[24 P]

HD DVD returns and kicks Blu-ray to the gutter | Storage Bits | ZDNet.com

Interesting read, I was browsing the Interweb and found this...
Hmm, Toshiba look get gain here too..

If anyone finds any more info, please post, as this is very interesting..
Wondering if newer HD DVD compatible players will come out..

[AnthonyG]

We can hope. Would be one heck of a success story if it came back.

[andy1249]

Ridiculous story from a ridiculous reporter , having spent some time in China I have seen some of the home grown technologies over there , all of them low cost second rate substitutes that would never have a market outside of that country.

This goes across the board , from home entertainment devices right up the standard volkswagen car that everyone has , and that no one would look at outside of china.

[Strocky]

Originally Posted by andy1249

Ridiculous story from a ridiculous reporter , having spent some time in China I have seen some of the home grown technologies over there , all of them low cost second rate substitutes that would never have a market outside of that country.

This goes across the board , from home entertainment devices right up the standard volkswagen car that everyone has , and that no one would look at outside of china.

That might be right in most cases, however as the Chinese have licensed the technology from Toshiba, and slightly modified it so that it does'nt run on existing HD-DVD kit, your assumption is flawed

[andy1249]

your assumption is flawed

Its not an assumption , Ive seen these things , Im two months back from a 6 week assignment in Dalian and going back there for another 6 weeks at the end of October.

The Market ( pretty much all markets ) is swamped with fakes and bad implementations of the technology , They actually have grades of fakes with corresponding price ranges , going from class 1 ( best ) to 3 and lower .... and the titles available are nearly always pirated and of very very low quality.

In fact with both the players and the software titles its incredibly hard to find the genuine article.

Having been shown some " HD " titles that look no better than a hurriedly made Divx I have no faith in the technology as its being sold over there. As for your chances of getting such a player in the west , I can see ebay sites selling this shaky tech to many a gullible buyer in the west and them being sorely disappointed.

There is no standards regulation on these products , there are players that can take " HDMI " to component cables because the so called HDMI socket is completely non standard and actually carrying analog signals in some cases , as such you cannot even guarantee that what you buy is compatible with your TV , you have to practically interrogate the seller to make sure what your buying will actually work with your kit and in a lot of cases when you try your purchase it doesnt work.
Add to that the fact that "Warranty" is a fairly alien concept in China and you have big issues.
For the record , most Chinese , if they had the money , would buy the safe bet and go for a brand name blu ray player.

[24 P]

I doubt that it will replace western technology, but I agree it will show up on ebay sites..

China is its own economy, it really doesn't need other competing technologies to be structured within its own country.
It is a manufacturer, and it can develop its own Medium to suit its own needs, to allow many access to Hi Def that probably could not afford Blu Ray in the 1st place..
Only time will tell..

[AnthonyG]

Originally Posted by 24 P

but I agree it will show up on ebay sites..

Lets hope. If the transfers the Chinese use to create the HD-DVD's are as good as those for blu-ray, and are the same price, I would be very tempted to buy on HD-DVD from ebay.

I don't know why I just like it more than Blu-Ray.

[filmsthinbloke]

All the Toshiba HD-DVD players were made in China.
The Chinese are using there own codec apart from that there is no difference.
Perhaps someone will make a firmware upgrade to enable HD-DVD players play CHDVD.

[filmsthinbloke]

Quote 'Indeed, if the CBHD scaleup is so rapid, and costs so low, why not take the new format beyond China's shores? The engineer interviewed at the CBHD factory believes there's a strong market for the player in other emerging countries, and that the new format could come to dominate HD sales in other parts of the world, and possibly even in western strongholds where Blu-Ray is currently the only physical HD format in town. If this happens, it would represent a major victory for China, which has, in the past, mostly licensed technology from other countries. Building on its success with Super Video CD (SVCD) in the domestic Chinese market, the Chinese manufacturing machine would have begun to flex its muscle with Chinese IP, abroad.'

Homegrown CBHD discs outsell Blu-ray by 3-1 margin in China - Ars Technica

[24 P]

I hope it is the other way, the Chinese HD players play HD DVDs, I would like a reference HD player for my 80 + HD DVDs..

PC playback is nice, but just a player would be a great toy too..
Recycling technology, I have to give it to the Chinese, they made it for some one else, now are making it their own, basically free of charge other than the royalties to Toshiba..
Smart economics I say..

[filmsthinbloke]

Sorry bad link in previous post. Try

Homegrown CBHD discs outsell Blu-ray by 3-1 margin in China - Ars Technica

[The Limey]

Originally Posted by filmsthinbloke

All the Toshiba HD-DVD players were made in China.
The Chinese are using there own codec apart from that there is no difference.
Perhaps someone will make a firmware upgrade to enable HD-DVD players play CHDVD.

That would depend on just how different the algorithm for each format actually is. It may not be possible, that said it could be very possible.
Something to definitely watch out for - whatever the eventual answer.

[filmsthinbloke]

They are using a codec called AVS. Various media players including MPlayer and VLC can play it.
xAVS is also an open source AVS encoder with a working decoder.

[Strocky]

Originally Posted by andy1249

Its not an assumption , Ive seen these things , Im two months back from a 6 week assignment in Dalian and going back there for another 6 weeks at the end of October.

The Market ( pretty much all markets ) is swamped with fakes and bad implementations of the technology , They actually have grades of fakes with corresponding price ranges , going from class 1 ( best ) to 3 and lower .... and the titles available are nearly always pirated and of very very low quality.

In fact with both the players and the software titles its incredibly hard to find the genuine article.

Having been shown some " HD " titles that look no better than a hurriedly made Divx I have no faith in the technology as its being sold over there. As for your chances of getting such a player in the west , I can see ebay sites selling this shaky tech to many a gullible buyer in the west and them being sorely disappointed.

There is no standards regulation on these products , there are players that can take " HDMI " to component cables because the so called HDMI socket is completely non standard and actually carrying analog signals in some cases , as such you cannot even guarantee that what you buy is compatible with your TV , you have to practically interrogate the seller to make sure what your buying will actually work with your kit and in a lot of cases when you try your purchase it doesnt work.
Add to that the fact that "Warranty" is a fairly alien concept in China and you have big issues.
For the record , most Chinese , if they had the money , would buy the safe bet and go for a brand name blu ray player.

Warner Bros seem to think it's better to support CBHD over Bluray in China

[24 P]

Originally Posted by filmsthinbloke

They are using a codec called AVS. Various media players including MPlayer and VLC can play it.
xAVS is also an open source AVS encoder with a working decoder.

Once again, smart move, they pay no royalties for this, keeps the end user cost down too.
Considering that the Chinese Government is backing this, I think it will be a sure fire winner..
Over here? Who knows, and will it really matter?
Time will tell..

[andy1249]

Considering that the Chinese Government is backing this, I think it will be a sure fire winner..

Yes , like the Green Dam software fiasco ... I see this being a hit in china , much like VCD was and still is a hit in Asia , but not here. It simply would not be up to the standards that most in the west expect.

This system cannot be compared to the quality HD-DVD products that were on the market before the system got dropped. They are not even in the same ball park. If they were made to conform to the standard of the published specs, then it might be a contender , but as already posted , there is no standards body to comply with or financial incentive for anyone to do.

In China , HD is mostly touted as something better than VCD ( most popular format ), and the VCD players in China are poor.

Consequently most of these systems are nowhere near as good as we already expect them to be. Quality expectations for the vast majority of the Chinese market are much lower than here.

Warner Bros seem to think it's better to support CBHD over Bluray in China

A futile gesture , you should see the retail business in china , if you can actually find a genuine non pirated copy of anything its nothing short of amazing.

[pho]

Places like Walmart and large department stores sell legit DVD as well as online sites like Amazon.cn. There are a few red laser HD formats in China which failed over the years. So far all the tests I read on CBHD is positive. Many Warner titles actually carry the same HDDVD encode with TrueHD.

[segaklon]

CBHD discs Amazon.cn is selling, take a look and comment.

cbhd - Amazon.cn:所有类别-�越亚马逊

[emthree]

Originally Posted by segaklon

CBHD discs Amazon.cn is selling, take a look and comment.

cbhd - Amazon.cn:所有类别-�越亚马逊

Player seems a bit expensive at an equivalent price of £175.00 but the discs seem very reasonable at £4.50 each.

[segaklon]

Warner CBHD.

CBHD高清影碟-ä¸*录å�Žçº³å½±è§†å®˜ç½‘

[r11co]

There are some real prejudices getting shown in this thread. Here are some facts...

The first two CBHD players to hit the market were the Shinco CBHD-9000 and TCL THBD-1008 respectively...

If the bottom one looks familiar to some people it is because it is our good old buddy from Currys the Logik LBD1000 bluray player.

Even more interesting are the internals. The Shinco uses the circuitry from the Toshiba A30 HD-DVD player, and the TCL uses Tosh A35 hardware.

So... the conclusion is that the only real difference between today's blu ray, CBHD and HD DVD players is the firmware and codecs installed....

[24 P]

Any Hi def tech is good tech.
Shame on all those companies out there on the Blu Ray camp releasing sub standard releases..
Looking at you Optimum..
Others too, so now BR seems to be King, they can rule with such lackluster interest of their followers/worshipers, that they are taxed beyond belief.
Yeah rant n rave..
I hate double dipping., and it seems that BR is doing this to us..
I have 20 BRs, 80 HD DVDs, 20 BRs took me 18 months to acquire, HD DVDs took me 3 months..
Hmm I wonder which is better value...
I am cashing in on the demise of HD DVD, and its hell better value than BR atm..
LONG LIVE the cheap A$$ed alternative..

[pujun]

Here are two pics of CBHD, follow by BD

[pho]

Interesting. Is there any comparison in terms of picture and sound?

[Mr Jolly]

Lol at those Tellytubbies VCD's

[pujun]

Originally Posted by pho

Interesting. Is there any comparison in terms of picture and sound?

Both are 1080p, sound is identical here. because CBHD is marketed at a much lower price compare to blu-ray, some titles, CBHD has lower spec than BDs, the last two pics shown the spec of Golden Compass BD and CBHD, only BD is given DTS.

[Bald Monkey]

Moved recent posts from the CBHD thread to this one and closed the other thread as I don't think we need two seperate threads on this.

[pho]

Thanks Pujun. I guess they use cheaper 1 layer 15GB disc so they have to skip on HD sound. Can you test if the LG BD/HD combo drive can read the disc? Wish China will develop a PC solution one day so I can start importing them. I believe a PC player will greatly help its success and spread the format. Or a BD/CBHD/HDDVD combo standalone player will be my next dream machine.

[segaklon]

At 04:10 on September 18, 2009

Universal, National Geographic will join the CBHD format

The China High-Definition DVD Industry Association (CHDA) on Thursday announced its development plans for the China Blue High-Definition (CBHD) disc format at a conference in Guangzhou.

By next year, the Association plans to see an increase in CBHD vendors from the current 2 companies to 10, with a total of 1,000 CBHD programs offered, and sales of 1 mln CBHD players in 2010, eventually reaching 10 mln units within three years.

The Association also unveiled a new generation CBHD disc, which is based on the Chinese-owned Audio Video Standard (AVS) and copy-protection (DKAA) systems.

CAV Warner Home Entertainment said at the conference that aside from itself, U.S.-based content providers including Universal and National Gepgraphic will also support the CBHD format.

Both CAV Warner and China Record have released dozens of CBHD products, and plan to surpass 100 releases within the year. Video stores, Xinhua bookstores and a number of chain stores nationwide have begun sales, while e-commerce sites Joyo-Amazon and Dangdang also offer CBHD products online. The Association also stated that, in addition to content providers, consumer electronics retail giants Gome and Suning signed sales agreements in August, joining in to promote sales of CBHD players.

The Association added that next year it will focus on developing CBHD players and discs supporting non-Mandarin minority languages.

TCL and Shinco have already developed CBHD players. Li Dongsheng, chairman and president of TCL Corp., believes that changing from "red laser" to "blue laser" is the general trend. Along with the upgrading of Chinese domestic market color TV consumption, the development potential of CBHD products should be enormous.

The CBHD format is backed by China High-definition DVD industry Association (CHDA), the Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center (OMNERC) and the DVD Forum and it is based on Toshiba's HD DVD format.

The format is protected against piracy using the AACS content protection schemes, also used by the Blu-ray format. The Chinese government is supporting the CBHD format and is backing its introduction in China's industries financially. The government has already funded some manufacturers engaged in the CBHD format in order to accelerate CBHD projects.

The potential growth of the format in China has already become clear. In just a couple of months since it was launched, the cheaper all-Chinese CBHD players are thought to be outselling Blu-ray players at a rate of about three to one. The discs, priced at 50 yuan, set consumers back about a quarter of the cost of a Blu-ray.

China?s decision to back the new format ? the Government owns the critical software ? is understood to arise from a desire to protect its electronics industry from the royalty costs of using technology developed overseas. Chinese makers of ordinary DVD players have to pay about $22 per machine in royalty costs to a variety of patent holders; the dominance of Blu-ray would have condemned them to many more years of payments as that technology grew in market share.

From the perspective of Hollywood studios, meanwhile, the sale of movies on a cheap format may temporarily counteract the damage done by piracy. The Blu-ray released in the China territory have been hit by the so-called "BD-9" discs, which are currently sold in China for US$5.00. They are actually DVD-R discs that hold Blu-ray movies that have been re-compressed using the H.264 format. The specific discs are compatible with some Blu-ray players.

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News...x?NewsId=25988

[24 P]

I just sold all my Blus, Reds, DVDs, LDs, CDs, Tapes, LPs, 8 tracks and I am moving to China, LOL..
All jokes aside, I knew this was going to be a success story...
How far, time will tell...