China kills the DVD?

[Turner]

Could be. . . .

China unveils 'DVD killer' video disk formathttp://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/34097.html
By Tony Smith
Posted: 20/11/2003 at 10:34 GMT

'If you can't join 'em, beat 'em' appears to be the maxim guiding the Chinese government's decision to fund the development of an alternative video disc standard to DVD.

The specification detailing the new format, called EVD (Enhanced Video Disc), is now complete, and was formally presented to the Chinese Ministry of Information Industries (MII) and the Standardisation Administration of China (SAC), in Beijing on Tuesday.

Like DVD, EVD video data is compressed, but according to the format's developers, Beijing-based E-World and US digital video technology company On2, it is capable of displaying HDTV images, a feat currently not possible with the established standard.

No wonder EVD is being pitched straight at DVD. The new format will "attack the market share of DVD", the according to the state news agency, Xinhua.

Work on EVD has been going on since 1999. With funding from China's State Trade and Economic Commission and MII.

EVD uses On2's latest video codec, VP6, which offers "better image quality and faster decoding performance than Windows Media 9, Real 9, H.264 and QuickTime MPEG-4," the company - formerly known as The Duck Corporation - claims.

On2 offers VP6 free of charge for personal use. The x86 software can be downloaded from its web site.

EVD also uses On2's previous generation of codec, VP5. VP6 provides 40 per cent better quality and 50 per cent better playback performance than its predecessor, On2 says. The format's audio codec was developed by E-World, along with the hardware specification. At this stage, it's not clear what copy protection or other form of DRM the specification includes.

China's SAC will now distribute the EVD specification among hardware manufacturers. The plan is that they will abandon the DVD format in favour of EVD. The lure is the freedom from royalty payments to the DVD patent holders this will mean.

The format will allow domestic manufacturers to "shake off their previous dependence on foreign technologies" was how the Communist Party newspaper, the People's Daily, recently put it.

The majority of the world's DVD players are made in China, and the nation itself presents a colossal market for EVD products. Of course, whether the predominantly Western content companies will support the new format - particularly if it lacks copyright protection - is another matter. While that may not matter to a country with relatively lax intellectual property regulations, like China, it is an issue if it wants to offer the format overseas.

The DVD Forum, the organisation that controls the DVD specification, is already looking at future generations of the technology that will offer higher capacities and better compression schemes to enable the storage of HDTV video.

Even in China, EVD players are likely to be initially very expensive compared to DVD players, for which there is already a vast array of content available, legitimate and pirate. The Chinese government has said EVD players will cost around 2000 Yuan ($240), compared to 700 Yuan ($85) for a DVD player, AP notes. ®

 

[Aphex_Twin]

What can I say? Maybe I'll buy one in 2 years, when the prices go down...

 

[Speedo]

Legal/copyright issues aside, it'll be a while before it replaces DVDs methinks. DVDs are just too widespread. Unless of course the EVD players is backwards compatible to play DVDs also.

 

[floppa21]

They already have HDCDs in China being released. Like the article said, the HDCDs I have seen claimed to have better sound than the normal CD counterparts, and had bonus tracks. (bonus tracks are not indicative of HDCD's though, but import cds) I tried to buy one on ebay but I didn't win so I have not personally heard the quality meself.

@speedo - I would think they would be backwards compatible so replacing your current music collection wouldn't be necessary, but from here on out you would want to buy ECDs...

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Backwards compatibility shouldn't be a problem, as China is NOT Microsoft ...

 

[Speedo]

If it is then I can see it coming into the market and becoming more popular. Probably the only people that would care now are the ones that have the HDTV stuff... if they pay thousands for a TV I don't think another couple hundred for a EDV player will phase 'em. As it gets cheaper and HDTV is more widespread, it'll could eventually become the standard.

 

[Wolfe Tone]

If it was cheaper and didn't have any regional coding then it would be pretty cool.

 

[Sims2789]

what a waste of money.

 

[Double Barrel]

Its a communist plot!!

 

[stratego]

The Chinese must have secret labs where they develop these things unnoticed until they release it. I heard they are making TV to compete with Sony.

Its a communist plot!!

Maybe. Maybe the Soviet Union didn't really collapse, they just pretended to collapse so that our allies like Osama bin Laden would end up fighting us instead of them.

 

[cgannon64]

Its definetely a communist plot. You'll see, when you play your favorite movie on a EVD, they will make subtle translation changes and insert frames into the movie. And pretty soon you come away from your favorite action-comedy thinking that capitalists are responsable for all the world's ills.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Come on people, do you really think the Chinese were ever Communists?

 

[Simon Darkshade]

Yeah, that whole Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward were just an inscrutable plot by Fu Manchu to conceal his real intent.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Originally posted by Aphex_Twin
Come on people, do you really think the Chinese were ever Communists?

They used to be, but they havent been for 20 years or so. They just have to keep up the idealogical BS up for a little while longer, but the transition to capitalism is well under way.