HD Bollywood Discs Are Here

HD content is here in India, and it's neither Blu-ray nor HD-DVD. A third HD format? That's right, now you have HD-VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) as well! Go to the end of this article for technical specs.

New Medium Enterprises (NME) unveiled HD-VMD Bollywood film titles in India at the Times AV Revolution Expo at Bombay Exhibition Center. NME is the first to introduce HD content in India with its HD-VMD Player, along with HD-VMD discs in Hindi, Tamil, English and gradually in other regional languages.

With film distributor Eros already signed up as an international partner, NME is forging a number of other key content and electronic relationships. It also counts film content distributors AP International, Ultra and Eagle as partners for South Indian and Hollywood content, and are in talks with four other major distributors to be announced later this month.

Despite the proliferation of HD LCD and plasma displays, many consumers, including those in Asia, have little or no access to High Definition content. Forecasts say it would be some time before HD becomes a true global offering. By introducing HD-VMD, NME promises to revolutionize the home entertainment market in Asia with the first HD red laser format available to consumers.

This first-generation HD-VMD Player offers true High Definition in 1080p; it's also backwards-compatible and capable of playing existing DVD formats. NME will offer players and titles at a price considerably lower than its larger competitors, making it the most accessible HD format yet.

Recent demos at worldwide events like Cannes Film Festival, CEDIA in the US, IFA in Germany and CeBIT have seen a number of major manufacturing brands excited about licensing the VMD technology.

HD-VMD technology is based on a high-capacity red laser optical disc designed by NME, who have developed the world's first commercially produced multilayer disc by mastering the process to increase the number of layers for information storage, with typical storage capacities of 5GB per layer.

HD VMD's affordability, adherence to current manufacturing processes and speed to market have been embraced by rights holders, electronics distributors and replicators alike.

NME is the only company to have HD Bollywood content. HD-VMD has the support of many leading independent film studios and distributors around the world, and is currently growing its HD library. It boasts a large number of blockbuster films. Check out the list of VMD titles here.

Vijay Shanker, CEO of NME India, said, "Leading television brands in India have started selling HD LCD TVs in a big way with massive advertising campaigns. The launch of HD-VMD Players and movies are perfectly timed to complement the consumers' quest for a total High Definition home theater system."

"This is the first true HD player for India," he added. "It's a significant event as the film industry's movie makers and distributors are all taking a keen interest by including HD in all their future home video distribution plans."

What You Should Know About HD-VMD

HD-VMD is NME's proprietary high definition disc format based on established red laser technology and developers of multilayer disc solution. NME's patented 2p process method succeeded in solving the technological problems which limited DVDs to two information layers.

HD-VMD's seamless and cost-effective manufacturing solutions for High Definition products are based on the existing DVD production and industrial infrastructure. HD-VMD prices and costs are very close to DVDs and bring a quality that rivals both Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

HD-VMD is a true HD format that comes with 1920 x 1080i/p resolution, up to 40 Mbps bitrate playback and DVD upscaling, which together allow users to watch their existing DVD collection and achieve premium picture quality through their HD TV monitors.

The HD-VMD player is suitable for playback on all HD-capable display devices and supports existing optical disc formats. The players also feature Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and all region codes for greater film viewing flexibility.

HD-VMD is currently being adopted by content providers and distributors in more than a dozen regions worldwide, including Australia, Brazil, Central Europe, China, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Japan, Scandinavia, Middle East, Russia and the United States.

This week will also see the launch of an HD-VMD Bundle Box including five HD titles, available at a RRP of Rs 11,500 through Indian retailers and e-commerce sites. I demoed some of the stuff and found it very good. Expect a review of the player soon.