BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- With higher prices and shortage of movie discs, EVD, or enhanced versatile disk has received cold shoulders in Shanghai since debut after the New Year's Day, the Shanghai Morning Post reported today.

    The home-developed EVD (enhanced versatile disc), a prerecorded disc purportedly offering five times higher image definition than DVD and complementing China's growing market for HDTV sets, is a next-generation disc format that will hopefully replace the currently popular DVD (digital versatile disc).

    There is not much difference between the appearance of EVD and DVD players, and only tens of EVD players were sold to date, far less than the DVD sales, said a seller with the Shanghai Guomei Electronics Appliances Co Ltd.

    "Many consumers consult the EVD players, but the price of 1,980 yuan (US$238) flinched most of them," said the seller, adding that a popular DVD player is only priced at 500-600 yuan on average.

    Small output and high technological content is cited as the main reason for the high prices of EVD players, said an industry analyst. People can enjoy higher image definition through EVD players, the analyst added.

    The shortage of EVD movie discs is another reason for the sluggish sales of EVD players. Eight major movie companies around the world have granted the copyright of more than 1,000 movies to EVD producers, with a batch of movie discs expected to hit the market before the Spring Festival, the analyst said.

    Each EVD movie disk is predicted to be priced at 50 yuan.

    EVD players can hardly win popularity among common families in a short run, while they are targeting at those with high-definition TV sets, he pointed out.Enditem (Shanghai Daily)