CES 2009: ASUS Showcases BD Notebooks, Sound Card & External Drive

Computer products manufacturer ASUS displayed several impressive Blu-ray relevant products at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, including an A/V card for desktop PCs – which is the first in the world to output high resolution, uncompressed sound codecs like DTS-HD MA and Dolby TrueHD.

The Xonar HDAV1.3, equipped with stereo analog outs and two HDMI ports, is a slick PCI card which, in addition to the above mentioned audio, can stream up to 192KHz/24bit, 8 channel LPCM – giving computer users the capability to see and hear a full HD presentation on their home PCs. A Deluxe model comes with a "daughter card" and a ribbon cable to expand the analog audio to a full 8 channels, as well.

Also of note was the SBC 04D1S-U, an external Blu-ray Disc drive for use on desktops and notebooks. The most impressive element about the model was its discrete size and powerful output; ASUS tentatively plans to release the model this year. In addition, a handful of new ASUS notebooks will arrive on the scene this year with workhorse drives and BD capability, including the W90Vn, the N50Vn, and the M90GF.


Further details will be posted to the site as soon as they are provided by company representatives in the future.