[photopress:evd_1_2.jpg,full,alignright]We ran here a story on the China version of DVD which is EVD. One strong comment was that this was old news and that it will not happen.
On the other hand, Joe Mcdonald of the Associated Press. writing from Beijing stated firmly that dozens of video players made with EVD, a homegrown DVD format, have been demonstrated in a campaign to promote a Chinese alternative to foreign technology.
EVD, or Enhanced Versatile Disc, was first released in 2003, but an effort to promote it was dropped in 2004 after the players failed to catch on with consumers and producers squabbled over licensing fees. That was reported but should not be confused with the current campaign.
Chinese electronics makers are trying EVD a massive scale, saying they plan to switch completely to EVD by 2008 and stop producing DVD players. 54 video players from 20 Chinese manufacturers were displayed at a Beijing art gallery last week. Film distributors displayed dozens of Chinese movies and a handful of foreign titles. None of that is a typical sign of a standard which has died.
[photopress:evdexpo_large.jpg,full,alignright]Yes, this plan may also fail but the fact is that many, many more companies are involved and the machines are being demonstrated. They work.
The suggestion is that EVD provides crisper pictures and sound, bigger recording capacity and better anti-piracy features than standard DVD. Which are interesting claims that have yet to be proved. But the statment that makers are planning to stop making DVD players and have a total switch by 2008 is a new and quite startling development.
Chinese sales of high-definition TV sets next year are expected to grow by 60 percent to 8 million units which, in turn, will drive sales of video players.
Source: USA Today, Information Week and China Daily.
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