Ars wrote:Chinese HD format: It's blue, but not "Blu-ray"
A Chinese industry consortium is moving forward with plans to launch its own high-definition disc format, and the group has announced the beginning of volume production by the end of the year, DigiTimes reports. The whole venture, however, seems unlikely to succeed due to cost issues and lack of studio support.
Last September, the Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center announced that it was developing a new disc format called CH-DVD, to be released by the beginning of this year. Although remarkably similar to HD DVD, the new format purportedly would incorporate novel Chinese-derived technologies to separate it from the other technology. These technologies included "advanced copy protection technology" and Chinese-owned codecs for video and audio. China's manufacturers and its government seemed to be trying to minimize use of foreign intellectual property for cost saving and mercantilist reasons.
At the same time, though, they didn't hesitate to build on the progress of other HD technologies to the maximum extent possible, and the group ended up with a format similar to HD DVD. Chinese concerns had tried this trick in the past with other technologies, ranging from SD video discs to WiFi to office documents.
China would, the reasoning went, become a mecca for making HD DVDs and equipment because of manufacturing synergies between HD DVD and CH-DVD. Some even thought the Chinese would try to launch their disc format elsewhere in the world. The demise of HD DVD makes this kind of three-way slugfest sadly impossible, however.
Blue, but not "blu-ray"
In the meantime, OMNERC and its partners are plugging away with plans to release what has been renamed China Blue High-definition Disk, or CBHD. Shanghai United Optical Disc has completed its first plant for producing CBHD discs, and a number of other Chinese optical drive manufacturers have announced similar plans.
They cite the low cost of converting DVD production facilities to CBHD and the low licensing fees charged by the CBHD group, compared to Blu-ray, as reasons for the switch. Converting a DVD production line to CBHD costs only $800,000, they claim, instead of some $3 million to convert to Blu-ray disc production. Used HD DVD equipment may lower this number further.
Meanwhile, the Chinese group has pegged player license fees at $8, much less than the Blu-ray group. Chinese drivemakers think these advantages add up to a coup for their new format. Their Taiwanese counterparts are bearish on the idea, though, saying CBHD will be unable to compete with Blu-ray even in its home market.
They have reason to think so. HD DVD offered very similar advantages, including volume shipments of low-priced players, and it met with failure. In the mean time, Blu-ray has advanced and can be manufactured more cheaply, making a price war in China more feasible for Blu-ray purveyors if CBHD ever becomes competitive. No major Hollywood studio has announced distribution on CBHD, barring American movies from appearing legally on the format. With these problems, CBHD seems as likely to fail as HD DVD did.
Beware the pirates
Pirated content could change this. China is known for massive piracy of movies, and if CBHD offers the pirates a cheap and easy way to produce and distribute pirated movies in high definition, these movies could drive sales of CBHD players. The Chinese government may also subsidize the format on mercantilist reasoning. This combination of factors, if it emerges, could be the bane of antipiracy efforts in China.
The prospect of a renewed format war is not an encouraging one. Although prices haven't continued their downward plunge, Blu-ray adoption is rising, and widespread HD adoption is a good thing. Continuing format wars would probably be undesirable for consumers in other countries, but for Chinese-language and other licensed CBHD content, the prospect of a cheap HD format using cast-aside HD DVD technology might be a pleasing one.
Blu-ray purveyors may be pleased to segment Chinese piracy into a Chinese sandbox, while allowing BD to reign with licensed content. At any rate, the continuing adventures of CBHD will provide fascinating entertainment for the duration of the format's existence.