Cardwell backs third high-def format

UPDATE: Former WHV head advising on red-laser-based discs

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 8/31/2006

AUG. 31 | Former Warner Home Video president James Cardwell is getting behind another high-definition DVD format, being launched by London-based New Medium Enterprises in late September.

Cardwell has joined the board of New Medium Enterprises as a media and content advisor and will work with the company’s senior management team to develop relationships with home entertainment companies worldwide.

New Medium’s High Definition Versatile Multilayer Disc (HD VMD) would be the third high-def format to market behind HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. VMD is one of several alternative high-def disc formats in Europe and China in development. NME had been working to acquire Beijing eWorld last year and combine Chinese high-def DVD format EVD with VMD, but the company’s board voted to stick to launching an independent format.

VMD discs will play on VMD players, being made by Chinese manufacturers SVA and Shinco, and carrying a suggested retail price of $299, below other high-def players in the market. The platform uses multi-layering technology, creating multiple layers on discs to increase storage on a disc the size of a standard DVD.

VMD uses DVD’s red laser technology, which means disc replicators and consumer electronics manufacturers could produce discs with few equipment changes.

NME expects to sell the players through major retailers in the U.S. but hasn’t announced any firm commitments yet, said Alexander Bolker-Hagerty, executive VP of business development.

Eros Entertainment, a distributor of Bollywood films, will release movies on VMD. No major studios have signed on yet to distribute films on VMD, but Bolker-Hagerty said the company is in talks with major studios and leading independent suppliers.

“As NME enters the [high-def] marketplace, having James on the board ensures that NME will become a major force in the [high-def] entertainment systems marketplace,” NME CEO Mahesh Jayanarayan said.

Cardwell headed WHV from 2002 until last October, when the studio realigned its digital content and home video distribution businesses into one unit. He worked at WHV for 22 years.

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