A report by Ada Shen about pirates using a cutting edge technology well before its mainstream adoption:
Beijing, December 12, 2004– A new type of DVD, called “HDVD”, has appeared on the black market, further aggravating the DVD piracy problem.
A single HDVD, can contain about 4 full-length feature films, or 10 episodes of TV programming. A standard DVD can generally hold one film, or a handful of TV episodes.
HDVD disks play on standard DVD players, and sell for the same price as standard pirated DVDs — about US $1 per disk.
A nationwide campaign has been launched by the Ministry of Culture to combat the sale of illegal HDVDs. According to state officials, the crackdown will run until the end of February.