Death Of The Cheap Chinese Player?

[StuBruise]

From New Scientist (http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991913):


Supply of low-cost DVDs in Europe set to dry up

14:45 12 February 02
Barry Fox

European supermarkets and high street electrical stores could soon see their supply of low-cost DVD players and discs dry up. Philips controls key patents on DVD technology and has grown tired of asking the manufacturers to pay royalties. The Dutch company has now asked customs officials throughout Europe to seize players made by unlicensed factories.

Philips, Sony and Pioneer have pooled many hundreds of patents covering all aspects of the DVD system. Philips administers the pool, grants licences and collects royalties, which are then shared three ways.

Most of the low-cost players come from factories in China. International trade newsletter TV Digest estimates China produces around 10 million DVD decks a year, mainly for export. European and North American importers then slap on Western brand name labels and sell them for under $100.

Legal warning

The DVD Forum, which sets the technical standards for DVD, lists several dozen factories in China. But only four of the factories have so far taken licences.

As a first step towards policing the patent pool worldwide, Philips has asked European Union Customs Authorities to impound unlicensed DVD-Video/ROM players and DVD-Video/ROM discs under the EU Council Regulation that covers goods that infringe patents.

Although there has been no formal announcement, Philips's legal website warns European importers that if they do not want their stocks stuck in Customs they should ask the factory to show them proof of a licence.

Philips says that even if goods get through customs, the company will act against wholesale and retail traders.

"The trade in unlicensed products may expose your company to liability for patent infringement" warn Philips' lawyers.

14:45 12 February 02


Doesn't sound good :(

~~stu

[monkeyWRENCH]

The main reason as to why DVD's are so popular today is partly because of the availablility of these cheapo players to us, the consumers. This is not looking good....

[clayts]

So why not just forget the DVD logo and go for UDP (Universal Disc Player) instead ? This was mooted by some Far Eastern manufacturers when the Forum got all heavy about them manufacturing players with "loose firmware" allowing for simple multiregion hacks, and threatened to ban the makers from displaying the logo.

This was supposed to have taken place last October - no Far Eastern manufacturers have been stripped of their DVD logo as far as I'm aware.

The negative of this is that we'd have no fallback if DVDs failed to work, I s'pose.

Not good...

:(

[HBK757]

I'm not saying that prices won't rise or there won't be some kind of temporary shortage but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. The DVD format is worth too much to too many companies and consumers to mess about with. I don't anticipate this effecting things much at all.

There is so much demand at the moment, as long as that continues there will always be someone who meets the demand and supplies the goods.

[organ-man]

For a DVD player to be licensed royalties need to be paid to Dolby; Macrovision & sometimes, DTS. In addition the player has to be tested & approved by these organisations. Mostly this is the case although there are some unlicensed players on sale in the UK. The players sold by the major retailers are licensed; these shops have too much to lose by stocking "pirate" players.

This new threat comes about because Philips et al claim they have patent rights on some of the optical technology used in the transport mechanisms. This technology mostly dates from the early days of CD. Many manufacturers claim that these patents are not valid or do not cover DVD. Others say it is the transport manufacturer's responsibility to take a licence. The fact is that only 4 out of the hundreds of Chinese manufacturers have taken a licence.

Remember that it was Philips & others that persuaded the EU to put a huge tariff on imported televisions so that the price can be kept high for their benefit. Prior to that there were various threats about the PAL patents. These have now run out. Now maybe we are seeing a re-run to knock out the cheap competition. So far they don't seem to have tried the same tactic in the USA where the quantities of imported DVD players are huge. That is the clue as to what is going on here.
No doubt companies like Tesco will react quite aggressively if Philips try to block their importation of DVD players. This story could be interesting.:(