Audio Video News

Why should blue lasers have all the fun? HD DVD and Blu-ray will get some competition next month when New Media Enterprises drops its first red-laser-driven HD VMD players and titles on an unsuspecting world.

HD VMD stands for High Definition Versatile Multilayer Disc. NME's ML-777 player will sell for $199 on Amazon among other places and will output 1080p without deinterlacing. The disc holds up to six layers at five gigabytes apiece; initial product will have three or four layers and total capacity of 15-20GB. The new lossy Dolby Digital Plus surround codec will be supported, but not the new lossless codecs from Dolby or DTS.

Initial software will include international titles, especially Bollywood, and indie titles but not much mainstream Hollywood product. NME says it's in talks with the studios. Meanwhile, HD VMD enthusiasts (all both of you) can gorge on Apocalypto, The Queen, Blade, Lucky Number Slevin, and The Passion of the Christ.