On January 22, proprietary red-ray HD NVD (Next-generation Versatile Disc) players and discs, independently developed and researched in China, entered the Wuhan market, signaling the historical leap from "Made in China" to "Created in China". The domestically-created NVD technical standard will help China's optical storage industry resist being dominated by foreign Blue-ray HD technology.

Although over 80 percent of all DVD products in the current global market are produced in China, all DVD core technologies and patents are held by foreign enterprises. Each DVD produced in China requires a patent fee of 18 USD, making profitability very low. At the end of 2004, science research institutions, including Wuhan Hi-Tech Holding Group, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics and Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, jointly launched the research project, making breakthroughs in red-ray HD NVD technology and achieving its industrialization.

"Jiuzhou High Definition", a brand of NVD player available on the market, can support red-ray HD NVDs of over 12G, as well as regular DVDs. A single NVD can play 135 minutes of continuous HD programming. Since China's red-ray HD NVDs can be produced on DVD production lines, China will be able to eliminate the high cost of foreign patent fees and participate in the restructuring of the global optical storage industry.

By People's Daily Online