We've given HD DVD's bastard childChina Blue HD its due for a good start in its native land, but now that U.K. Importer GBAX has made a few units available it's time for English language buyers to at least consider this Blu-ray alternative. Of course, with a £259.99 ($413.22 U.S.) pricetag for this plain TCL player, AV and HD cables, plus 14 CBHD movies (The Aviator, Blood Diamond, The Invasion, The Island, Flood, Poseidon & 8 Chinese-only flicks) to get you started the barrier to entry is high, but as shown in the unboxing / preview video -- embedded after the break, watch for ninjas -- the experience is very familiar. As Format War Central points out, the 220/240Hz power cord makes things complicated for the U.S. and other places outside Europe, but hardcore HD DVD holdouts are used to a world filled with only Warner and Universal movies already, so why not give the other blue laser flavor a try?
FAIL. you mean the 50/60HZ power difference... there is also a 120/220V power difference but the HZ iz what makes it difficult to plug in in the US...+ the difference in the format of the signal (maybe)
Power frequency has little effect on compatibility of modern switching mode powersupplies. and the "format" of the grid power is sine wave everywhere in the world, so that's obvious not a consideration.
The 110/240v different is however significant, making it mroe costly to produce universal psu's that work off either voltage and everything in between.
but i think it was made not to accept 110v cos they know that america is resistant to the chinese economic boom, and thus would not buy into chinese technology when they already have a similar working technology (bluray) existent.
If I recall my history correctly, the 1st and 2nd Opium Wars occurred because the British wanted to continue selling opium to the Chinese... China lost both times, and was forced to give up lots of land (including Hong Kong) and dynastic rule was overthrown, which would lead to the ultimate rise of communism in China.
They probably fitted the units with UK style plugs but China itself uses plugs that would fit in most US sockets-except of course rated for 220V. But as long as the units have compatibile power supplies you could just plug it in and it'd work, just like how US electronics usually work overseas as long as you have the little socket adapter.
Well I don't know if all of China is the same, but when I visited Beijing a few years ago, the power points were the same as the Australian ones, just upside down.
Hong Kong uses the same plugs as England still, however.
They actually fairly recently started favoring the US-style plug. Largely because they make so many things with US-style plugs that it just made more sense to be able to make more stuff with the same cords and plugs (especially since a lot of products are compatible 110 and 220). Plus Japan right next door also uses the same plug design. And since so many buildings are newly made it was pretty easy for them to make the change than most other places. I mean you'll still see the old sockets around but almost all the new products on the market are just released in the one plug that works for China as well as export to Japan and the US and lets you run Japanese electronic imports without needing an adapter. So usually you see something like this http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c6/Chinasocket.jpg where it's compatible with all the plug types that China has used, but the reality is that the vast majority of products now use Type A sockets so the factory doesn't have to make a China-only version (why bother when most people have the new sockets or can go buy a new socket). Saves a lot of money to stick to one design.
There's lots of multiplugs around with a connector that does pretty much everything in one socket. But you wouldn't want to use these for anything drawing a lot of electricity.
The player price is a bit high but it is a import after all. For Hollywood films and some foreign films Blu Ray should do the trick but if you are into Asian cinema as well CBHD will have the advantage.
My first question is: are those Hollywood flicks bundled with the unit licensed for sale in the UK?
Second question: if this managed to beat the odds and sell half-decently, might the studios consider this format? Far-out? Maybe. But, if it even catches on in Chinese communities in the west, and the licensing is cheaper than Blu-Ray, I think there's an (extreme) outside chance this might catch on.
Third question: What are the prospects for a consumer burner in this format?
1. The 14 films are included with the player by default, even in China, those are real discs and not counterfeit if that was your question.
2. Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, and National Geographic are the only Hollywood studios supporting the format, previously it was just Warner but after the apparent success of the format Universal and National Geographic joined. If the success continues I'm sure more Hollywood studios will join as well. Seeing it in "China Towns" would be cool from a technological and business standpoint but to replace HD DVD and compete with Blu Ray again in the West on a large scale seems unlikely.
3. I don't see why there couldn't be one, although it might be Asia exclusive.
Keep in mind, this player is from China but only being sold through a import shop.
CBHD isn't a format for "the West", it's a format for Asia, import shops are simply making it available [unofficially] for those who want to see what the format is about or want a alternative to what ever format they currently use.
This is all lies. I've searched Beijing and never found one of these China Blue HD players or the discs. My local games dealer sells pirated Blu-rays at 40 yuan a piece, but CBHD? Not a chance. If it does exist, it's doomed for extinction.
China tries to do a lot of its standards that people never end up following. Similar situation with the Chinese version of wifi - the cosmopolitan cities, you'd just unauthorized Wi-Fi and not the Chinese version. They should just go the same way Hong Kong used to do - international standards!
Am I the only one that misses HD DVD? I bought a BRD player after selling my HD DVD player and HD DVD's on eBay. Every movie I owned on HD DVD looked amazing! Now that I own a BRD player I can't seem to find any movie that looks good in HD. I am not stupid, I have my BRD player set up properly and I own a good HD TV. Every movie I have seen looks like it is only mildly better than an up-converted DVD. All of my friends and relatives as well are extremely disappointed with the picture quality from there BRD players. When you pay $250 you should get better quality. piss off BRD!!!
I don't miss HD-DVD. My collection keeps growing and I'm grabbing the movies at an average of € 10 a pop (i.e. about a third of what I'd pay for a Blu-Ray title) from leftover catalogues. Amazon has a huge number of titles, either sold directly by them or by third parties. I was cautious about buying from those third parties but finally made a large purchase recently and everything went fine.
In subjective viewing experience I think there is absolutely no difference in image and sound quality between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. However, I've had *many* more problems with getting some Blu-Ray titles to play, and Blu-Ray feels slower loading the movie and accessing menus. Not to mention that I have yet to come across a title with even slightly interesting online content. Plus, I refuse to register each movie I buy in order to access that content.
@ MBzin - If a movie on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray receive the same transfer, which would mean it was encoded using the same codec, there is no difference in quality between the movie on either disc. The only difference in the output would be if either player is adding post-processing to the signal before it reaches the display. You may have watched a movie on HD-DVD that was encoded using VC-1 and then saw the same movie on Blu-ray that was encoded using MPEG-2, which could account for your comments regarding HD-DVDs better quality, as a lot of Blu-rays encoded using MPEG-2 are in fact visually inferior to a VC-1 or H.264 transfer.
@Daemonios - The BDA decided to use java on Blu-ray discs, that's why Blu-ray discs are generally slower to navigate in comparison to HD-DVD. I agree with your comments on great HD-DVD offers. I'm going to be buying a large amount of HD-DVDs soon and won't be moving to Blu-ray until absolutely necessary.
I always hoped that after the downfall of HD-DVD, the CBHD format would have been compatible with existing HD-DVD players, as this would have meant we could still buy, albeit from China, new movies to watch on our beloved HD-DVD players; I still use my XE1 (European equivalent to the XA2).
"With all the new multitouch capable monitors coming out, which one is the best? With the release of Windows 7 I really want a touchscreen monitor for my desktop. I'm looking to get a Full HD monitor that supports multitouch and can still look great during gaming and movies. Which one has the best specs for the price?"
The most commented posts on Engadget over the past 24 hours.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
posted Oct 13th 2009 9:24PM
first
Ok, now fade away.
Cool
No, not cool. Dumb.
And it's brought to us by the country that still watches movies on CD-I.
Real smart Info Ctr
Back in the 90s the DVD was brought to the Chinese by the country that still watches movies on VHS.
Congratulations Hgaara. You were the first to make a fool out of yourself.
FAIL. you mean the 50/60HZ power difference... there is also a 120/220V power difference but the HZ iz what makes it difficult to plug in in the US...+ the difference in the format of the signal (maybe)
Agreed, don't know how they let that slip. At least we know they know their stuff when it comes to HDTV Hz.
Chris fail.
Power frequency has little effect on compatibility of modern switching mode powersupplies. and the "format" of the grid power is sine wave everywhere in the world, so that's obvious not a consideration.
The 110/240v different is however significant, making it mroe costly to produce universal psu's that work off either voltage and everything in between.
but i think it was made not to accept 110v cos they know that america is resistant to the chinese economic boom, and thus would not buy into chinese technology when they already have a similar working technology (bluray) existent.
If I recall my history correctly, the 1st and 2nd Opium Wars occurred because the British wanted to continue selling opium to the Chinese... China lost both times, and was forced to give up lots of land (including Hong Kong) and dynastic rule was overthrown, which would lead to the ultimate rise of communism in China.
You don't recall your history correctly.
It's a simple version but hardly "way off"
so... Didn't feel like posting a wiki link to "the facts" eh?
They probably fitted the units with UK style plugs but China itself uses plugs that would fit in most US sockets-except of course rated for 220V.
But as long as the units have compatibile power supplies you could just plug it in and it'd work, just like how US electronics usually work overseas as long as you have the little socket adapter.
Well I don't know if all of China is the same, but when I visited Beijing a few years ago, the power points were the same as the Australian ones, just upside down.
Hong Kong uses the same plugs as England still, however.
They actually fairly recently started favoring the US-style plug. Largely because they make so many things with US-style plugs that it just made more sense to be able to make more stuff with the same cords and plugs (especially since a lot of products are compatible 110 and 220). Plus Japan right next door also uses the same plug design. And since so many buildings are newly made it was pretty easy for them to make the change than most other places.
I mean you'll still see the old sockets around but almost all the new products on the market are just released in the one plug that works for China as well as export to Japan and the US and lets you run Japanese electronic imports without needing an adapter.
So usually you see something like this http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c6/Chinasocket.jpg where it's compatible with all the plug types that China has used, but the reality is that the vast majority of products now use Type A sockets so the factory doesn't have to make a China-only version (why bother when most people have the new sockets or can go buy a new socket). Saves a lot of money to stick to one design.
There's lots of multiplugs around with a connector that does pretty much everything in one socket. But you wouldn't want to use these for anything drawing a lot of electricity.
Another format? No, thanks.
Competition is good. I've never felt that blu ray was the best option, although I own a player. I always liked HD DVD better.
" I always liked HD DVD better."
LOL! What an idiot.
Let me guess...another butthurt Xbot still crying over Sony kicking that giant pile of fail HD-DVD straight to the trashheap of dead formats.
They must having a giggle if they think they can do this with a price like that. I doubt there will be any worthy movies to but either.
So many thing wrong with those two sentences.
The player price is a bit high but it is a import after all. For Hollywood films and some foreign films Blu Ray should do the trick but if you are into Asian cinema as well CBHD will have the advantage.
Flog the dead donkey why don't you.
My first question is: are those Hollywood flicks bundled with the unit licensed for sale in the UK?
Second question: if this managed to beat the odds and sell half-decently, might the studios consider this format? Far-out? Maybe. But, if it even catches on in Chinese communities in the west, and the licensing is cheaper than Blu-Ray, I think there's an (extreme) outside chance this might catch on.
Third question: What are the prospects for a consumer burner in this format?
1. The 14 films are included with the player by default, even in China, those are real discs and not counterfeit if that was your question.
2. Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, and National Geographic are the only Hollywood studios supporting the format, previously it was just Warner but after the apparent success of the format Universal and National Geographic joined. If the success continues I'm sure more Hollywood studios will join as well. Seeing it in "China Towns" would be cool from a technological and business standpoint but to replace HD DVD and compete with Blu Ray again in the West on a large scale seems unlikely.
3. I don't see why there couldn't be one, although it might be Asia exclusive.
Keep in mind, this player is from China but only being sold through a import shop.
Watch it be like those old Chinese NES carts... 14 movies on one disc.
CBHD isn't a format for "the West", it's a format for Asia, import shops are simply making it available [unofficially] for those who want to see what the format is about or want a alternative to what ever format they currently use.
How can it compete with Blu-ray when Blu-ray can't even compete with DVD, downloadable, and streaming movies?
Because this is not as restricted, and doesn't cost through the nose.
This is all lies. I've searched Beijing and never found one of these China Blue HD players or the discs. My local games dealer sells pirated Blu-rays at 40 yuan a piece, but CBHD? Not a chance. If it does exist, it's doomed for extinction.
China tries to do a lot of its standards that people never end up following. Similar situation with the Chinese version of wifi - the cosmopolitan cities, you'd just unauthorized Wi-Fi and not the Chinese version. They should just go the same way Hong Kong used to do - international standards!
Am I the only one that misses HD DVD? I bought a BRD player after selling my HD DVD player and HD DVD's on eBay. Every movie I owned on HD DVD looked amazing! Now that I own a BRD player I can't seem to find any movie that looks good in HD. I am not stupid, I have my BRD player set up properly and I own a good HD TV. Every movie I have seen looks like it is only mildly better than an up-converted DVD. All of my friends and relatives as well are extremely disappointed with the picture quality from there BRD players. When you pay $250 you should get better quality. piss off BRD!!!
I don't miss HD-DVD. My collection keeps growing and I'm grabbing the movies at an average of € 10 a pop (i.e. about a third of what I'd pay for a Blu-Ray title) from leftover catalogues. Amazon has a huge number of titles, either sold directly by them or by third parties. I was cautious about buying from those third parties but finally made a large purchase recently and everything went fine.
In subjective viewing experience I think there is absolutely no difference in image and sound quality between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. However, I've had *many* more problems with getting some Blu-Ray titles to play, and Blu-Ray feels slower loading the movie and accessing menus. Not to mention that I have yet to come across a title with even slightly interesting online content. Plus, I refuse to register each movie I buy in order to access that content.
@ MBzin - If a movie on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray receive the same transfer, which would mean it was encoded using the same codec, there is no difference in quality between the movie on either disc. The only difference in the output would be if either player is adding post-processing to the signal before it reaches the display. You may have watched a movie on HD-DVD that was encoded using VC-1 and then saw the same movie on Blu-ray that was encoded using MPEG-2, which could account for your comments regarding HD-DVDs better quality, as a lot of Blu-rays encoded using MPEG-2 are in fact visually inferior to a VC-1 or H.264 transfer.
@Daemonios - The BDA decided to use java on Blu-ray discs, that's why Blu-ray discs are generally slower to navigate in comparison to HD-DVD. I agree with your comments on great HD-DVD offers. I'm going to be buying a large amount of HD-DVDs soon and won't be moving to Blu-ray until absolutely necessary.
I always hoped that after the downfall of HD-DVD, the CBHD format would have been compatible with existing HD-DVD players, as this would have meant we could still buy, albeit from China, new movies to watch on our beloved HD-DVD players; I still use my XE1 (European equivalent to the XA2).
DAMN CHINESSE CRAP !!