TOKYO — The DVD Forum is studying the possibility of a Chinese-only format based on the HD DVD spec.
The move was approved by the Forum's steering committee during a meeting in Cheju do, South Korea on Wednesdayt (Sept. 14). The Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center, a Chinese government-affiliated research organization, made a proposal to the Forum's blue laser working group in July to define a China-only format based on HD DVD.
The format would have the same disk structure as HD DVD using two bonded 0.6-mm-thick platters. But it will slightly modify the physical layer and will simplify the video application layer. The resulting China-only format would be incompatible with the HD DVD format.
The steering committee has created an ad hoc panel called the Subcommittee on China that will study the technical feasibility of the Chinese proposal.
Despite the incompatible format, "As the disk structure is the same as HD DVD so it is easy to build a compatible player with slightly modified circuitry and the same pickup," a Forum spokesman said.
China apparently intends to establish the HD format before the Olympic games in Beijing in 2008.
