HD VMD is a High Definition optical disc (movie) format developed by New Medium Enterprises, Inc. While the format offers High-definition content to consumers, the underlying VMD disc technology is not based on blue-laser technology like HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Instead, it is a red laser format that offers capacities of up to 20GB and beyond (4 layers for 20GB, a dual layer disc provides a storage capacity of 9GB).
HD VMD offers full 1080p HD content. One of its main aims is to offer high definition content at prices that are similar to DVD-Video prices. HD VMD video supports MPEG-2 , VC-1 and H.264. HD VMD audio supports Dolby Digital , DTS , and PCM audio. It is a true high definition format with 1920 x 1080 progressive video with data transfer rates up to 40 Mbps. The AES encryption scheme is part of the device's content protection offerings.
As of March, 2008, HD VMD players are available in many parts of the world, but so far threre's no major studio content available. The format also lacks mandatory support for standard Lossless Compression formats, or even AACS encryption, as they're working with on licensing agreements for both. According to the NME's website Authoring software and VMD computer drives are also being developed.
HD VMD Timeline (as of 3 March 2008)
4 February 2007 - New Medium Enterprises to offer HD VMD format- New Medium Enterprises, Inc. is set to offer up yet another disc format to the growing market for high definition video content. HD VMD is a red-laser based format that offers capacities of 9GB and 20GB (two layers and four layers respectively) and supports full 1080p HD content.... (Read More)
24 February 2007 - HD VMD to be shown at MEDIA-TECH- As well as Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, New Medium Enterprises' (NME) HD VMD will shown at the 2007 MEDIA-TECH conference. The company announced that that Dr. Eugene Levich, CTO of NME, has been invited to speak about the company's High Definition Versatile Multilayer Disc (HD VMD) at the conference.... (Read More)
28 February 2007 - HD VMD gets U.S. distribution deal- New Medium Enterprises has gotten its first distribution deal in the United States with PC Rush. The deal will see PC Rush distributing HD Versatile Multilayer Disc (VMD) players to the U.S. market.... (Read More)
27 October 2007 - HD VMD is coming- New Medium Enterprises has announced it will be launching its HD VMD Multilayer Player in India this week in hopes that the the format will become a competitor to Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD.... (Read More)
28 November 2007 - HD VMD is coming to the US- It looks like the first shipments of HD VMD set-top players to hit the U.S. will be courtesy of online retailer PC Rush. They've apparently ordered 10,000 units that they'll start selling in December.... (Read More)
13 January 2008 - HD VMD shipping in U.S.- New Medium Enterprises (NME) announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week that HD VMD players would be shipping to the United States.... (Read More)
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