HD-VMD

HD-DVD and Blu-Ray have been spending so much time and money battling it out between themselves. We're the black horse. We don't have that high brand awareness, but we have a niche, there is a place for affordable High Definition. That's the words of Executive VP at New Media Enterprises, owners of HD-VMD, Alexander Bolker-Hagerty. HD-VMD may be lesser known as a format, but they already have Bollywood signed up and are in a good position to use that market as a springboard. "Something we saw in India was that they still use VCD, despite DVD being present. Now they're going to be going straight from VCD to our format, which is the easiest and most inexpensive format for High Definition." Using the same technology of DVD, ramped up to HD quality picture, extreme interactivity was never going to be an option. "We decided that the benefit of that crazy level of interactivity – picture-in-picture-in-picture, or maps coming up onscreen when you're trying to watch a movie – was outweighed by that of the low price." The hardware is set to be £199 at most for a bundle box of a player and 5 discs, with discs going for around the same price of a standard DVD. With them now looking at strengthening their UK market, beginning talks with the major supermarket chains, HD-VMD may end up surprising a few people the same way Wii did against the big two video games consoles. And it's not just Bollywood movies – films like Babel have given HD-VMD the rights in certain territories, which means that through internet buying, there should be a fair selection of big films.

Pros: Inexpensive, easy to use

Cons: Limited film rights, limited interactivity