Chinese Bring Own Blu-Ray/HDVD: E-VD

While HDVD and Blu-Ray do battle over which one is going to be the heir to the current DVD format, China is working on its own version: E-VD. At this moment it is unclear if the E-VD will include DRMs, but as this lengthy post points out, the Chinese could care less. Without DRM the E-VD is likely to be limited to the domestic (Chinese) market, but it has some advantages over its Western counterparts to win over that market:

Working in the favor of the E-VD is its patent free status, making it more attractive to manufacturers, and the fact that it is backwards compatible with existing DVDs and VCDs. Allowing manufacturers to switch over to the new technology without interrupting sales and without having to wait for the high definition aspects of the E-VD to become more attractive to consumers before they begin producing E-VD players in significant volumes.

Some Chinese papers proclaim that the E-VD will allow Chinese manufactures to shake off their previous dependence on foreign technologies. While the video codec is produced by a US company, it is certainly interesting to see that the Chinese might create a future format that does not cater to US demands on piracy. This echoes observations that piracy can actually be a motor for Chinese development, now possibly with a high definition format to ride on.