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Warner Bros. confirms support of CBHD format in China

Warner Bros. has announced that they will support the high definition CBHD format in China, despite Sony's introduction of Blu-ray in the nation last month.

CBHD, short for China Blue High-Definition Disc and formerly known as CH-DVD (China High Definition DVD) is a next-generation optical disc based on HD DVD standards.



Titles will go on sale beginning in the next few months and will include Harry Potter 1-6, Golden Compass, Speed Racer, and Blood Diamond among others. Warner is the first Hollywood studio to support the format which has backing from local studios such as Chinese Corporation, China Film Group, and Huayi Brothers Company.

“These large areas of unusually high-definition picture quality and sound will be the first to come to China,” added Warner Home Entertainment Co., Ltd. Managing Director Fang Lin. “Warner has been recorded for the Chinese family provide the most perfect home entertainment experience. This time, we will strive to support high-definition technology in China to implement to enable them to ordinary consumers as soon as possible to enter the Chinese family.”

Players will go into more mainstream release soon as well, retailing for the equivalent of $290 USD. Discs will range in price from $7.25 to 10.15 USD, depending on the popularity and age of the title.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 3 Mar 2009 22:45

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• 11 comments

• atomicxl

  I wonder if these will play in US HD-DVD players.

  4.3.2009 11:56 #1

• DXR88

  Only one way to find out.

  4.3.2009 12:30 #2

• cyprusrom

  Quote:I wonder if these will play in US HD-DVD players.
  It seems the two can be made compatible with some firmware upgrade maybe?;so I guess HD DVD isn't dead at all, just comes back with a new name? Maybe Toshiba finally got wiser; let Sony have the Hollywood market, and instead focus on the Asian market- China, HK, Korea,Bollywood, which overwhelms Hollywood when it comes to releases big time.
  
  Quote: dvd.cfm" class="forum_link" target="_blank">HD DVD and CH DVD are compatible, which means HD DVD players (with additional software) can read CH DVD, and vice versa.http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_China_Ado...51GB_08434.html

  4.3.2009 15:24 #3

• HDNow

  This is doomed to fail. Bootleg BluRay/AVCHD discs are available in China for $5 to $7. Plus the price of that player is too damn high.

  4.3.2009 19:07 #4

• DXR88

  Originally posted by HDNow: This is doomed to fail. Bootleg BluRay/AVCHD discs are available in China for $5 to $7. Plus the price of that player is too damn high.Just like VCD/SVCD, yet some how it found a nice market there in Asia.
  
  if it works in a HD-DVD player/burner and they make blank discs, blue ray can kiss the dirt real easily. HD-DVD burners are dirt cheap.
  
  besides its a niche market, the same as SVCD.

  4.3.2009 22:44 #5

• error5

  Originally posted by atomicxl: I wonder if these will play in US HD-DVD players.I doubt it. The hardware SOC has to be reprogrammed - a FW update probably won't do it.
  
  CBHD:
  
  >Different audio/video codec (AVS). Does not support DD+, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTSHD, or DTSHD MA.
  >Different interactivity layer (CECT). Does not support HDi.
  >Different DRM scheme (CDRM). Does not support AACS.
  >Different encoding system (FSM or Four-to-Six Modulation). HD DVD has the Eight-to-Twelve Modulation (ETM) standard.
  
  Quote:...and thus is incompatible with players and drives sold in the rest of the world. http://www.emedialive.com/articles/reada...cleid=11631#iie
  
  Added: After reading the comments on hd digest and hd forum it seems that CBHD players could possibly play HDDVD discs but the reverse may not be possible due to the above factors.

  5.3.2009 09:03 #6

• DXR88

  thanks for the article Error5, good info.

  5.3.2009 09:58 #7

• dbminter

  Quote:“Warner has been recorded for the Chinese family provide the most perfect home entertainment experience. This time, we will strive to support high-definition technology in China to implement to enable them to ordinary consumers as soon as possible to enter the Chinese family.”
  Was this translated with Babelfish or something? To enter the Chinese family?

  5.3.2009 21:13 #8

• error5

  ^^^^^
  The google translation is a little better:
  
  Quote:"Warner has been recorded for the Chinese home providing the perfect home entertainment experience. This times, we will strive to support high-definition technology in the Chinese introduced into China at an early date to enable them to home consumers. "http://translate.google.com/translate?pr...history_state0=
  
  Someone over at hd digest brought up a good point. It's possible that Warner will try to make the CBHD releases "region locked" to the Chinese market by taking away the English soundtrack. They'll probably have Mandarin or Cantonese dubbed soundtracks with subtitles in Chinese characters only.
  
  There's also the issue of censorship by the Chinese government.

  5.3.2009 21:35 #9

• ivycheng

  we are selling cheap dvds,dvd movies,dvd tv shows---all items is for free shipping!
  Wish u have a great stay there!
  More details only at www.dvdszone.net , www.bigboxshops.com

  3.4.2009 02:37 #10

• blueskyd

  good information!

  13.5.2009 05:46 #11