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China Blue HD crosses over to the UK, third Opium War inevitable

by Richard Lawler posted Oct 13th 2009 at 9:24PM

We've given HD DVD's bastard child China Blue HD its due for a good start in its native land, but now that U.K. Importer GBAX has made a few units available it's time for English language buyers to at least consider this Blu-ray alternative. Of course, with a £259.99 ($413.22 U.S.) pricetag for this plain TCL player, AV and HD cables, plus 14 CBHD movies (The Aviator, Blood Diamond, The Invasion, The Island, Flood, Poseidon & 8 Chinese-only flicks) to get you started the barrier to entry is high, but as shown in the unboxing / preview video -- embedded after the break, watch for ninjas -- the experience is very familiar. As Format War Central points out, the 220/240Hz power cord makes things complicated for the U.S. and other places outside Europe, but hardcore HD DVD holdouts are used to a world filled with only Warner and Universal movies already, so why not give the other blue laser flavor a try?

[Via Format War Central]

Continue reading China Blue HD crosses over to the UK, third Opium War inevitable

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]

Alioscopy's 40-inch 3DHD autostereoscopic LCD headed for CES: no glasses required

by Darren Murph posted Dec 18th 2008 at 4:53PM


Mention 3D, and you'll get an enthusiastic shrug from most. Mention three little words in conjunction, and everything changes. In case you haven't guessed that magic trio, it's "no glasses required." We've seen the technology bandied about, but we're sensing that companies are about to get serious with it at CES 2009. Case in point: Alioscopy and TCL have tag-teamed in order to showcase the former's 3DHD autostereoscopic 3D LCD display (40-inch) and content creation technology in just under a month. There are no real details on the underlying juju, but you can bet we're stoked to see what it delivers in Vegas. Maybe those plans for a 3D Olympics in 2012 aren't all that loony after all?

BDA granting 11 China-based manufacturers with Blu-ray licenses?

by Darren Murph posted Jun 1st 2008 at 9:11AM


We'd take all of this with a healthy dose of salt just now, but reportedly, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is looking to grant 11 China-based manufacturers with Blu-ray licenses. As we've already seen, select Chinese companies have long since been listed on the BDA's website of licensees, but according to recent reports, even more are being allowed to "undertake R&D, production and marketing of BD discs, players or drives." It's said that the 11 in question include TCL, Malata, China Hualu Panasonic AVC Networks and Desay, and that volume production is expected to begin from at least some of them as early as 2009. It'll definitely be interesting to see where this takes things, if these whispers are in fact accurate.

[Via HDTV Info, thanks gamedude420]




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