EVD Open Questions and Confirmed Facts

Separating the known from the missing

Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD) research is uneven: some commercial and legal facts are multiply attested, while neighbouring questions that collectors naturally ask, exact model lists, named titles, container layout, codec of shipping discs, remain open. Separating the two is the point of this post. Confirmed items below are those the located English press, Chinese reference pages, E-World material and On2 SEC filings support. Unresolved items are framed as questions, not as guesses. Source conflicts that cannot yet be measured are kept as open disagreements rather than collapsed into a single settled story.

Confirmed facts

  1. Launch date and place. EVD was launched on 18 November 2003 at the Great Hall of the People with On2 VP5/VP6 announced and LSI Logic claiming the first HD EVD chips (EDN).
  2. On2 contract trail. The On2 contract terms, arbitration dismissal (10 March 2005) and unpaid 2006 settlement are documented in SEC filings.
  3. File-system standard entry. SJ/T 11299.2-2005 (file system) exists with 18 February 2005 dates, drafted by E-World and Shinco (standards platform).
  4. First player. The Shinco EVD-8700 was the first EVD player (1 January 2004, ¥1,998) and for a time the only one on sale (c114; Baidu).
  5. Named 2004 models. The Shinco EVD8830 and SVA EVD388 existed in 2004 (E-World material).
  6. December 2006 relaunch scale. The December 2006 relaunch showed about 54 players from about 20 makers at about ¥700 (AP).
  7. E-World software set. E-World had five software packages including an EVD disc authoring system and an OGT subtitle system (E-World material).

These seven points already constrain collecting. A deck without a period model story is not automatically “EVD” because a modern carton printed the three letters. The EVD-8700 / EVD8830 / EVD388 names are the documented early SKUs; the December 2006 “about 54 players” claim is a relaunch-era count, not a full serialised inventory. SJ/T 11299.2’s existence proves a file-system standard was filed; it does not put the full text of parts 1-4 into public hands. On2’s SEC trail proves contractual failure modes without proving which codec ultimately shipped on commercial discs.

What “confirmed” does not mean

Confirmed does not mean complete. The 18 November 2003 launch is attested; a title-level disc list from that day is not. VP5/VP6 was announced at launch; shipping-disc codec identity remains contested against later MPEG-2 MP@HL reporting. The EVD-8700’s first-player status is attested; the eleven launch players sometimes mentioned elsewhere and the fifty-four relaunch players are not inventoried by model here. E-World’s five software packages are named in secondary coverage; the binaries themselves are missing from public archives. SJ/T 11299.2’s catalogue dates are attested; whether the whole SJ/T 11299 family is still “current” or “withdrawn” is unresolved below.

Still unresolved

  • Which video codec shipping EVD discs actually use (MPEG-2 MP@HL-based vs VP6 vs other). Launch EDN coverage and later EE Times coverage disagree; keep both.
  • EVD directory and file names; container format.
  • Actual video bitrates of commercial discs.
  • ExAC bitrates, channel modes and whether it relates to Coding Technologies’ work.
  • The encryption scheme; whether any disc shipped with AACS.
  • Region coding, menus and navigation.
  • LSI Logic part numbers used in EVD players.
  • Model numbers of the 11 launch players and 54 relaunch players.
  • Any HD-EVD (2008) model.
  • A title-level disc list with 版号.
  • CNIPA patent numbers and the truth of the 2006 patent-pledge reports.
  • The “Hao Jie incident” of 2006.
  • Whether E-World ever paid the On2 settlement after 2009, and E-World’s corporate fate.
  • Current status of SJ/T 11299 (“current” vs “withdrawn”).

How to use the open list

Each unresolved item suggests a different next archive. Codec identity points at imaging a commercial disc and publishing ffprobe output after any decrypt path becomes available, and at re-reading EE Times 2006 beside EDN 2003 without forcing a premature synthesis. Directory and container work needs a published UDF file tree from a marked disc. ExAC questions need the SJ/T 11299.4 text or an E-World audio tool. Encryption and AACS questions need either the PC player binary (影海风雷 / E-World package) or a drive-authenticated read log. LSI Logic part numbers need board photographs from genuine players, not keyword-labelled portable DVD players from modern JD listings. Model inventories need 2004 and December 2006 retail photography and alliance press packs. HD-EVD needs 2008 product pages that name a chassis. Title and 版号 work needs Kongfz/Xianyu disc photography and national audio-video database queries. Patent-pledge claims need CNIPA record pulls. The Hao Jie incident needs the Huaqiang interview trail plus contemporary big-bit alliance reporting. On2 settlement and E-World fate need post-2009 corporate and SEC follow-up. SJ/T status needs a fresh standards-platform check against the existing 11299.2 catalogue entry.

Open disagreements to preserve

Two conflicts deserve explicit preservation as disagreements. First, video codec: November 2003 English launch coverage centres On2 VP5/VP6, while November 2006 EE Times relaunch coverage describes MPEG-2 MP@HL for commercial interest. Until measured streams from marked discs exist, both notes remain research status. Second, catalogue size: early counts of about 12-14 titles sit beside a Gome salesperson’s “hundreds,” E-World’s “more than 100,” and EE Times’ “about 100.” Those figures are kept side by side in the catalogue post; they reappear here only to warn that “confirmed launch” does not mean “confirmed filmography.”

A third soft disagreement sits behind player counts: “only EVD-8700 on sale” language in early reference pages, named EVD8830/EVD388 existence in 2004 E-World material, and AP’s December 2006 “about 54 players from about 20 makers.” Those are different moments, not a single contradictory census. Do not flatten them into one number.

A working research posture

The confirmed set is enough to begin serious collecting and dumping: know the launch date and On2/LSI Logic launch claims, know the On2 SEC contract trail, know that SJ/T 11299.2 exists on the standards platform, know the EVD-8700 first-player story and the EVD8830/EVD388 names, know the December 2006 relaunch scale language, and know that E-World shipped a professional software story including authoring and OGT tools. The unresolved set is enough to stop false catalogue and silicon inflation: no public container map, no measured bitrate table, no open ExAC decoder, no proven AACS-or-not answer, incomplete model lists, no HD-EVD SKU in hand, no title-level 版号 list, and unsettled patent-pledge and corporate-fate questions.

Modern shop keyword “EVD” still does not equal genuine 2004-2008 EVD with LSI Logic. Future posts in this series should promote an item from “unresolved” to “confirmed” only when a primary document, a measured disc, or a photographed SKU supports the move. Demoting a confirmed item should be equally explicit if a better primary source contradicts the press or FAQ summary used here. EVD history will not be completed by smoothing over gaps; it will be completed by filling them with the same discipline that already secured the seven facts above.

Further reading on historic video formats

If you want to learn more about historic video formats, get The History of Physical Video Formats from the Frontier by Stephen Driver on Amazon: