AV Zombie: The steering committee of the DVD Forum has now rubber-stamped an agreement with the Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center of China, which effectively gives a green light to the creation of an HD DVD variant for China’s local market.
Under the agreement, the country gets a unique version of the HD DVD specification which is close enough to the standard used elsewhere for Chinese makers to develop widely compatible disc players, made inexpensive through huge economies of scale.
It’s unclear yet what the real impact of cheap HD DVD players pouring from Chinese vendors will be, but Universal’s Ken Graffeo believes it could mark a turning point in the hi-def format war. “Hardware drives software. Why do you think they give away the razor? It’s because they want you to buy the blades.”
Inexpensive players are seen as key to broadening the appeal of high def packaged media. Toshiba recently saw its player sales soar by as much as 70% when it dropped the price of its entry-level deck.
Andy Parsons, spokesman for the Blu-ray Disc Association, was less impressed, claiming the ratification of a Chinese HD DVD standard would have little relevance in the worldwide market.
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Chris | Friday, June 29, 2007 at 19:09
I think this can potentially be bigger news than if first appears. China is becoming very important to the global economy and if you have Chinese factories geared up for making HD DVD players and movies, it could mean dirt cheap prices. Another thing to consider if Wal-mart’s relationship with Chinese manufacturers, which has paid off very well for Wal-mart.
Matt D | Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 10:47
Please without software this is simply HD-DVD killing itself …
I mean by Christmas its likly ill be able to pick up a Tosh HD-A2 + 9 FREE movies for around $199 … and when you factor in the cost of HD movies i guess the chinese players will have to compete with $19 or cheaper hardware lol …
Ohh and Software drives Software –> if Blu-ray movies sell then companies will make movies on Blu-ray. ( + don’t forget those 11 million PS3 + 2 million othr stand alone blu-ray players predicted to be sold by the end of the year ) … sorta higher then Toshiba’s 2.5 million HD-DVD players ( both world wide)
DD | Monday, July 2, 2007 at 18:49
“don’t forget those 11 million PS3 + 2 million othr stand alone blu-ray players predicted to be sold by the end of the year”
With all due respect… what year? There are 100K stand alone players and the PS3 has 1.5m units in the USA, with PS3 sales currently in a death spiral.
The initial influx of PS3s did a wonderful jump of boosting Blu-ray sales, but now what?
Kev | Friday, July 27, 2007 at 17:23
With Walmart’s trade deficit approaching 20 billion with China, I can see a prominent partnership in HD DVD’s future.
Now that Bluray players are being outsold by hd dvd players in both NA and EU, it’s looking good for HD DVD.
For those thinking HD DVD “no software” you may want to count the total number of titles versus bluray.
With the ps3 sitting in last place in the “next-gen” console wars, and falling farther behind everyday, sony’s idea of using a Trojan Horse to sneak Bluray into homes isn’t going as planned, obviously.
A trojan horse only works if one opens the gate.
sony’s predictions/projections of their ps3 shipments have all been missed.