Sony premieres Blu-ray in China
Studio first to distribute format in country
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Starting Friday, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will distribute 30 current and classic movies in the Sony-developed high-definition format for 205 yuan ($30) per disc -- a considerable sum in a low-wage country.
Pics include "Hancock," "Kung Fu Hustle," the "Spider-Man" trilogy, "Hitch," "The Pursuit of Happyness" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
Launch coincides with the preem in China of Sony's BDP-S350 Blu-ray player.
Other Hollywood studios have not announced firm plans to release movies in China on Blu-ray, though Warner Bros. and Disney are understood to be close behind.
"We will launch once (local) Blu-ray replication capability is ready -- hopefully in the first or second quarter," a Disney spokesman said.
Sony will import Blu-ray DVDs into China initially, with local production beginning within the year.
Local manufacturing could help companies cut retail prices and also earn a higher degree of protection from Chinese authorities against pirate operators.
Although pirating Blu-ray discs is a tricky technological proposition, illegal high-definition discs are now on sale in China. Only last month, trading standards officers in Shenzhen, just across the Chinese border from Hong Kong, uncovered a massive stash of pirated material including 800 discs that purported to be Blu-ray.
In fact, they used Advanced Video Codec High Definition, a high- and standard-definition recording format for use in tapeless digital camcorders. But they were packaged in fake blue plastic boxes complete with Blu-ray holograms.
The Motion Picture Assn. described the seized discs as "sheep in wolf's clothing."
"Consumers are being cheated twice -- they are buying stolen movies peddled on fake Blu-ray format," said Mike Ellis, MPA president-managing director for the Asia-Pacific region.
It is not just consumers who will have a headache. The arrival of AVCHD discs is a major worry for the studios.
AVCHD discs can be manufactured using cheap, standard blank DVDs, yet they are playable in Blu-ray disc players and provide a better image than standard definition discs.
The MPA estimates that AVCHD discs could account for 10% of Chinese piracy within the next six months. And Chinese pirates are expected to become exporters of AVCHD and fake Blu-ray discs -- something that could slow the spread of legitimate high-def discs in other territories.
