China’s own alternative to Blu-Ray: CBHD

[G)-(OST]

Well it looks like the format war has just begun, again, in China anyways
http://news.digitaltrends.com/news-article/19796/china-goes-forward-with-its-own-high-def-disc-cbhd
http://www.zitzot.com/chinas-own-alternative-to-blu-ray-cbhd/

[jman98]

Thanks for the info. I have a feeling that this is not likely to be any more successful than previous attempts to do high def on cheap media. like FVD (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_Versatile_Disc). By the way, I've been to Taiwan and I specifically made an effort while in Taipei's PC parts district (yes, they have an area of town known for PC parts shops) to find anything related to FVD and nobody had any discs or drives for it. Taiwan is not China, so maybe CBHD will work. But then again, China tried to defeat DVD with CVD and that didn't work.

[Delta2]

doesn't explode ?

[DereX888]

But then again, China tried to defeat DVD with CVD and that didn't work.

It did
From the start the purpose of CVD was not to become a mainstream format there, but to show DVD Consortium that China means business when they want their fees lowered down - and that's what they got, hence it DID work.

I think this new fangled CBHD might be exactly the same coup against Sony...

[satviewer2000]

$293 USD doesn't seem competitive at all. Even in Canada, we can now buy well known brand name BluRay players for around $250 CDN. Seems like all it is is a rebranded (obsolete) HD-DVD player.

I suppose if this is just some kind of political / economic poker game, then it may be worth it to the manufacturers in China in the end.

[pepegot1]

If it's like the other Chinese crap they export to us, I wouldn't worry much about it at all.

[DereX888]

If it's like the other Chinese crap they export to us, I wouldn't worry much about it at all.

Umm, "they" don't export it to us just because so.
WE import it from them because WE want it.
And also because WE wanted it all oh-so-cheap, WE get the cheap crap as WE have ordered from them.
And in case you haven't noticed WE don't make almost anything in our own country anymore, hence nowadays WE actually HAVE TO import it from them...

[MOVIEGEEK]

Old news and the format will go nowhere outside of China.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/29/china_cbhd_ready/print.html

[disturbed1]

CVD was to compete against SVCD, EVD was to compete against DVD.

It's all about licensing. China doesn't want to give Philips any money. That's all it is.

[RayH]

Patience. The Chinese economic strategy is to be the owners of intellectual properlty; instead of paying royalties, receiving them. China is not scared to try to take on the world in this respect. An analyst had a remarkable thought about China Blue DVD, something like....it doesn't matter if Hollywood supports it or not. What matters is if the pirates support it!

[TBoneit]

Oops wrong thread!

[disturbed1]

What matters is if the pirates support it!

Sad but true

[MOVIEGEEK]

Q:
1.How do companies make money off of pirates?
2.Do you think the Chinese gov. will tolerate piracy if it owns the format?

A:
1.They don't.
2.Hell no.

[disturbed1]

China has made tons of money off pirates.

Pirates need blank discs. Who makes the blanks?

Pirates need hardware for play back. Who makes the hardware?

Pirates need to sell their goods to consumers. These consumers need hardware. Who makes that hardware?

Every blank disc that China makes, requires a royalty payment for DVD, CD, and BD. Not to mention the fees required for a DVD player. These have to carry both DVD and CD licenses. Then with Blu Ray players, there's BD, DVD, and CD. By eliminating these license fees, the profit margin will increase.

They already do not make any money from legal purchases of non counterfeit items. Why not try to monetize the counterfeiters?

[zoobie]

I never ordered anything from China...Never would, either. I try to avoid them like the plague.
Knowing their own quality, the Chinese public are probably shaking in their own boots.
I read that BD wasn't to be licensed to China...I wonder why? Accordingly, they simply had to find another way of storage.

[DereX888]

I never ordered anything from China...Never would, either. I try to avoid them like the plague.

LOL
zoobie, you've cracked me up
You just can't avoid "Made in China" products today.
Even if every device you have there in your house has a sticker saying "Made in [Japan or Europe or USA]",
you bet each one of them has at least few chinese-made components inside.
Open up any of them and see for yourself

[zoobie]

I know man...but I still try...and I'm not alone by a longshot
china=cheap crap I wouldn't even bother to flush

[RayH]

Remember, while we were messing around with VHS tapes, East Asia was using VCDs. So having their own video format was not unprecedented.

China's purpose in developing its own standards is to keep hard currency from out flowing in royalties. Microsoft develops its owns standards to keep from paying royalties.

China is the only nation at the present time sitting on cash. China has the ability to set standards.

[SatStorm]

I buy a lot from China the last years.
All the products are cheap and they do the job.

I have years to order something from USA, except R1 DVDs. And the last year, I got far less DVDs than the previous ones.
Also, I have years to buy a USA product that imports here. All are too expensive. They may have quality, but I don't have the money. And I don't believe any more that we gonna catch up with the global economy to the point that we could buy USA products. Actually, I believe that we gonna turn to a point that even the Chinese ones gonna look expensive for our pockets.

And I bet most Europeans, are like me those days. Both on thoughts and on what they buy.

Regarding this CBDH, if they add it to the standalones and became mainstream on them (same way DiVX / XviD is today), I'll use it. If not, I won't.
I'm not into a format anymore. I'm into anything that do the job perfect and won't need to convert it to something else in the future. And cheap too. I don't have money anymore to spent without a good reason.

[disturbed1]

--
All are too expensive. They may have quality, but I don't have the money. And I don't believe any more that we gonna catch up with the global economy to the point that we could buy USA products. Actually, I believe that we gonna turn to a point that even the Chinese ones gonna look expensive for our pockets.

American made products are expensive in America as well

What I can't figure out, how is it that I can buy a can of fruit from China, that costs less than an American grown piece of fresh fruit? Something is wrong there.

I don't really mind the made in China electronics, or cheap gizmos. When it comes to my food, that's where I draw the line.

Personally I'd rather buy electronics from Japan, and clothes from Mexico/Central America. The made in Mexico/Central America clothes, to me, have the same quality as American made clothing, it's just half the price. I bet the American made clothes are made with the same materials, and the workman ship is the same.

Regarding this CBDH, if they add it to the standalones and became mainstream on them (same way DiVX / XviD is today), I'll use it. If not, I won't.
I'm not into a format anymore. I'm into anything that do the job perfect and won't need to convert it to something else in the future. And cheap too. I don't have money anymore to spent without a good reason.

Same here. If I can buy a player where I live that supports this format, sure I'll look at it.

This is the reason I don't have any interest in AVC material. My Toshiba HD-DVD plays it just fine, but all of my other players support mpeg2, and most support xvid/divx. It's not hard to decide if I want something to play on one player, or on all players. Same with my friends and family. Only a handful have Blu Ray players or PS3's. Most have standard upscaling DVD players that also support xvid/divx.

[SatStorm]

H264 turns slowly to mainstream here in Europe, because DVB S2 and DVB T2 base on it. It gonna stick with us for many - many years and the benefits over mpeg 1/2 or even DivX/XviD are obvious.
On what we gonna playback it, I don' know. At the time being, PCs can playback it, latest DVB S2 receivers with USB PVR abilties can (dreambox and so...), gadgets like popcorn hour / Western Digital TV / Egrate do also and both HD DVDs / BluRays. H264 (and the AVC variation - if we can call it that way) is present today and has a bright future, but not on BR. Probably as data on DVD-Rs or HDD or something else (flash memory? Could be).

Regarding the economy, here in Greece we have exactly the same problem but also we are not so distant from those who produce food / clothes / etc, so we learn a few thing more than the average western european (or even american). For example, the fact that the farmers here, sell for less the last years but their products end up far more expensive on the market. So, it is obvious that the in-betweeners, the corporates , the cartels, and so, are doing something nasty.
I believe that this is a global phenomena and I bet this steeling gonna end soon with a huge revolution, not against a system or an enemy this time (those things are so last century), but against all this global system who turned us slaves for basic needs, like food and clothing.

I see a very interesting future ahead us.

[MOVIEGEEK]

China has the ability to set standards.

Yes but they only apply to China.
The movies released on CBHD will be Chinese(not international) films so unless you understand Chinese dialects the format is useless.

[cal_tony]

Lots of big players sitting around and the next big thing in video could come as quickly as the demise of HD DVD. With a few backdoor deals HD DVD died in a month. Something new could emerge just as quickly. A lot of HD has been helped along by the old congress and the new congress is now deeply indebted to China for loans they can't pay back. Under those circumstances I wouldn't make any predictions about whats next or whats going to stick. China could get a small green light on US CBHD. just as a good will gesture.

Tony

[DereX888]

Lots of big players sitting around and the next big thing in video could come as quickly as the demise of HD DVD. With a few backdoor deals HD DVD died in a month. Something new could emerge just as quickly. A lot of HD has been helped along by the old congress and the new congress is now deeply indebted to China for loans they can't pay back. Under those circumstances I wouldn't make any predictions about whats next or whats going to stick. China could get a small green light on US CBHD. just as a good will gesture.

Tony

Unlikely IMHO.
Sony is [s:b895755920]like[/s:b895755920] Microsoft of home electronics.
Since end of past decade this corporation itself have more power and more influence and more budget than many countries together, more than MOST countries in the world. Certainly it is dominating on US and Euro markets and has plenty of important people on its payroll to easily prevent it from happening; possibly it even can override any chinese attemps to thwart Blu's HD domination anywhere - simply because outside US+Japan and European markets there are NO other markets... and China's internal/domestic market will take another 10-20 years before it could counts (if ever).

[RayH]

China is an important market NOW!!! Depending upon which product it is the primary market. Blu Ray took over the market because Sony paid Warner $400 million to side with Blu Ray. So the fight isn't over. China can make Blu Ray lower its royalties the same way it had DVD do it.

[lordsmurf]

Over and over again, it's been proven that Asian video market doesn't mean squat to North America or Europe.

[Lawbringer]

China has the ability to set standards.

Yes but they only apply to China.
The movies released on CBHD will be Chinese(not international) films so unless you understand Chinese dialects the format is useless.

Yeah, what were they thinking, with a market of only 1/5 of the world's population... wait, what?

[disturbed1]

Over and over again, it's been proven that Asian video market doesn't mean squat to North America or Europe.

This is true for consumers no doubt. I just can't stop staring at all the spindles of VCDs I have

VCD was primarily a Chinese format. It was vastly popular there compared to standard markets. This site, you, me, and most people here started making VCDs from the articles at www.vcdhelp.com. Of course, at the time DVD burners were $800 and blanks were $17 and I'm positive that was a huge factor.

If this CBHD turns into something I can put on a $0.50 CD burnt with my $30 CD burner. Oops I meant $0.50 DVD and $30 DVD burner

Unless Blu Ray players, drop in price that is close to what CBHD would cost, I think it might stand a chance. In the end, if there are no players, there will be no consumers.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Yes but they only apply to China.
The movies released on CBHD will be Chinese(not international) films so unless you understand Chinese dialects the format is useless.

Yeah, what were they thinking, with a market of only 1/5 of the world's population... wait, what?

That is exactly my point.
CBHD will only be available in China,so unless you live there or have relatives there then this format is moot for the rest of the world.

[RabidDog]

Yeah, what were they thinking, with a market of only 1/5 of the world's population... wait, what?

But of whom only 20% have mains lectric, and of those only 30% have a TV, of which 11% are HD

Chinese median wage is still only $22 stinkin yankee dolla per month.

850mill earn significantly less than that, Food is a luxury Item


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