China Blue High-definition (CBHD): Not Blu-ray, and Almost No PC Tools

China Blue High-definition Disc (CBHD) – often marketed as “China Blu-ray” or 中国蓝光高清光盘 – is not Blu-ray Disc. It is a China-only high-definition optical format derived from HD DVD, launched for the Chinese market after the global format war ended. If you came here looking for PC authoring or playback tools like the ones we list for CVD or AVCHD: the honest answer is that almost none exist in public form.

What CBHD actually is

CBHD started life as CH-DVD (China High-definition DVD), developed by Tsinghua University’s Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center (OMNERC) with the DVD Forum’s blessing to edit HD DVD specifications for China. It was renamed CBHD to stress the blue-violet laser – which is why English coverage often says “China Blu-ray” even though the format is not a Blu-ray Disc Association product.

  • Capacity: 15 GB single-layer / 30 GB dual-layer (same ballpark as HD DVD)
  • Physics: DVD-line-friendly; cheaper to tool up than Blu-ray for Chinese plants
  • Video: PRC-backed AVS (plus AVC / VC-1 as options on players)
  • Audio: Chinese DRA codec among others
  • Navigation: Chinese CETC system – not HD DVD Advanced Content (HDi)
  • Protection: Chinese DKAA, plus an AACS “CBHD” addendum for some titles (China-only licensing)

Despite the HD DVD DNA, finished CBHD discs are incompatible with HD DVD players and with Blu-ray players. It became its own proprietary China-market format.

Authoring: industrial only

There was never a consumer Windows toolchain comparable to DeVeDe, VCDEasy, Nero Vision, or TMPGEnc for CBHD. Commercial titles were authored in locked-down post houses:

  • CBC (CRC/BMB Audio Visual) – Memory-Tech + China Record Corp. joint venture for encode / author / localize
  • UOD (Shanghai United Optical Disc) – replication line partner
  • AACS LA’s CBHD Pre-recorded Book / addendum – licensed manufacturing path, not a downloadable app

Memory-Tech’s earlier HD DVD authoring work with Ulead was for HD DVD, not a free CBHD suite that escaped into the wild. Sonic Scenarist for HD-DVD (which we list under Free Downloads) authors HD DVD Advanced Content – not CBHD/CETC discs.

Playback: hardware, not PC software

Known retail CBHD players were few and China-market:

  • Shinco: CBHD-9100, CBHD-3800, HD-2100, HD-3700U
  • TCL: THBD-1008, THBD-1038

We have not found a public Windows (or Mac) application that mounts CBHD discs and plays them with menus the way PowerDVD / ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre did for HD DVD. Archive.org also has no meaningful CBHD player or authoring software packages to point at.

Loose AVS files are a different story: some AVS-capable Windows players/filters can decode demuxed AVS video. That is not the same as reading a CBHD disc volume, CETC navigation, or DKAA/AACS-protected titles.

How this relates to what we already host

  • Sonic Scenarist for HD-DVD, ArcSoft TMT, and PowerDVD HD DVD builds = HD DVD, not CBHD
  • China Video Disc (CVD) = CD-era cousin of SVCD – unrelated to CBHD
  • AVCHD / Blu-ray authoring rows = BDA-style Blu-ray / AVCHD on DVD media – also unrelated

If you meant mainland Blu-ray Disc (BDA)

Chinese retail Blu-ray Disc titles that follow the Blu-ray Disc Association format are ordinary Blu-ray. Authoring for those is the same global BD / AVCHD toolchain we already document (Scenarist BD-class suites, multiAVCHD, TMPGEnc Authoring Works, and so on). There is no separate “China Blu-ray authoring” product line for BDA discs.

Bottom line

CBHD is a short-lived, China-only HD DVD descendant with its own codecs, navigation, and protection. Support for hobbyists today is mostly historical knowledge plus surviving Shinco/TCL players – not a Free Downloads section full of PC tools. We keep this article under Support so the difference stays clear when someone searches for “China Blu-ray.”

Historical reference only. We do not host CBHD disc images, keys, or circumvention tools.