In an effort to better utilize the large capacity Blu-ray format as an effective archival media, Pioneer has announced the BDR-PR1. This Blu-ray disc burner was designed to offer reliable BD-R recording for reliable archival storage.

Considering the amount of data held on servers and the potential disasters that could cause that data to become corrupted or deleted entirely, it’s becoming more and more critical to have an alternative back-up. That’s why optical discs are still relevant as they are complete resistant to tampering or viruses and if one uses the correct media which is burned properly, can hold data for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Based on an article in CDRinfo;

“According to Pioneer, burning on MKM’s new 50GB BD-Rs at 4X CLV results low Burst Error Cound (BEC) and Random Symbol Error Rate (RSER). These parameters are among the basic signals related to digital errors of a Blu-ray disc and Pioneer’s results are well within the specifications defined for BD-R discs.”

The drive is expected to be released in Japan first and hopefully migrate to other territories soon after.