to buy a Pioneer drive can search for stock at the Pioneer Store on Amazon and other stores because no further Pioneer drives or recordable media will be manufactured. The Pioneer US store has no stock, and the Pioneer Japan store will close on May 30.

LG remains one of the last manufacturers of Blu-ray recorders, including this WH14NS40 14x BDXL burner sold on Amazon, which is ripping-friendly with apps like MakeMKV.

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Source(s)

Impress, Pioneer Global, Pioneer Japan store

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David Chien - Tech Writer - 654 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2023

Having worked at Activision, UCLA, Anime Expo and more, I've seen technology being used to save lives, create games, and create fantastic 3D VR/AR worlds. There's always something fun in emerging technology that I want to get my hands on and all my friends turn to me to find the best for their needs, so I'm glad to bring my experience to Notebookcheck.

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