The Change Mariner

China Pushes EVD As Alternative to DVD

CBSNews.com:

If I were an entertainment industry executive, I'd worry less about college students sharing files on the Internet and more about what's happening in China.

The Chinese government just announced a government-funded project to develop an alternative to the DVD. Called "EVD" (for "enhanced versatile disc"), the new format is reported to be technically superior to DVD, especially for recording and showing high definition television programs (HDTV).

Normally, I don't get too worked up over a new recording or storage format, especially when it's competing with an already entrenched standard such as DVD or CD. But every other time I've reported on a new standard, it was being pushed by a company or, at most, a consortium of companies. It's extremely difficult for a few companies -- even when it includes the likes of Sony or IBM -- to overturn an entrenched standard, but we're not talking about companies here.

We're talking a country that's home to 1.3 billion people. In 2002, according to the CIA Word Fact Book, China had a purchasing power of $5.7 trillion dollars. OK, the U.S. has one-fourth as many people and twice as much purchasing power, but China is still an emerging economic powerhouse that is getting stronger and richer all the time.