April 25, 2006
Both sides of the Taiwan strait have been working to create the next generation DVD standard. After one year of market testing, good news continues to pour in for Taiwan's Forward Versatile Disc (FVD) standard, which uses red-laser technology to store high-definition audio and video. This year Taiwan expects to ship as many as 3 million FVD players, a success that stands in contrast to China's own Enhanced Video Disc (EVD) format, whose competitiveness has been weakened by disputes among mainland manufacturers.
Dr. Der-Ray Huang, Deputy General Director at the Industrial Technology Research Institute's Electronics Research and Service Organization, said that orders for FVD players poured in following exhibitions at the Consumer Electronics Show in the US and CEBIT in Germany. Huang expressed his full confidence that Taiwan would meet its goal of shipping 3 million players.
Huang added that US clients are also considering the FVD format for PCs – a desktop CD-ROM that meets FVD specs will soon be released, a move sure to promote the widespread use and production of FVD.
On the production front, Taiwan manufacturers say they are ready for production, provided that there are a stable number of orders – currently FVD players are being manufactured by Integrated Services Technology, with FVD discs made by U-Tech.
In addition to the internal disputes among manufacturers that have robbed China's EVD format of its momentum, other problems exist: the format has yet to receive the approval of international manufacturers, as part of its technology is tied to DVD, and regulations on royalty payments are still lacking. EVD currently suffers from poor market visibility and less-than-ideal sales.
As Taiwan has taken the lead with FVD, some believe that manufacturers from Taiwan and the mainland should discuss how to integrate the advantages of both sides to produce a 'Chinese' DVD specification.
Huang concurred, saying that consultations with the mainland would continue. He pointed out that at the moment Taiwan holds advantages in technology
R&D and mass production, while the mainland offers a large market base. A 'Chinese' DVD specification could very well be a reality, he said.
(Economic Daily News)
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