New Medium Enterprises (NME) revealed the world's first low-cost True High Definition solution utilizing today's Red Laser Technology.
HD VMD is a true HD format with 1920 x 1080i/p resolution, up to 40 Mbps bit rate playback (Compared to 36 Mbps for HD DVD and 48 Mbps for Blu-ray), DVD up-scaling so users can watch their existing DVD collection and achieve premium picture quality through their HD TV monitors. HD VMD holds up to 30GB on a single side. The HD VMD player is suitable for playback on all HD-capable display devices and will support existing optical disc formats: CD, DVD (DVD 5 & DVD 9). HD VMD players also feature Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and all region codes for greater film viewing flexibility.
ML622 and ML777 HD VMD players are the first high definition video players to output true 1080p. Utilizing the Sigma Designs EM8622L chip set these two players will output the native 1080p resolution from the disc rather than adding a second conversion process by breaking it down to 1080i and de-interlacing back to 1080p.
High-performance graphics acceleration, multi-standard audio decoding, advanced display processing capabilities, and HDMI/HDCP output round out its multimedia capability. With state-of-the-art HD performance and up-conversion for Standard Definition DVD playback, the HD VMD Player is also competitively priced far lower than the other major HD formats.
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.
New Medium Enterprises' 1080p set-top players, which use the HD VMD format, will go on sale on Amazon.com and in stores such as Radio Shack and Costco for around $150--about half the cost of the least-expensive 1080p HD DVD player, and perhaps a fourth the cost of the least-expensive Blu-ray player. The movies that work in them are similarly inexpensive.