DVD Forum Validates New Formats

The DVD forum recently validated 2 new formats. The first one known as HD Rec will allow burning HD-DVD content on a DVD-R/-RW/RAM. This will allow customers to burn HD video generated from HD digital camcorder on standard DVD media which could be read in HD-DVD standalone player.
The second format is the Chinese HD video format, known as CH-DVD, almost identical to the HD-DVD. This will allow CH-DVD player manufacturers to easily add support to HD-DVD by buying a license and updating the firmware of their models. The DVD Forum is supporting the HD-DVD format vs. the Blu-Ray, and one can easily imagine that such move is a way to try to win the battle. By allowing compatibility of CH-DVD and HD-DVD, it expects Chinese manufacturers to release cheap HD-DVD standalone players that will compete to BD models, not on the specification or performance levels, but on the more basic layer: the price.