China Blue HD players revealed, second stage of the format war is officially on
By Richard Lawler 
posted Apr 24th 2009 7:27AM
posted Apr 24th 2009 7:27AM
[Via CDR Info]
posted Apr 24th 2009 7:27AM
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
The referenced article is ridiculous: "TCL believes that the CBHD format is actually not competing with the Blu-ray format, since they are addressed to different market segments, mainly due to their different retail price."
So, if I can get The Dark Knight on CBHD for $7 or on BD for $24, these formats aren't in competition because the prices are different? Is BD more 1080p-ish than CBHD?
If Warner really wanted to ramp up sales, they'd revive HD DVD support. I can't tell you how many people I know that bought discs just so their preferred format would 'win'. In a BD only world, things can get pretty boring. Just take a look at the comment count on EngadgetHD for further evidence...
HD-DVD is dead, get over it and move on already sheesh.
Yea, so was DIVIX, bla bla bla...
I know! Look at how boring things got without DIVX around to compete with the DVD format. DVD prices went through the roof. Player prices became outrageously expensive. The price and quality of movies went up and down, respectively.
My god, let's keep around multiple competing formats to stop a repeat of that madness!!!!
[And now we end our post from bizzaro world and return to planet Earth.]
Yeah. Bring back HD-DVD! C'mon Warners.
Boring is good. Now I don't have to worry about which movies will be released on one format or another, I can just assume that every new movie will be released on blu ray and be done with it. I'm still wating for my copy of fear and loathing in las vegas on blu ray by the way..
A bit of HD-DVD misconceptions to clear up. Had HD-DVD won, this technology would still be in the works! It was planned before the format war ended.
Why?
HD-DVD had similar licensing fees to Blu-ray: same codecs, same licensing. Reviving HD-DVD would not change this one iota.
An interesting side note though (regarding hardware)...
Near the end of the format war, Toshiba was going to cut the hardware licensing fees for China in order to get cheap (sub-$99.00) players into the US/JP markets. HD-DVD was already a huge loss for them with their own players. The logic: low prices, more market penetration, win format war, make money back with licensing. But when this planned licensing cut hit the wires, I read several tech/financial blogs wondering how the heck Toshiba planned to succeed financially if they nixed the *only* part of the equation that meant money for them: future licensing for Chinese-made players. Of course, they lost the format war before any of this came to pass, so that question will never be answered.
But don't get this wrong. China still wanted their own format -- *disk* prices being the key here -- and was going forward regardless.
-Pie
I really don't see how this is going to compete against BD in other markets besides China. I think it will be more difficult to make illegal copies in China if the government locks down the format in there country, which is what I thought CBHD was, a way for the Chinesse government to lock down home video and combat piracy in there country.
Right - CBHD isn't aimed at competing with BD outside of China. That wasn't what I was quoting, though. TCL was saying that the price difference meant they were targeting a different segment within China with a lower pricing structure. This is very applicable to many industries, but doesn't translate well to optical media. For instance, Toyota's Lexus brand doesn't necessarily compete with their Prius automobiles. They are targeting different segments. Lexus offers premium features and demands a premium price tag. My point was, aren't both of these formats 1080p? If you are comparing 'The Departed' on CBHD to 'The Departed' on BD, you are comparing apples to apples. The only thing CBHD may lack is BD-Live or some extras. Whether or not that justifies a 300-400% premium has yet to be seen...in China.
The Shinco looks like my Toshiba A-3, separated at birth?
what happened to CH-DVD??
This is CH-DVD, they just changed the name. http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/07/28/chinas-blu-ray-competitor-cbhd-brings-hd-dvd-back-from-the-dead/
since pirating in China is so common i doubt this thing will survive
more Chinese junk....just what we need...
More junk? Yeah.....like their Shanling, Jolida and Cayin amplifiers and Oppo Blu-ray & DVD players. All junk. Yup. Un-huh.
You got it, Bub!
Chinese pirates has answer for hd, first is that massive torrent is already has hd content mostly in 720p, in the street they selling double layer dvd that has 720p quality video not sure if regular dvd play can play that, but a ps3 can probably.
I think I missed something. Since when is $299 USD "40% less than the competitor [Blu-ray]"? The Sony and Panasonic both sold before Christmas at $199. Now they are about $250.
On Piracy. Piracy was one of the main reasons this format was developed!
Unlike Internet piracy, in China, pirates actually *sell* discs on the street, and the Chinese people buy them because they are so incredibly cheap and so easy to get. The goal here is to have a legitimate format that is also very cheap -- like $5.00 or something -- so people will buy legal copies of movies instead of relying on the pirates. That is why Warner has said they'll back this format. Better to make *some* money than *no* money at all!
Also, it's supposed to be China only, so it won't compete with Blu-ray anywhere else.
-Pie
Hope it stays in China. Over here it my poison your kids or release sulfur gas to corrode your other A/V equipment.
Huh, what?