China could shake up the works with a technology that we have been hearing about. Just in time for HDTV and the accompaning hardware. This non-user recordable format is capable of 5 times the resolution of current DVD technology. Couple that with the fact that this proprietary item skirts the DVD royalty and you have a serious contender in the marketplace. Not to mention China has the capability to efficiently mass produce and distribute their own products.
| The The launching of such a standard signals that China, for the first time, establishes what is expected to help domestic disc player manufacturers shake off their previous dependence on foreign technologies in production, experts said. "As far as I know, the MII will issue the standard next month," said Zhang Yijun, deputy chief engineer of the Shanghai-based SVA Group. "We are quite confident in the next-generation digital disc technology, where we will possess our own intellectual property," he said. While being chosen as a testing base for the EVD technology, SVA has been actively involved in the development of some core components in the new technology, according to Zhang. SVA is part of a fledgling Chinese digital disc technology alliance - initiated by the MII - that involves more than 10 domestic enterprises and research institutions in the industry, including a majority of China's disc player producers. "It (EVD technology) is a landmark achievement for us... we believe it will find its position on the domestic market," said Ding Kangyuan, vice-director of Disc Industry Promotion Committee of China (DICC) under the China Audio Industries Association (CAIA). Ding attributed predicted market acceptance to the quickly growing domestic high-end colour TV market, especially in the high definition television (HDTV) segment, which calls for complementary disc-playing equipment like EVDs. Ding predicted that Blue Ray technology will not form its large-scale application within the next three years. If the software sources of EVDs or video programmes stored in the EVD format can be guaranteed, the players will very likely first enter the high-end domestic market segment where consumers can afford costly display products like HDTV. A number of DICC member companies, mainly current domestic DVD player producers, have been paying close attention to the EVD technology's progress, according to Ding. "After all, it's our own technology," he said. |
According to the article however, analysts have pointed out that it is hard to say whether EVD technology will be quickly accepted on a global basis, even though it may find its niche in the vast Chinese market.
EVD player are estimated to cost about US$ 240, nearly three times the cost of a standard DVD player. China produced over 30 million DVD players in 2002 - almost doubling the figure in 2001 - and nearly 20 million units were exported last year. There is no information available that I can find indicating the capacity of the disks.
Looks like we may have a new product to contend with and no domestic hardware to support it, let alone record this proprietary format. Guess who will like that? How about the MPAA. It will be very interesting to see how this develops. Kudos to the Chinese for producing such a technology and forming their own alliance. Although it is a bit scary, we also know that we now have a serious competition and that can good for the end-user. The existing DVD manufacturing sector and Blu-Ray folks are surely concerned.
Source: chinadaily.com.cn
