11 July 2007 18 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

Just when you thought it might be safe to start thinking about picking a HD optical format, China decides to toss another one into the ring.

The Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center at Tsinghua University in Beijing made the announcement last week, cleverly calling the format CH-DVD. The Center also established the China High Definition DVD Industry Association, which will work with the DVD Forum and “international partners” to launch the format in China by 2008.

Based off the HD-DVD disc the new formate will support advanced copy protection in an attempt to curb China’s rampant piracy problem. Apparently this is not the first time that China has attempted to introduce a new technology format to compete with existing standards. Previously China had attempted to introduce a new DVD type as well as a wireless encryption standard, among others.

[via arstechnica]