In a Christmas gift to Blu-ray fans, and a final nail in the defunct HD DVD format’s coffin, Digitimes is now reporting that the yet-to-be-released CBHD (China Blue High-definition Disc) format, based heavily on Toshiba’s failed HD DVD format, isn’t being supported by Taiwanese optical disc manufacturers.
The format, seen by some as the last great hope for an “HD DVD comeback,” has been struggling to reach the market since the parent format HD DVD was officially pronounced dead earlier this year.
China has attempted to develop their own formats in the past, such as EVD (Enhanced Versatile Disc), which attempted to compete against the worldwide DVD standard. Given the failure of such previous formats, along with the fact that no Taiwanese manufacturers participated in the development or promotion of the CBHD format, and its not too surprising that none of the Taiwanese manufacturers see potential in the CBHD format.
In case that wasn’t bad enough for the format, none of the major Hollywood studios are supporting it and, while Blu-ray disc players have fallen to under $200 for major brands in the United States, the CBHD players are expected to sell for the equivalent of around $438 upon their release. Hmm… a China-exclusive format that costs over twice what the worldwide standard does, and has NO support from major studios. Good luck with that.
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