China to launch its own next-gen DVD format

Just when you thought the next generation DVD format battle coldn't get any more complicated, another competitor appears on the horizon.

The Chinese have decided to push ahead with plans for their own proprietary format as a high-definition successor to DVD.

The Optical Memory National Engineering Research Centre (OMNERC) has introduced CH-DVD, a variant of the HD DVD standard but based on Chinese-owned intellectual property. The format has the backing of the Chinese government, which is keen to promote technologies that are not dependent on foreign-owned IP rights.

The format is considered key to the development of the Chinese content industry and includes advanced copy protection technology to combat piracy in a country where it is at globally high levels. OMNERC said that many content providers have confirmed they will launch movie titles in the CH-DVD format.

"The emergence of CH-DVD as a high definition format integrating Chinese-owned intellectual property clearly demonstrates that a Chinese optical disc technology is already at the world-class level," OMNERC claims in a statement. "In the near future, all related industries in China are expected to make the transition from standard-definition DVD to high-definition DVD."

OMNERC said that the newly-formed China High Definition DVD Industry Association (CJHDA) is planning to launch a CH-DVD player before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, to coincide with the introduction of high-definition TV broadcasts.

China first threatened to introduce its own HD format in 2005 in order to avoid paying the licensing fees for HD DVD and Blu-ray.

CH-DVD is not the only alternative to the two most well known HD disc formats. US company New Medium Enterprises recently unveiled the first HD VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) players, capable of full 1080p high-definition video at "30 per cent less" than the price of HD DVD and Blu-ray. But until major studios provide compatible content - and there is no indication that they will - its chances of success are slim.

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