China's Cheap Blu-Ray and HD-DVD Alternative You'll Never See

from the yet-another-standard dept

Wed, Dec 6th 2006 7:17pm — Karl Bode

China has traditionally treated any kind of global technology standard like the bubonic plague, offering up their own standards in an effort to limit reliance on foreign technology, and net licensing fees should the standards see foreign adoption. This government backed push has included attempts to create their own Wi-Fi encryption standard (WAPI), their own 3G wireless standard (TD-SCDMA), and their own next-generation DVD standard, dubbed EVD (enhanced versatile disc). First introduced back in 2003, the solution waddled aimlessly for a while as creators squabbled over royalties. Today Chinese hardware vendors unveiled the first round of prototype EVD players, and promised they'd switch to the new standard completely by 2008. The standard uses conventional red lasers combined with advanced compression technology to soak your retinas with 1080p HD video, but at a fraction of the cost of HD-DVD or Blu-Ray players. High-def capable players at prices as low as $87 sure sounds tasty, but adoption elsewhere is unlikely, given the collective muscle of the companies backing the primary two next-gen DVD formats. Instead, you can look forward to paying Sony $1,000 for their latest DRM-soaked Blu-Ray player, and watching industry heavyweights and their respective fanboys pummel each other senseless. Have we reached the disc-less future yet?

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34 Comments

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Scott, 6 Dec 2006 @ 8:14pm

Eh...
Time to learn some Mandarin pretty soon, anyway. You'll see.
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- Alex, 6 Dec 2006 @ 8:23pm
  
  Re: Eh...
  oh man, chinese is hard stuff to learn. waking up at 7:00 to make the only class available, thats rough.
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- Count Porkula, 6 Dec 2006 @ 9:58pm
  
  Re: Eh...
  "Time to learn some Mandarin pretty soon, anyway. You'll see."
  
  So true.
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ScaredOfTheMan, 6 Dec 2006 @ 8:22pm

While America Sleeps
The Chinese Tigers grows stronger.....

I can tell you one thing, while we bicker and whine over copyright, DRM, and Patents. The Chinese and the Indian's are busy hyper-innovating since they are not held back by the same fear of lawsuits we are.

Just give them 10-20 more years.
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Stu, 6 Dec 2006 @ 8:22pm

Just another reason to feel like prey.
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Tashi, 6 Dec 2006 @ 8:23pm

Ni Hao pengyou!
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2006 @ 8:46pm

The compression software will get out. Remember VCD/SVCD was an alternative to the DVD.
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- Justin, 6 Jan 2007 @ 7:40am
  
  Re:
  No. VCD and SVCD were intended as replacements for VHS video tape.
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Alex, 6 Dec 2006 @ 8:49pm

>Have we reached the disc-less future yet?

My bittorrent client says yes =D
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- wow, 9 Jan 2008 @ 7:54am
  
  Re:
  yeah, it's called a hard disk you faggot
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Rosetta Stone, 6 Dec 2006 @ 9:08pm

My Name...
Name says it all. Rosetta Stone software, same stuff used by the CIA and FBI to quickly teach people languages, can be purchased by you to learn Chinese (Mandarin)!
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3TheTruth4, 6 Dec 2006 @ 9:25pm

Why does everyone want a disc-less future? I love the physical copy. Whether it is a CD, DVD, anything. Downloading off of iTunes my be simple, but nothing can substitute the record, or the CD book, DVD case.
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Frank, 6 Dec 2006 @ 9:33pm

We could go EVD ...
but that we be much like going with Beta Max. The content providers can choose where there movies go ... if they choose not to release them on EVD (without DRM) then your player isn't worth much.
The answer is for the public to boycott the DRM model; but as iTunes shows, the public isn't going to. Therefore the content provider -- and DRM -- win.
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- Atari, 9 Jan 2007 @ 7:34pm
  
  Re: We could go EVD ...
  If you don't know how to dake DRM's off an itune, then you don't know alot about computers...
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Dec 2006 @ 10:45pm

Sure, in HD, but what about storage capacity?
Sure these things can hold 1080p video - but does it have the storage capacity for that to matter a damn? If the medium doesn't have the capacity, it doesn't matter how high it can store if its only 10 minutes of video...

Think Betamax - it could hold higher quality video, but the storage capacity wasn't enough. The difference between Betamax and Blu-Ray which comparisions are being made between, is that BDROMs hold the same high-def video the others such as HDDVD and this "EVD" medium - except that BDROMs actually have the data capacity to hold more video than any of the others - hence why it would be so much more expensive (yes, its still ridiculously expensive even so, but at least a fraction of it is justified)
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- Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2006 @ 7:05am
  
  Re: Sure, in HD, but what about storage capacity?
  Excess storage is wasted money. If I don't need 5TB to store a movie, I sure as hell don't want to pay for a disc that could, simply because it can.
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CB, 7 Dec 2006 @ 12:03am

We dont need to learn Mandarin... thats a pretty ignorant statement... They pay their base workers 47 cents an hour... lol... are you interested in working for that?
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- Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2006 @ 12:33am
  
  Re:
  British workers get a $10 min a hour, US workers are getting less, your point being?
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- LJSeinfeld, 7 Dec 2006 @ 5:51am
  
  Re: by CB on Dec 7th, 2006 @ 12:03am
  We dont need to learn Mandarin... thats a pretty ignorant statement... They pay their base workers 47 cents an hour... lol... are you interested in working for that?
  
  It won't really matter if you're *interested* in working for 47 cent's/hour once China is running the show (globally)....
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  - Anonymous Coward, 8 Feb 2007 @ 6:11pm
    
    Re: Re: by CB on Dec 7th, 2006 @ 12:03am
    The day will not be long.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2006 @ 1:28am

>British workers get a $10 min a hour, US workers are getting less, your point being?

We also get taxed throught the ass. But thats not on subject here.

As long as we have clever people to hack firmware etc i cant personally see an issue. There is always someone working agains DRM. Easier to sit back, and watch the future arrive, both its pros and its cons.
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xxx guy, 7 Dec 2006 @ 7:38am

Well look at the porn industry. One movie in particular caught my eye. Pirates (2 hours 10 minutes) came out just before HD-DVD did and it included a regular dvd-9 disc with a 720p WM9 compressed version of the film. I'm sure that with better modern compression, and maybe a DVD-15 disc, they could easily fit a 1080p movie plus extras.
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Gary, 7 Dec 2006 @ 7:08pm

"Instead, you can look forward to paying Sony $1,000 for their latest DRM-soaked Blu-Ray player"

No, I won't pay that kind of money. I don't need Blu-ray
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Blu-ray Movies, 13 Dec 2006 @ 5:36pm

Buy the PS3
Blu-ray Players are expensive. Just Buy the PS3.
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- XBOX360, 18 Dec 2006 @ 4:35pm
  
  Re: Buy the PS3
  I would need a system that could run for longer than 30 mins though... The idea of watching 30 mins of a movie and then letting my player "cool-down" for 20 min and then watching another 30 mins etc... just isn't very appealing! :-) Not a M$ fan but the xbox 360 blows the doors off of Sony's sleek looking brick thus far. After the 4th freeze, I sold my PS3 and am now trying to score a WII in it's absence. Wish to see if I can break my display with some violent tennis!
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jdragon, 16 Dec 2006 @ 11:40am

prices will come down
Like every other new technology, prices will eventually come down to earth. I'd stick with those reputable companies over a commie backed standard anyday!
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µ_Pro, 1 Jan 2007 @ 9:31pm

Avast ye scurvy swabs!
Sony, MGM, Paramount and all those other RIAA types have been overcharging us BIGTIME for years. They are getting what they deserve. Who cares if the content providers have EVD versions available. Burn your own copy for free! Pirate their media, loot and pillage their corporate machine. Hopefully Vista and it's DRM defective by design will bring Microsoft to it's knees too. Serves em right.
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HDDUMMY, 19 Jan 2007 @ 10:31am

What is 1080p?
What is 1080p? I heard Jessica Simpson was asking the same question.
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- rajat, 27 Feb 2007 @ 9:23pm
  
  Re: What is 1080p?
  1080p means, it's having 1080 horizontal lines in your display...
  very high quality video...isn't it..
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Josh, 29 Jan 2007 @ 6:21pm

Itunes DRM
It's true Itunes music drm can be bypassed by burning to cd but Itunes video drm is another story.
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futureshop, 24 Jul 2007 @ 10:51am

i can sell you a blu-ray player for 499 a sony one at that. I dont know why people think its 1000$ even a toshiba hd player is only 329$ Prices will drop again in the near future too. Buy a player with a hd tv and ask for an even better price. Good luck everyone
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Robert Dupuy, 19 Oct 2007 @ 2:10pm

Learning Mandarin
You don't have to learn Mandarin to make 47 cents an hour...you need to learn it to have 47 cents per hour workers.

Either way, you have to learn it!

OK...you don't have to learn it. But, fat dumb and lazy is no way to go through life....why wouldn't you learn it! (I'm not learning it...and now I'm going to stop typing).

Thanks for listening.
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Jack, 8 Nov 2007 @ 10:19pm

Making BD in China
I don't think it is secret that China is making Blu-ray.
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re.re. buy the ps3, 2 Mar 2008 @ 11:33am

30 minutes of video? ive had my ps3 on for 2 days straight with out freezing you have no idea what you are talking about, all you need is a fan to sit on top 20$ not a big deal if u got 400 for the ps3, the only thing 360 has is a large fan base everything else just isnt as good as ps3
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