China to market new EVD players next month
Beijing
November 20, 2003

China plans to sell its first EVD players next month, in a move that could lead to a gradual phasing out of DVD in favour of the new, higher resolution Chinese format, industry officials said yesterday.

A spokesman for SVA Electronics, one of China's biggest makers of DVD (digital versatile disc) players, said its first EVA (enhanced versatile disc) machines will reach shops nationwide early next month.

Negotiations on the use of some 100 films on the first EVD discs are "going very well" between the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) and several large Hollywood film distributors, the spokesman said.

The first films on EVD will be available in Chinese shops by the end of the year, he said.

EVD was developed as a cheaper and better quality alternative to DVD by a group of researchers and manufacturers who formed the government-backed Beijing E-World Technology.

Chinese makers of DVD players currently pay royalties to foreign developers of DVD technology.

China's largest manufacturer of television sets, Changhong, also said it plans to make EVD players, saying they would provide better quality images on the high-resolution televisions already owned by many Chinese families.

The cost of an EVD player will be only "slightly higher" than a DVD player, the SVA spokesman said.

DVD players sell for 800-2,000 yuan ($A134-337).

An MII official said the ministry would consider adopting an industry standard for EVDs once the machines are on the market.

Beijing E-World Technology has registered seven patents for EVD and applied to register 40 more, state media said.

DPA