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To: BillyG who wrote (37933)	12/23/1998 7:59:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

China's DVD player market.................................. idg.net China's DVD Players to Go on Market Soon (Xinhua Electronics News/Xinhua News Agency) BEIJING -- DVD players will be put on the market in a few years, according to informed sources. At present some imported DVD players such as Panasonic and Philips have been put on sale in China's department stores. While several domestic DVD player manufacturers have also set up some production lines. It is learned that Shinco company has changed its 18 VCD production lines to make DVD players, and Amoisonic, Idall and Malcota have also engaged in the development of DVD players and Star company has displayed its sample DVD players in department stores. Another two manufacturers of DVD players, Gonghe and SMC, have formed batch production and their products are selling well. Gonghe company invested 120 million yuan on the development of DVD players in 1995 and by now it has formed an annual production capacity of 500,000 DVD players. It is estimated that its sales will hit at least 300,000 units. Industrial experts forecast that the sales of DVD players will be 600,000 to 800,000 sets this year. At present many consumers are hesitating to buy DVD players because their prices are still higher than VCD players, with the domestic makes between 3,000 and 4,000 yuan and the imported ones are between 4,000 and 6,000 yuan. Besides, China's capacity of producing DVD players is not great and the imported ones are very expensive. Moreover, DVD players require high resolution and high fidelity TV sets to match them. However, with the expansion of production and the recovery of the technological input, the prices of DVD players are expected to fall to under 3,000 yuan in two years, and then DVD players can compete with VCD players. More enterprises have begun to produce DVDs and the number will be increasing. The imported DVDs are fitted with a kind of secret code and this will standardize the management of DVDs. Many domestic TV producers including Panda and Haier have turned out TV sets with digital programs and ordinary people can afford them.

To: BillyG who wrote (37933)	12/28/1998 4:43:00 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

EC CLEARS WAY FOR MPEG -2 STANDARD. 12/21/98 Computergram International COPYRIGHT 1998 ComputerWire Inc. The European Commission (EC) has approved a patent licensing program that will clear the way for set-top box manufacturers to implement the MPEG -2 digital video storage and transmission standard. The program will create a patent pool which will allow access to "certain essential patents" through a single license. The EC competition policy unit, headed up by Karel Van Miert, ruled that the patent pool did not contain excessive restrictions on technology. Some of the companies and organizations involved in the MPEG -2 licensing program include Cable Television Laboratories Inc, Sony Corp, General Instrument Inc, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd and the City of New York.