The China High-Definition DVD Industry Association (CHDA) has announced development plans for the home-grown China Blue High-Definition (CBHD) disc format at a recent conference in Guangzhou.

By next year, the number of CBHD vendors is to increase from the current two companies to ten companies, reports the Chinese site netease.com. Sales of CBHD players should hit one million units by 2010, eventually reaching 10 million within three years. The association expect some 1,000 movie titles to be on offer in the CBHD format.

The association also unveiled a new-generation CBHD product supporting China's domestically-developed AVS coding standard and DKAA content-protection system.

CAV Warner Home Entertainment said at the conference that aside from itself, US content providers including Universal will also support the CBHD format.
Both CAV Warner and China Record have already released dozens of CBHD titles, and plan to top 100 releases this year. Video stores, Xinhua bookstores and a number of chain stores nationwide have begun sales, while e-commerce sites Joyo-Amazon and Dangdang also offer CBHD titles online. CBHD discs retail for approximately Rmb50 (€5).

The association says that next year it will focus on developing CBHD players and discs supporting non-Mandarin minority languages.

Story filed 29.09.09