Beijing - China, the world's biggest maker of Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) players, moved on Tuesday to create its next-generation rival, the Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD), the first step towards creating a possible new national industry standard.
Beijing E-world Technology, the corporate entity of a government-backed consortium of businessmen and academics, and two DVD manufacturers unveiled the indigenous, higher-definition Enhanced Versatile Disc.
The move also aims to reduce the drain of what domestic DVD makers consider exorbitant patent royalties they must pay to a group of mostly Japanese electronics conglomerates and avoid over-reliance on foreign technology.
But EVD may not knock DVD from its leading position just yet.
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'Creating a possible new national industry standard' The ministry of information industry will set up a task force this month to deliberate whether to adopt EVD as the new national industry standard, a ministry spokesperson said. There was no timetable for a decision.
DVD is the current unofficial national standard. More than 100 domestic DVD makers produced about 30 million players last year, almost double the 2001 figure, state media said.
China exported 20 million players in 2002, accounting for up to 70 percent of the global DVD market.
A 70-member research and development team spent ¥40-million (about R2,5-million-) and three years to come up with the next generation disc format after a group of nine electronics giants pressured Chinese DVD makers to pay royalties totalling $9 (about R60) for each player exported.
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