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Sorry, but "HD VMD discs ... with a maximum bit rate of 40 megabits per second; that's within spitting distance of Blu-ray's 48 mbps, and quite a bit more than 36 mbps for HD DVD."

Why is an 8 mbps differential "spitting distance", but a 4 mbps differential "quite a bit more"?

I'n not yet on either side of the format war, but this one bit of bias jumped out and made the whole article suspect to me.

That's a very good point........, but anyway, I think the HD VMD format should have came out much earlier. It would've competed with the other two quite well and would be much better for us consumers because it's so much cheaper to produce while at the same time delivering equal performance. Despite all that, it will be ignored.

> Why is an 8 mbps differential "spitting distance", but a 4 mbps differential "quite a bit more"?
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well for a 1/4 of the price its spiting distance:-)!

The only major Hollywood Studio that might support it would be Warner Brothers, seeing as how they are the only neutral studio. Sony Pictures will never release on it since Blu-Ray is owned by Sony. Disney has invested to much in Blu-Ray to back out now, plus they may be getting paid by Sony to only release in Blu-Ray. Paramount has the deal with the HD DVD group.

I guess Universal and Fox could go neutral and release in this format, but it wouldn't make much sense. Fox exclusively supports Blu-Ray because BR Discs have better security than HD DVD discs. Universal has supported HD DVD since Day One, so it would be weird if they started releasing in this format.

Sorry, But HD VMD is screwed.

Re: "Spitting distance": Um, whoops. No bias--just bad math skills. The HD VMD folks said at point that they could encode at 45mbps, but would only use 40mbps. I originally used the former number, then corrected it but not the supporting text. I'll see about correcting the text, too.

No HD audio???
Without support for a lossless audio format this format is not in the same arena as HDDVD and Bluray.

I don't think it can survive without heavy support from businesses! Also you cannot write these like you can Blu-Ray! How will it survive?

Rewritable HD VMD drives are in the works, the company behind this says. As I understand it, they're using what are essentially regular old DVD drives, but with updated firmware to support the higher data rates; that's why the drives are cheap.

HD VMD = HD Porn, Documentaries, Indie, etc.
A new format by an unknown third party will NOT be widely supported by Hollywood, because of concerns ranging from strength of the DRM, to who they pay royalties to. This is strictly aimed as a low-cost format, e.g. for Bollywood, where alternate High Def formats are not viable due to production cost.
So no, you wont see Dolby TrueHD, or major studio releases.. but if enough people buy the players, you will see Indie flicks, Bollywood titles, and content from many "niche" producers (think of content shown on TV stations like History Channel,HGTV, Science Channel, PBS, etc.)
And of course, what will help it to take a real foothold, is porn. The question is, will you be able to tell the difference from a standard DVD?

I think that if NME wants to succeed it should definitely support a lossless audio codec (or plain PCM which is royalty free),Perhaps this was not possible due to low data rates (red laser=DVD speed). Also, a ton of DRM to make it attractive to major studios and a cheap recorder for consumers,in order to make it a standard in the PC market before the next gen media (Blu-ray and HD-DVD) become mainstream.These cheap recorders could be the 'Trojan Horse' of HD VMD; i can see many people buying one for backups, if these cheap discs are robust enough. So, good luck to NME! (and Memphile with it's terrabyte disc...)

Edit: I've just checked their site and they state: "DTS, Dolby Digital, AC3, Linear PCM at 16/20/24 bit with 44.1/48/96 kHz digital bit stream to SPDIF Coaxial and Optical output."
Still can't compete with Blu-ray and HD-DVD, since SPDIF can't handle 7.1 24/96, but a welcome addition if you want to play your Audio CD's. The fact that it has HDMI with HDCP, but sends 24/96 LPCM only through SPDIF (which means probably 2.0 and definitely not 7.1), makes me sure about the HD-VMD's low data rate (7.1 24/96 bitrate is HUGE and can pass only through HDMI).

Well, i feel like an idiot:
"HD VMD discs are encoded with a maximum bit rate of 40 megabits per second; that's within halfway between HD DVD's 36 mpbs and Blu-ray's 48 mbps."

PS: Sorry for the bump, i couldn't edit.

Pity it didn't come out sooner. Price is the key. Price is what killed Betamax. Price will kill any high price alternative. The only thing that will kill VMD is lack of movies and Sony's dedication to Blu-Ray is not strong enough to block VMD's success, but VMD's success could seriously injure Sony if they stay committed to Blu-Ray.

But the big killer is with VMD I can play all of my regular DVD's on the same player. Having two DVD players is what has been stopping me from going to HD.

Bye-bye Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.

I can't wait to buy this player it can't go wrond if HD-VMD format dies I styll have a nice dvd-player for my old movies 150$ is not a big gamble.