Initially announced at Consumer Electronics Show, organized at the beginning of January in Las Vegas, the FVD standard (forward versatile disc) represents the Taiwanese alternative for the high-definition storing optical media based on red laser technology.

Advanced Optical Storage Research Alliance (AOSRA) together with Opto-Electronics Systems Laboratories (OES) formed a partnership which had as a result this high-definition storing standard. The first product (together with 10 movies stored on it) will be released next month at a price of 175 USD. AOSRA is comprised of 29 local companies engaged in the production of storing optical media for optical drives, TV transmissions or movie distribution.

FVD quality is comparable to the video quality of the HD-DVD format but with a price 10 times smaller. FVD discs are characterized by a 1920 x 1080 resolution and a storing capacity of 5.4-6 GB on a single layer disc or 9.8-11GB on double-layer versions. The discs are protected by the ASE (Advanced Encryption Standard) protection system, announced Yung-Sheng Liu, OES director.

Currently, the only producers of this format are Actima Technology and Idar Electronics, but AOSRA members like Tatung and Sampo have decided to distribute their own HDTV products along with FVD players. Other producers will offer FVD-ROM drives destined for PCs and FVD recorders.

FVD solutions will also show up at international events like Comprehensive Electronics Show which takes place between 7 and 11 April in Taipei and Shanghai International Audio & Visual Exhibition, organized in China between 15 and 18 April.