HD VMD: Poor Man's Blu-ray

We first introduced you to HD VMD during CES 2008 back near the beginning of January. We didn't give the HD format much thought at the time as the HD DVD/Blu-ray battle was reaching its climax, but the creation from New Medium Enterprises has resurfaced. The company stated yesterday in the New York Times that they're confident they'll find a market niche now that HD DVD is dead as their product is equivalent in quality to Blu-ray, but much cheaper.

The company looks to be targeting those with less disposable income in the US, but expects to find more demand overseas in Australia, China, India, Central Europe, Russia and Scandinavia. They claim that they won't rekindle the format war, but Blu-ray scoffs at their attempt at moving into the HD disc market with pricing promotion. "When you mass produce blue lasers in large quantities, hardware costs will absolutely come down," Mr. Parsons said. "I'm sure we'll eventually be able to charge $90 for a Blu-ray player. "When you mass produce blue lasers in large quantities, hardware costs will absolutely come down," Blu-ray Disc Association chairman Andy Parsons said. "I'm sure we'll eventually be able to charge $90 for a Blu-ray player."

One major problem faced by HD VMD so far is actually finding studios that'll print movie titles on the new format. So far only 17 titles are available in the US via the New Medium Enterprises online store, and pretty much all of them are little-known independent titles. None of the major studios have commented on any intention to release titles on HD VMD.

HD VMD uses the red-lasers used in standard definition DVD players, while Blu-ray players use the more expensive blue-lasers. The disc is multi-layered allowing for more storage space, while a standard DVD only features a single layer.