Asia Express - Consumer Electronics
China Heralds Indigenous CH-DVD Standard
September 14, 2007
China's OMNERC (Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center) announced on September 7 the foundation of CHDA (China High Definition DVD Industry Association) in Beijing, with the aim to industrialize China's own-developed HD DVD (High-Definition Digital Versatile Disc) standard, tentatively named CH-DVD (China High Definition DVD). Members of the CHDA include TCL, Haier, and Tsinghua Tongfang of China, as well as foreign companies such as Microsoft, Toshiba, and Warner. Based on Chinese-owned intellectual property, CH-DVD is projected to be similar to HD DVD in physical specifications and incorporate China's homegrown AVS (Audio Video Standard) codec. The first CH-DVD player is scheduled to hit the market in 2008 before the Beijing Olympic Games.