HD VMD Now Available in Europe

[Ian]

Those of you in Europe.. have you found any HD VMD players or discs for sale? According to this, NME started shipping them to the European market this month.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/art ... 2007-1.htm

New Medium Enterprises (NME) releases its latest commercial HD VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) Player and discs into the European market, debuting at IFA 2007. HD VMD brings full high definition (HD) 1080i/p, high quality players to consumers for an attractive RRP of euro 179, at soon to be announced stores.

HD VMD is positioning itself as "The New Definition of High Definition" by giving consumers what they have been craving -- an affordable, full HD player and DVD upscaler with superior image playback. Combining the best industrial opto-electronics and disc technologies, HD VMD brings together established DVD red-laser production infrastructure with novel break-through multilayer disc technology to deliver its Full HD picture. Consumers can expect more exciting developments to come, as HD VMD's multilayer disc technology is industrially capable of storing over 30 GB on a single sided disc.

NME launches into the worldwide market in October/November with a competitive player and content bundle box which will include 5 new HD VMD titles for Australia, France, Iceland, India, Poland and Scandinavia. HD VMD's growing list of film content includes blockbuster films from Hollywood, Bollywood and International titles worldwide including "16 Blocks," "Apocalypto," "Passion of the Christ," "Lord of War," "Lucky Number Slevin," plus the award winning children's series, "Lazy Town."

I think NME missed their chance. When HD DVD players were $400+, these HD VMD players would have been a great deal. I don't see to many people paying 179 euros ($245) for one when you can get an HD DVD player an 8 movies for less. Thoughts?

[dolphinius_rex]

Wow.... this player looks like it could really take the market by storm. That pricing is really great, and once everyone buys one all those movie studios will be jumping all over each other to release content on it.

Wow, I should go out and buy one right now.

And since it has no copy protection at all to speak of, it's also the most consumer friendly choice on the market.

What's not to love?

[Ian]

And since it has no copy protection at all to speak of, it's also the most consumer friendly choice on the market.

It uses something called Optikey.

[dolphinius_rex]

And since it has no copy protection at all to speak of, it's also the most consumer friendly choice on the market.

It uses something called Optikey.

Know much about it? Either way, it'll probably be cracked though.

[Dartman]

Was hoping those would come out when we first heard about them. But it might be too late now unless they make a nice settop version with a HD that can record hd tv programing, with acceptable media pricing as well of course.
I'd love to be able to archive all my favorite shows in HD, as of now I have a settop that does digital air and cable channels but only in 480i max.
My tuner card was a hassle to use and set up properly so for now I haven't bothered putting it back in.

[Wesociety]

These players are DOA if none of the major Hollywood studios will support the format and from what I understand, they won't support it whatsoever.