More competing formats? EVD/VMD High definition players coming to CeBit 2006
Who needs blue lasers? Not New Medium Enterprises or Beijing e-world, as they have announced they will be showing off a combo EVD/VMD player at next year's CeBit in germany. Amazingly, while Blu-ray and HD-DVD continue to fight in the streets over who has the birthright to the high definition throne, a little collaboration could be a big boost to two other formats.
EVD (Enhanced versatile disc) is a Chinese backed format that has produced very little since being originally announced in 2003, but promised high definition DVD's with standard red laser technology.
VMD (Versatile Multilayer disc) is a new format pushed by NME, where they say they can increase the storage of a standard red-laser DVD, by adding additional layers, all the way up to 100GB storage (theoretically).
Could all this Blu-ray/HD-DVD posturing be for naught? If these companies can get any studio support and cheap but high quality (MPEG-2 apparently) high definition DVD's on store shelves before the big guys get traction.......2006 will be an interesting year. Read on for the full press release.
NME and Beijing E-World Technology Co., Ltd To Launch Total Red Laser HD Solution - EVD/VMD High Definition Players As Well As VMD Discs At CeBIT 2006 in Hanover, Germany, in March
LONDON --(Business Wire)-- Dec. 29, 2005 New Medium Enterprises (OTCBB: NMEN) and Beijing E-World Technology Company, Ltd., today announced the spring launch of the VMD-EVD-HD player at CeBIT in March 2006. Beijing E-World CTO Mr. Xu Xiang said "The two companies have achieved total compatibility between the EVD -HD player and VMD discs. All parties involved are very satisfied with this prototype and are confident to start commercial production in early spring."
As an important show of support for the cooperation between NME and Beijing E-World, a leading Bollywood (Indian) film distributor Eros will release 5 titles in HD on VMD together with the EVD - HD player at the CeBIT exhibition in March.
NME and Beijing E-World technological teams have been cooperating with each other extensively during the past several months. The two companies had launched their VMD-EVD-HD player prototype before Christmas in 2005, and plan to launch the commercial production in the first quarter of 2006. "We believed it was important to continue the integration of our two technologies, as well as gain strong assistance, technical support and input from Chinese DVD manufacturers prior to the launch of our products. We now believe that we have all the necessary support from the Chinese DVD player manufacturers to launch the HD solution at the CeBIT show in March 2006," said Mahesh Jayanarayan, CEO of NME.
About New Medium Enterprises, Inc. (NME):
NME is aimed at positioning itself as a technology leader in the field of High Definition (HD) digital storage. NME is offering the film, entertainment, video gaming and storage industries a total solution including thwarting video piracy. The Company has developed the Versatile Multilayer Disc (VMD), a technologically advanced red laser optical storage disc that has capacities ranging from 20 to 40GB. The technology has the capability of up to 100GB of data storage, which is 20 fold the capacity of existing DVD discs. For additional information about NME, please consult the Company's website at: http://www.nmeinc.com
About Beijing E-World Technology Co., Ltd. (E-World):
E-World, a Chinese publicly listed company, is engaged in the development of electronic chip and board technology. E-World is also the developer of the Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD), which is currently selling in China, and one of the world's HD optical storage discs. For additional information about E-World, please consult the Company's website at: http://www.davworld.net
