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China Blue HD adding supporters and talking trash to Blu-ray

by Richard Lawler posted Oct 1st 2009 at 3:40AM

It momentarily slipped under our US-centric noses, but another log was thrown on the Chinese high definition format war recently when Universal Studios and National Geographic joined Warner in supporting China Blue HD. Format War Central also reports 8 new manufacturers have signed up to join the CHDA backing the format. That plus a claimed 3-1 sales advantage have the CHDA calling the format war "a game no one played" thanks to Blu-ray's high prices and licensing fees. It's still unlikely China's son of HD DVD could affect that high definition movie marketplace anywhere else, but it will be interesting to see if the country's manufacturers choose that path and upgrade their existing DVD equipment instead of replacing it to produce the even cheaper Blu-ray players we'd hoped for.

[Via Format War Central]

Tech-On! examines DiiVA's (slim) opportunities in an HDMI world

by Richard Lawler posted Sep 21st 2009 at 12:44PM

Like us, you may be wondering if anything can take on HDMI in the digital connector space. Tech-On! has gone a bit more in depth on China's new DiiVA standard to examine what it has going for it, and whether there is a way for it to survive in the marketplace. So far most of its support has come from Chinese manufacturers, but LG, Panasonic, Samsung and Sharp are all apparently part of the DiiVA promotion group, with compatible equipment expected to be on display at CES 2010. Mix in the defection of an executive from Silicon Image who worked on spreading HDMI to DiiVA backer Synerchip, and it seems like the spec -- based on CAT-6 cabling and offering enhanced networking functions -- might actually stand a chance.

Spark's egg-shaped VTube media player won't fit neatly in your AV rack

by Darren Murph posted Sep 15th 2009 at 9:16AM


Much like Sony's PlayStation 3, Spark's VTube clearly wasn't designed to sit nicely in-between a 7.1-channel AV receiver and a cable set-top-box. Engineered in some backwoods lab about 30 kilometers south of Shenzhen, the so-called VTube looks to be a pretty standard media player outside of its unorthodox design. The unit packs HDMI / component / composite video outputs, an Ethernet jack and a Toslink optical audio output, and those who dig internal storage can slap a 2.5-inch HDD within to keep those old Office clips handy. Predictably, it also supports pretty much every file format known to man, and the built-in USB port ensures that you can add external storage if need be. It'll only run you around $130, but the chances of seeing this on US soil are slim.

[Via Cloned In China]

Sharp, CEC partner up for cheap LCDs in China

by Steven Kim posted Sep 2nd 2009 at 8:49AM

Sharp CEC
Sharp and Sony are planning to dazzle and amaze us with the latest and greatest 10G LCDs rolling off the production lines of their shared facility in 2011, but there will still be plenty of money to made on older tech. With an eye on the bottom line, Sharp has partnered up with the generically-named China Electronics Corp. (CEC) in Nanjing. Not only will Sharp be selling 6G equipment for smaller displays to the Panda group of CEC, but the two will also be firing up an 8G LCD plant in Nanjing in March of 2011. Thanks in part to government stimulus action, China's developed a voracious appetite for affordable LCDs, and the Nanjing plant will aim to serve up 80,000 cheap panels to the market. So far, this collaboration is all about LCDs, so don't expect any CHBD-infused toys from Sharp any time soon.

Blu-ray reportedly trailing CBHD in China, the second theater of the format war begins

by Richard Lawler posted Jul 25th 2009 at 6:03PM


Just because Toshiba has given up on HD DVD and moved on, doesn't mean the format war is totally over for red. According to a report by a Japanese TV station, its successor, China Blue HD is actually leading Blu-ray in marketshare in that country. Of course, based on the article found by our friends at FormatWarCentral, all we have to go on is a machine translated description of a video in a language we don't speak describing the apparent initial success of the government backed format in a socialist republic. If you need more evidence than that to declare the format war officially restarted, you're probably a communist, but before we drag you in front of the Un-American activities committee check out the video for a peek at the slick new CBHD cases that The Onion will surely be shipping its videos in very soon.

[Via FormatWarCentral]

China Blue HD players revealed, second stage of the format war is officially on

by Richard Lawler posted Apr 24th 2009 at 7:27AM


China's alternative to Blu-ray finally has some hardware to show off, with players from TCL and Shinco making their debut this week. Priced at less than 2,000 yuan ($292) they're reportedly 40% cheaper than the competition, and while the promised support from Warner Bros. has yet to materialize it plans to release 100 movies on the CBHD format by the end of the year. That's about all the machine translation could help us make out beyond the usual promise of lower licensing fees for Chinese manufacturers, but a better look at the latest (and by far most legit, although that's not saying much) Blu-ray fighter is beyond the read link.

[Via CDR Info]

Dolby gives Chinese Blu-ray makers access to TrueHD / Digital Plus

by Darren Murph posted Mar 20th 2009 at 6:50PM


It's hard to tell if this is a coincidence or not, but just hours after the Blu-ray Disc Association granted the DRA audio coding technology approval for use on Blu-ray flicks, Dolby has come forward to proudly proclaim that its TrueHD and Digital Plus audio technologies can now be used by select Chinese firms. TCL Technoly Electronics, MIT Technology and Lite-On have all been given the green light under license to use Dolby's tech on Blu-ray Disc products, though it does seem a bit curious to us that only these three were selected. Maybe those other guys didn't pass the "apt-to-ape" test?

DRA audio coding technology gains BDA approval

by Darren Murph posted Mar 19th 2009 at 3:49PM


Remember that funky DRA audio format we mentioned way back in July of last year? Yeah, somehow that just got approved by the BDA. While we're sure the likes of DTS and Dolby won't be up all night fearing for tomorrow, there actually is another audio format in the Blu-ray town. Over in Beijing, the Blu-ray Disc Association, China Hualu Group and Digital Rise Technology have gathered together to announce that the DRA digital audio coding technology has been approved for inclusion in the BD-ROM 2.3 specification as an "optional audio codec." The folks involved seem pretty stoked, but seriously, what are the chances any mainstream Blu-ray Disc ships this year (or ever, really) with a DRA soundtrack? Anyone placing bets?

SmartQ introduces HDTV Player, lets it explain itself

by Darren Murph posted Mar 17th 2009 at 8:41PM


Generally speaking, SmartQ has stuck to what it's best at -- mediocre portable media players -- without deviating an inch. Finally, someone at the company conjured up enough courage to take a risk, and we think the outcome is pretty decent. The simply titled and not-at-all-confusing HDTV Player is the firm's very first set-top-box, which aims to play back a litany of high-definition files on one's HDTV. As predicted, the box offers up an HDMI 1.3 port for getting all that lovely 720p+ content onto your screen, and there's also a pair of USB 2.0 ports for connecting external HDDs and the like. Beyond that, details are astonishingly sparse, but we get the feeling it'll be quite some time (read: forever) before this thing floats far from the shores of Asia.

[Via MP4Nation]

Warner Bros. plans to support CBHD, the format war is back on -- at least in China

by Richard Lawler posted Mar 2nd 2009 at 11:31PM


It seems appropriate that after striking the fatal blow in the war between HD DVD and Blu-ray, Warner is the first to break rank and ally itself with the China Blue HD team. Ready to enter the ordinary Chinese consumer's family, according to Managing Director Tony Vaughan, the Harry Potter series, Speed Racer and others will launch for 50-70 yuan ($7.30 - $10.22) per disc. Excuse us while we pick our jaws up from the floor, but with at least one Hollywood studio in pocket and 1999 yuan ($292) players on the way the son of HD DVD looks remarkably closer to a real Blu-ray competitor (and less like the destined for the scrap heap reject we predicted) than ever. With DVD sales shrinking and Blu-ray not quite ready to pick up the slack, how long until another studio decides the Chinese market has enough potential to publish movies on CBHD? [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

[Via Format War Central]

HD NVD is China's home grown answer to Blu-ray, but does it have a chance?

by Richard Lawler posted Feb 2nd 2009 at 4:32PM


It's Monday, which apparently means time for yet another Blu-ray fighting Chinese high definition disc format, this time NVD. With China Blue HD barely out the door and EVD conspicuous only in its absence, HD NVD players apparently went on sale today in Wuhan, featuring 12GB of storage on a red laser disc format that -- unlike the Toshiba technology backed CBHD / HD DVD variant -- is not only Made in China, but Created in China, with the hope that owning their own IP can net 4-5 times the profit for its manufacturers. 80% of the world's DVDs and players are reportedly produced in China, so now production lines can switch to NVD HD cheaply -- stop us if you've heard this before. It's clear that these companies are chafing under the royalties of foreign tech, but until we hear something about content support in any major way, it's hard to believe this format war is even worth fighting. Us? We're still holding out for VCDHD.

Read - NVD: independent innovation to safeguard national economic security
Read - China's proprietary red-ray NVD makes its debut

Blu-ray Disc production begins in Shanghai

by Darren Murph posted Jan 21st 2009 at 9:52AM


We heard recently that Sony was looking to ship real live Blu-ray Discs to China despite rampant reports of piracy, and now that very company is partially responsible for a newly activated BD production facility. This week, a plant in Shanghai began producing official Blu-ray Discs, and it's all thanks to Shanghai Epic Music, a joint venture of the SMG-controlled Shanghai Synergy Culture and Entertainment Group, the Shanghai Jingwen Investment Company and Sony. The facility's monthly production capacity is half a million discs, and not surprisingly, it'll produce wares for both domestic and overseas markets. Alright guys, now let's keep this place legitimate -- we don't need any KIRFs pumped out during the night shift.

Hisense selects AMIMON for its wireless HDTV, WHDI makes friends with HDCP

by Darren Murph posted Jan 6th 2009 at 6:00AM


We've got three important tidbits to share this morning from the labs of AMIMON, so we can't afford to waste any time bantering about how far the wireless HD industry as a whole has to go before it becomes even marginally important to the average consumer. First off, LG Electronics has decided to tag along in the WHDI SIG, joining the likes of Motorola, Samsung, Sharp and Sony. Obviously, LG's hoping to push the wireless standard as a protocol that'll be accepted industry wide, and given the amount of splintering that exists currently, we can't say we're too against the collaboration. Moving on, we're told that the aforesaid WHDI standard will enable HDCP revision 2.0 as its content protection technology, and leading Chinese TV manufacturer Hisense has announced its intentions to integrate AMIMON's solution into its sets. All the details are just past the break.

Continue reading Hisense selects AMIMON for its wireless HDTV, WHDI makes friends with HDCP

China Hualu Panasonic AVC Networks launches three Blu-ray players

by Darren Murph posted Dec 30th 2008 at 4:03PM


Scads of individuals thought the BDA was crazy / lying / joking when it granted 11 China-based manufacturers with Blu-ray licenses earlier this year, but now we're beginning to see some fruits of that labor. China Hualu Panasonic AVC Networks -- a joint venture between China Hualu Group and Panny -- has just launched a trio of BD decks in China, the BDP0801, BDP0810 and BDP0821. Not much is known about the middle child (ain't that always the case?), but the first deck is the most basic of the bunch while the latter one handles BD-Live interactivity. Apparently, all three units are available now for 1,999 yuan ($292), 2,299 yuan ($336) and 2,499 yuan ($365) in order of mention, which is probably vastly more expensive than any of you were imagining.

[Via DigiTimes]

China's Blu-ray rival lacks key manufacturer support

by Richard Lawler posted Dec 24th 2008 at 4:14PM


HD DVD's strike from beyond the grave may be falling short before it even gets started, as Digitimes reports no Taiwan drive manufacturers have joined the China Blue HD team so far -- and according to the always talkative anonymous sources, there's little optimism they will. Unfortunately the manufacturer support stage is where VMD, EVD and FVD failed before it and with no Hollywood support and cheaper Blu-ray hardware on the way, it's hard to see how CBHD will ever have much impact.




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