p2pnet - rss feed: Blu-ray, HD DVD. And EVD
p2p news / p2pnet: The race between two competing formats for future DVDs, and the $24-billion-a-year home video market, appeared wide open on Thursday as manufacturers said they would support both formats, says Reuters.
Blu-ray has the likes of Sony Corp, Philips and Dell, “as well as most Hollywood studios” behind it while HD DVD, with Toshiba up front, “looks set to reach the market faster and offer cheaper players,” says the story.
There is, however, a third contender which, while it’s unlikely to be among the front runners, must still be taken into account.
The dark horse in the formats race is China’s EVD (enhanced versatile disc).
Players are likely to be more expensive and disc capacity isn’t as large as that of Blu-ray and HD DVD, but it’s touted to offer up to five times the quality of image definition of DVD players. And, with EVD-enabled systems boasting optional backward compatibility with DVDs, VCDs, SVCDs and CDs, it’s home-grown Chinese.
As far back as 2003, China state news agency Xinhua quoted Zhang Yijun, deputy chief engineer of the Shanghai-based SVA Group which was developing core EVD components, as saying, “a large amount of homemade EVD chips are now available as core parts of EVD players that are expected to supply the domestic market from next year”.
And, “Talks with domestic and overseas filmmakers and other video programme producers are under way regarding the market supplies of programmes stored in the EVD format,” said Xinhua.
SVA involves more than 10 domestic Chinese enterprises and research institutions operating as the Beijing E-World Digital Technology Co Ltd alliance.
Stay tuned.
Also See:
Reuters - Two-format race for next DVD standard is wide open, March 9, 2006
dark horse - China develops rival to DVDs, November 19, 2003
