SHANGHAI (AFP) - Beijing has approved a homegrown audio-video standard, state press reported, a move that could challenge current DVD coding formats and pave the way for China to set new global industry standards.
The appproval for commercial use of the digital coding and decoding technology known as AVS would also save China more than one billion dollars in royalty fees, the China Daily said, citing the Ministry of Information.
The new standard could further add oil to the fire in the battle between two competing formats -- HD DVD and Blu-ray disc being developed by Japanese giants.
Both technologies are vying to become the next generation of audio-visual technology used in digital televisions, laser discs, digital video, video conferencing and 3G-based data services.
HD DVD is a format supported by semiconductor and software giants Intel, Microsoft and Toshiba while the Blu-ray disc is backed by Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news), Apple Computer, HP and Dell.
AVS, which is compatible with the HD DVD system, is expected to begin operating by the end of December in mobile television services.
The report estimated that Chinese demand in the next decade could eventually range between 300 to 500 million coding chips.
"We expect it to be widely used in domestic industries and hopefully become the national standard," Huang Tiejun, secretary-general of the AVS working committee at the ministry, was quoted as saying in the report.
The announcement marks China's latest attempt to leverage its growing manufacturing might to dictate its own terms and free itself from royalty fees paid for patents held by European and US companies.
It has been a bumpy road so far as Chinese engineers have researched home-bred technologies in DVD, 3G mobile phone systems and wireless computers.
In 1999 China began experimenting with its own DVD standards, creating EVD, an effort that failed to take hold commercially due to legal wrangling between developers and manufacuturers.
Two years ago China tried to force foreign companies wanting to sell wireless computer (WiFi) equipment to support its proprietary and secret encryption standard called WAPI.
Beijing was forced to scrap its plans for the system when companies such as Intel threatened to stop selling their products in China.
For AVS to succeed the standard would have to be widely adopted. That may occur as it has been included in China's 11th five-year plan, meaning it will receive the full-backing of the government until 2010.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2005120...FsjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
The appproval for commercial use of the digital coding and decoding technology known as AVS would also save China more than one billion dollars in royalty fees, the China Daily said, citing the Ministry of Information.
The new standard could further add oil to the fire in the battle between two competing formats -- HD DVD and Blu-ray disc being developed by Japanese giants.
Both technologies are vying to become the next generation of audio-visual technology used in digital televisions, laser discs, digital video, video conferencing and 3G-based data services.
HD DVD is a format supported by semiconductor and software giants Intel, Microsoft and Toshiba while the Blu-ray disc is backed by Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news), Apple Computer, HP and Dell.
AVS, which is compatible with the HD DVD system, is expected to begin operating by the end of December in mobile television services.
The report estimated that Chinese demand in the next decade could eventually range between 300 to 500 million coding chips.
"We expect it to be widely used in domestic industries and hopefully become the national standard," Huang Tiejun, secretary-general of the AVS working committee at the ministry, was quoted as saying in the report.
The announcement marks China's latest attempt to leverage its growing manufacturing might to dictate its own terms and free itself from royalty fees paid for patents held by European and US companies.
It has been a bumpy road so far as Chinese engineers have researched home-bred technologies in DVD, 3G mobile phone systems and wireless computers.
In 1999 China began experimenting with its own DVD standards, creating EVD, an effort that failed to take hold commercially due to legal wrangling between developers and manufacuturers.
Two years ago China tried to force foreign companies wanting to sell wireless computer (WiFi) equipment to support its proprietary and secret encryption standard called WAPI.
Beijing was forced to scrap its plans for the system when companies such as Intel threatened to stop selling their products in China.
For AVS to succeed the standard would have to be widely adopted. That may occur as it has been included in China's 11th five-year plan, meaning it will receive the full-backing of the government until 2010.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2005120...FsjtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
