If you are leery of the still high priced Blu-ray disc players and recorders, Philips and Lite-On Digital Solutions (PLDS) will be soon be releasing an external BD-ROM.

Jelmer Veldman of PLDS, says “The market adoption of Blu-ray as the optical disc standard for High Definition content results in a growing demand for Blu-ray playback solutions.”

The DX-4O1S allows for playback via USB 2.0. It can read Blu-ray, single-layer DVD, dual-layer DVD, and CD media. PLDS also has an internal drive available for ~$150.00. Due out in Q2, we figure that the DVD war’s outcome somehow was no surprise to the company.