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?
HD-DVD lost the format war. Get over it. Sure, it had its advantages over Blu-ray, but was not the better overall format. We now have the better of the two formats, which is a good thing. The format war, however, caused a lot of bitterness, and that still lingers today.
then i guess the manufacturers better keep prices heading in the right direction for full featured players (which they have been) figure out a way mom and pop will not have to do firmware updates just so they can watch new titles and the studios should quite gouging for the titles.... price it right and they will come.... i did finally get bd drive for my htpc but i have absolutely no interest in paying the extra money have yet to buy a bluray in the 4 or 5 months i've had the ability just rent the few titles that were worth the hd difference i do have around 40 hd-dvd's but only cause i got them and silly low prices and no i don't expect bd's to be that cheap. and yes i know scour the internet and you'll find them cheaper but main stream consumers spend most there time at walmart and when they see $30 plus for a movie they are not going to bite.
Yes, it's beyond me as well. I'm sure there's going to be legal issues around this. I'm sure the money greedy studios that have choosen to release their films on this communist supported format do so for China only. So the films that come to Europe will be illegally imported.
If it starts to show any progress outside of China and a few other countries with much poorer economies than those in Europe or the US, Warner et al will rapidly drop their support for the format.
In the meantime, expect to see the threat of lawsuits from the studios against businesses that import CBHD discs from overseas. As Levis prove over a decade ago, IP rights holders have some pretty twisted rights when it comes to controlling the imports of their own branded products.
The entire selling point of CBHD to the studios is as the ultimate form of region encoding, so they can sell content in China at a much lower (and thus affordable) price than in the US without the risk of Americans importing cheap Chinese discs. If CBHD takes off world wide, it isn't region encoding any more, it's just another rival.
Oh, and "HD DVD hold-outs" aren't going to buy CBHD unless they're just a BD/Sony hater. People who went for HD DVD went for it because of the advantages of that format. For all intents and purposes, CBHD is an entirely different format with none of the features that made HD DVD a sane system. Just because CBHD's spec was designed upon core technologies from HD DVD doesn't mean it's remotely similar.
I'll just say this-- everytime I go to a Hollywood Video, Blockbuster Video, Family Video, Hastings, FYE, etc I see an ever growing selection of blu-ray titles... and from the looks of it, a couple stores will be split 50/50 between dvd and blu-ray by next year.
Basically, we have a new format already, and the last thing I want is talk of another "war".
That just looks like that to you .. Considering that Blockbuster, not to mention Hollywood video had like 100 titles when they started obviously that might skew your view. They are offering slightly better selection of Blu-ray's but it's still pathetic when they are missing a ton of TVs shows, movies and so on. Sometimes movies that come out on DVD don't show up on Blu-ray at blockbuster or hollywood video and the movie is in fact available on Blu-ray as well.
My Blockbuster has a large selection of BDs. Every new movie out in both formats. TV shows are very rare at Blockbuster, and were pretty much non-existent for DVD rental at BB until it completely took over from VHS. So I don't really see a difference here. New format, same path.
Don't forget, each BB is different, run by different management. But we have a good share of Blu-rays, and it's been growing steadily.
I don't believe this.. China is going legit!!! We can't call you the bootleg capital of the world for pirated movies. Ah, I'm going to miss the good ole days.
I bought into HD DVD, and was sad that it died but I don't want to see another competing physical format to BR. All this will do is create another library of titles that can't be updated when the format fails.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Darth Tater @ Oct 13th 2009 10:45PM
Wow! The load time is much faster than any BD player on the market! That (and the uninevitable pirated discs) will make this format flourish!
Bozster @ Oct 13th 2009 10:54PM
GO HD DVD!! The return of the King ha ha ;)
Mark @ Oct 14th 2009 4:10AM
It isn't HD DVD. It may share parts of its technology stack with HD DVD, but it won't ever play HD DVD disks.
EatingPie @ Oct 14th 2009 6:47PM
King of what? Fail? :p
HD-DVD lost the format war. Get over it. Sure, it had its advantages over Blu-ray, but was not the better overall format. We now have the better of the two formats, which is a good thing. The format war, however, caused a lot of bitterness, and that still lingers today.
-Pie
Bob @ Oct 14th 2009 12:03AM
Why in the world do we need ANOTHER format. Let's do what we can to get Blu-Ray firmly established, not start up another format war!
wreckedchevy @ Oct 14th 2009 1:28AM
then i guess the manufacturers better keep prices heading in the right direction for full featured players (which they have been) figure out a way mom and pop will not have to do firmware updates just so they can watch new titles and the studios should quite gouging for the titles.... price it right and they will come.... i did finally get bd drive for my htpc but i have absolutely no interest in paying the extra money have yet to buy a bluray in the 4 or 5 months i've had the ability just rent the few titles that were worth the hd difference i do have around 40 hd-dvd's but only cause i got them and silly low prices and no i don't expect bd's to be that cheap. and yes i know scour the internet and you'll find them cheaper but main stream consumers spend most there time at walmart and when they see $30 plus for a movie they are not going to bite.
WebDev511 @ Oct 14th 2009 1:51AM
Looks like they had a disc already in the tray and paused out to the setup menu (that looks a LOT like an HD DVD setup menu, go figure).
Why this is making its way out of China is beyond me.
Mark @ Oct 14th 2009 4:09AM
Probably to serve the ex-patriot community. No one else in their right mind would be interested in it.
Jonsson @ Oct 14th 2009 2:09AM
Yes, it's beyond me as well. I'm sure there's going to be legal issues around this. I'm sure the money greedy studios that have choosen to release their films on this communist supported format do so for China only. So the films that come to Europe will be illegally imported.
Vince @ Oct 28th 2009 9:13AM
Only Universal and Warner? You forgot Paramount...and a handful of Weinsteins. Just saying, let's be accurate.
Charles @ Oct 14th 2009 3:44AM
LOL @ blog entry title
squiggleslash @ Oct 14th 2009 7:28AM
If it starts to show any progress outside of China and a few other countries with much poorer economies than those in Europe or the US, Warner et al will rapidly drop their support for the format.
In the meantime, expect to see the threat of lawsuits from the studios against businesses that import CBHD discs from overseas. As Levis prove over a decade ago, IP rights holders have some pretty twisted rights when it comes to controlling the imports of their own branded products.
The entire selling point of CBHD to the studios is as the ultimate form of region encoding, so they can sell content in China at a much lower (and thus affordable) price than in the US without the risk of Americans importing cheap Chinese discs. If CBHD takes off world wide, it isn't region encoding any more, it's just another rival.
Oh, and "HD DVD hold-outs" aren't going to buy CBHD unless they're just a BD/Sony hater. People who went for HD DVD went for it because of the advantages of that format. For all intents and purposes, CBHD is an entirely different format with none of the features that made HD DVD a sane system. Just because CBHD's spec was designed upon core technologies from HD DVD doesn't mean it's remotely similar.
Locke6854 @ Oct 14th 2009 7:42AM
I'll just say this-- everytime I go to a Hollywood Video, Blockbuster Video, Family Video, Hastings, FYE, etc I see an ever growing selection of blu-ray titles... and from the looks of it, a couple stores will be split 50/50 between dvd and blu-ray by next year.
Basically, we have a new format already, and the last thing I want is talk of another "war".
Bozster @ Oct 14th 2009 10:03AM
That just looks like that to you .. Considering that Blockbuster, not to mention Hollywood video had like 100 titles when they started obviously that might skew your view. They are offering slightly better selection of Blu-ray's but it's still pathetic when they are missing a ton of TVs shows, movies and so on. Sometimes movies that come out on DVD don't show up on Blu-ray at blockbuster or hollywood video and the movie is in fact available on Blu-ray as well.
Go figure.
EatingPie @ Oct 14th 2009 6:41PM
My Blockbuster has a large selection of BDs. Every new movie out in both formats. TV shows are very rare at Blockbuster, and were pretty much non-existent for DVD rental at BB until it completely took over from VHS. So I don't really see a difference here. New format, same path.
Don't forget, each BB is different, run by different management. But we have a good share of Blu-rays, and it's been growing steadily.
I still prefer Netflix tho. :-)
-Pie
kevon27 @ Oct 14th 2009 9:07AM
I don't believe this.. China is going legit!!! We can't call you the bootleg capital of the world for pirated movies.
Ah, I'm going to miss the good ole days.
Bryan @ Oct 15th 2009 5:26AM
I bought into HD DVD, and was sad that it died but I don't want to see another competing physical format to BR. All this will do is create another library of titles that can't be updated when the format fails.