Is three company or a crowd? Just when you thought there were too many versions of HDMI, Dolby, and DTS to keep straight, comes yet another high-def disc format.
Joining HD DVD and Blu-ray on the high-def scene at CEDIA Expo 2007 was HD VMD. Promising 40GB (maybe even more) on up to 20-layer DVD discs, the HD VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) format is poised for launch.
Players feature a lot of the same kinds of specs as on HD DVD and Blu-ray machines such as 1080p, ethernet port, up-scaled video, HDMI 1.3, VC-1 codec. They even have a “5 Free Movies” offer in Europe.
The list price is $199, but units are expected to be $150 when they appear in stores. These slim and good-looking players support VCDs, DVDs, CDs and MP3 CDs. In reading through their press releases for the year, it looks like manufacturer New Medium Enterprises has made a lot of movie distribution deals around the world to ensure a good launch and decent library. Discs will cost a little more than standard DVDs, but definitely less than HD DVD and Blu-ray titles.
It’s easy to write this off as a wasted effort compared to everything happening with HD DVD and Blu-ray, but that’s because you probably haven’t been outside the USA. In many parts of the world, electronics are either too expensive, or in many cases, there’s not even much to choose from. There’s actually a pretty good market for this kind of inexpensive player in a lot of Asian countries. The popularity of the VCD format attests to this.
Do you know what a VCD is? It’s a CD that contains video, and they’re immensely popular in places where DVD discs and players were expensive and hard to come by. Visit a1vcd.com and see for yourself the vast library of English, Japanese, Malay, Mandarin, and Korean discs. These are packaged and marketed in much the same way that DVDs are at your local Walmart and Target. They were originally viewed only on computers, but there are plenty of standalone players as well.
HD VMD might not sound like a big deal to early adopters like you and I who may already have committed to an HD format and lifestyle, but I don’t think we’re necessarily the target audience. The only real problem I can see for HD VMD adoption is that you need to start out with an HDTV first, and we’ve got poor HDTV adoption in the US as it is. HDTV adoption in all of those Asian countries would need to hit pretty significant numbers in order for those customers to start taking advantage of HD VMD. Many people view VCDs on a computer, and all computer monitors are essentially HD, but that’s not necessarily a true home theater experience.
There’s certainly lots of room to speculate.
- New Medium Enterprises
- ScreenDigest’s quick report, December 2006
- IFA press release, August 2007
September 11th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Please keep your comments on-topic and don’t use this commenting opportunity to make direct or indirect slurs against HD DVD or Blu-ray.
September 11th, 2007 at 10:17 am
In my opinion, the more the merrier. Competition creates innovation and more competitive pricing, which is never a bad thing.
September 11th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Is there a list of movies coming out for HD VMD?
I heard that Mel Gibson’s internal studio had decided to support HD VMD. . . although don’t quote me on that.
September 11th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
There’s a long list of movies at the NME site, and my guess is that they have hooked up with companies with VCD distribution rights which are somehow transferrable to HD VMD. Those movies from Mel Gibson’s studio are listed, as are a lot of other big name movies like Babel, Pulp Fiction and Lord of the Rings. We don’t even have LOTR on HD DVD and Blu-ray! Of course, announcing and releasing are two different things…
This is pure conjecture on my part, but it’s quite possible that VCD distribution rights are some kind of a back-door into making HD discs as long as you’re using DVD within certain parameters.
September 11th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
So essentially you are hinting that they may be able to release any movie that is already on DVD on HD VMD? I know that you aren’t 100% sure on that but if that were the case. . . wow.
So uhhh. . . when are these players getting released?
September 11th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
I am on the HD DVD camp but a new HD format that is as good as Blu-Ray and HD DVD with a better price tag is not bad at all!! 150 bucks for an HD Player that has 1080p, E-thernet port and HD movies that are priced at about the same as regular DVDs is a good thing and might have the edge in beating out HD DVD and Blu-Ray in the long run, that is if it ever gets any Hollywood support. I still think though that HD DVD might win the war.
September 11th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Geoff, not so much any movie on DVD, but perhaps a movie that’s been licensed out to VCD.
It’s just pure conjecture, and could be wrong. There might be some other reason that HD VMD has the library they claim.
September 12th, 2007 at 6:23 am
To be honest, I wish that if HD VMD had come into the market that it would have done so sooner than this. Many here are already well familiar with HD DVD and Blu Ray, but the general public still is not. And I’m a bit worried that this additional format will further confuse the issue. I have nothing against HD VMD per se (the specs, price, etc aren’t bad at all) but I think it would have been better if they were able to get an earlier start.
And Geoff, I heard it yesterday too re: Gibson’s studio supporting HD VMD.
September 12th, 2007 at 8:51 am
The idea is marvelous but I think too late in the game. One thing to keep in mind is the moment when the laser of your player needs to refocus on a different layer. In the DVD world there is often a pause right in the middle of a film. DVD producers spend a lot of time making this pause as seamless as possible, finding a spot in the film with no audio or a dip to black but this sweet spot does not exist on many films. The severity varies greatly from DVD player to DVD player. The Layer break on the HD disc formats is something I haven’t noticed yet. I wonder if this new HD VMD format could potentially give us five pauses during the film. This could be an issue with multi layered Blu-ray & HD DVD discs too, add their talk of adding more layers to their respective formats. Of course the new formats may have addressed this flaw of yesteryear by using a frame buffer.
September 12th, 2007 at 10:50 am
I have been torn between HD and BR, and this doesn’t make it any easier. However, I look forward to seeing how much and how fast VMD can gain momentum. More competition is a good thing, and three competitors is usually the magic number to drive prices down and features up.
September 17th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Here in asia, VCD ruled for several years, before dvd comes out, when europe still use vhs. It was gradually replaced with dvd, but vcd still exist as of today. Now, indonesia, malaysia and phillipine have legalised the distribution of blu-ray as the only hd format. Blu-ray import has disappeared along with import hd dvd. As of now, in a shop i visited, it has 6×5 of blu ray, with sd dvd amount to 3x of blu. It was like when dvd replaced vcd.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:08 am
VMD will never be going anywhere
WHY
producing optical media is more expensive with each layer as it takes longer , increses defects , reduces reliabiliy overall increases costs.
VMD needs 6 layers to match a 30Gb hd-dvd with just 2 layers !
VMD needs 8 layers to get 40Gb this is less than 2 layer blu-ray (50Gb) !
Manufacturing costs from LOWEST to HIGHEST would be as shown below ( i got 25/50G Blu-ray and 30G HD-DVD costs from a MFR website ) the rest are guesswork !
5Gb DVD (very cheap under 1 dollar )
10 GB 2 layer DVD (probably similar to single layer HD-DVD in large volumes )
15Gb HD-DVD ? (well they dont list this format as it’s not enough to store a full movie ?)
25Gb blu-ray is cheapest to mass produce HI-DEF format in common usage.
30GB HD-DVD notice it costs more than 25Gb blu-ray because it requires 2 layers !
50GB Blu-ray most expensive commonly used HI-DEF format ( 2 layers and blu-ray layers cost a bit more than HD-DVD layers )
20GB 4 layer VMD would be here but it only stores 20Gb completly useless !
50Gb Hd-DVD 3 layers - expensive and may not work on all current players requires a firmware update also.
30GB 6 layer VMD ? only 30Gb !
100Gb 4 Layer blu-ray Highest storage of any format may not work on all current players requires a firmware update also ?.
40Gb 8 Layer VMD ? only 40Gb - cost at least 3* more to mass produce than a 50Gig blu-ray disk.
50Gb 10 layer VMD only 50Gb ! and cant be done.
Other problem is layer switching is slow and read speed is lower than blu-ray and Hd-DVD for the same rotational speed.
Blu-ray has the highest data rate vs RPM of all the optical formats / while VMD/DVD would be the slowest data rate ( and HD-DVD in between) .
Conclusion red-lazer VMD is dead on arrival it’s completly unsupported and the most costly per Gb storage format.