Blu ray Vs HD-DVD and now HD-VMD

rossdude · 09-11-2007, 02:36 PM

Just when we started to care less about Blue Ray and HD-DVD a new format enters the battle from London-based New Medium Enterprises who have just announced the imminent availability of its HD VMD (Versatile Media Disk) player, which promises to bring 1080p video to high-definition TV screens for under $200.

Now I'm a little interested, seeing as this option is cheaper. The player also upscales your old DVD's to near HD quality, so just buying it for that could be tempting.

From Arcs Technica:

HD VMD players are cheap because they ditch the expensive move to blue-laser technology and stick with the well-known red lasers currently used in CD and DVD players. In fact, the hardware is essentially a DVD player with new firmware that can address the multiple layers in VMDs.

To boost the capacity of traditional red-laser DVDs, VMDs have more than two data layers, which is the maximum for traditional DVDs. The extra layers give the discs a capacity of 30GB apiece. Commercial content is encoded with the proprietary HD VMD codec, though the player can also decode MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC1, WMV 9, and H.264.

With the new devices requiring both the purchase of new hardware and new content, HD VMD faces an uphill battle, especially as HD DVD and Blu-ray player prices drop. New Medium Enterprises also announced last week that the player will soon be available in Europe for €179, though the company also plans to focus on emerging markets like China and India that are more sensitive to price.

In the US, where few content licensing deals have been signed, New Medium Enterprises is pitching the player as a DVD player on steroids, with the new HD VMD format as an added bonus. Even if VMDs don't take off, buyers get a progressive scan DVD player that does upscaling and features an HDMI output and plenty of consumer-friendly codecs. Still, unless the company can boost the number of available titles on VMD, this may prove a tough sell.

One PC World writer who saw the HD VMD system in operation at a trade show commented, "The movies looked very good—not as stunning as I expected, but I'd just arrived from the CEDIA show floor, where every television vendor uses phenomenal, highly doctored content to show off their products."

NME has currently signed up Mel Gibson's Icon studios as a content partner, but no major studio has yet embraced the new technology.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...d-blu-ray.html

super_hoops1967 · 09-11-2007, 02:39 PM

there's only one thing that pisses me off about that....
"which promises to bring 1080p video to high-definition TV screens for under $200"

which means "which promises to bring 1080p video to high-definition TV screens for under £300

rossdude · 09-11-2007, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by super_hoops1967

there's only one thing that pisses me off about that....
"which promises to bring 1080p video to high-definition TV screens for under $200"

which means "which promises to bring 1080p video to high-definition TV screens for under £300

Ah yes indeed, i Think its going to be 270 Euros, whatever that is.

Deathwish238 · 09-11-2007, 03:19 PM

hmm interesting...yet another format. 3 way war anyone?

Ifti · 09-11-2007, 03:23 PM

how many more formats are there to come??!!! lol
Nice find though, well done!

Deathwish238 · 09-11-2007, 05:10 PM

lol well China just came out with their own version of HD-DVD

skamer · 09-11-2007, 05:32 PM

HDVMD libary
Hostage
We Were Soldiers
Apocalypto
Lucky Number Slevin
Valiant
Saw II
Saw III
Lord of War
Fireplace & Aquarium
The Ark
Help I'm A Fish
El Cid
Mid Summer Dream
Passion of The Christ
Angeles Ashes
Babel
16 Blocks
Set up
Hoodwinked
Oliver Twist
Princesse
La Planete Blanche
Pulp Fiction
Sahara
Demande A La Poussiere
Gosford Park
The Descent
Miss Potter
The Queen
Butterfly Effect 1
Butterfly Effect 2
Hitcher
Black Sheep
Lord of the Rings
Diario De Um Novo Mundo
Inside Out
Avion
Welcome to LazyTown
Dr. Rottenstein
Hero for a Day
Defeated
Rottenbeard
Cry Dinosaur
Secret Agent Zero
Sleepless in LazyTown
Happy Brush Day
Pixelspix
LazyTown’s New Super Hero
Sports Day
Crystal Caper
Lazy Scouts
My Treehouse
Swiped Sweets
Sportafake
The Laziest Town
Soccer Sucker
Dear Diary
Miss Roberta
Sports Candy Festival
Remote Control
Sportacus Who?
Zap it
Records Day
Ziggy’s Alien
Play Day
Prince Stingy
Robbie’s Greatest Misses
Dancing Duel
LazyTown’s Greatest Hits
Sportacus on the Move!
LazyTown’s Surprise Santa
Sailor et lula
Scorpion
Le caïman
Spy kids
Scarie movie 2
Les chansons d'amour
Khakar Khakar
Alaipayuthey
Pammal K Sambantham
Panchathanthiram
Ghilli
Boys
Kandukondain Kandukondain
Water
Bheja Fry
Bridge to Tarabitha
Hanuman
Malamal Weekly
Constant Gardner
Jo Jeeta Wohli Sikander
Page 3
Parzania
Iqbal
China Town
Sholay
Andaz Apana Apna
Hum Aapke Hai Kaun
Padosan
Maine Pyaar Kiya
Kashmir Ki Kali
Pyaasa
Sapoot
International only
Khanna & Iyer
Inquilab
Namak Haram
Dil Ek Mandir

looks like a Decent/cheap alternative but they are gonna have to improve on thier film chioce if they are to have a chance with the other 2 formats.

BabeSlayer · 09-11-2007, 05:47 PM

with HD and Blue ray gobling up the exclusive market i don't see this being a contender.....

skamer · 09-11-2007, 05:49 PM

yeah but HD VMD has Andaz Apana Apna that has to be a feather in thier cap.

BabeSlayer · 09-11-2007, 05:56 PM

if i knew what that was i might agree with you.....