NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- New Medium Enterprises Inc. (OTCBB:NMEN) announced today the public unveiling of the highly anticipated pre-industrial VMD (Versatile MulitLayer Disc), the next generation HD Disc & Drive containing 20GB of storage capacity on the current Red Laser technology platforms. The HD films will be shown in genuine HD formats (MPEG-2, 1080i and 1080p).
The company is set for launching production and sales of 15 GB, 20 GB, 25 GB and 30 GB Discs & Drives by Fall 2005. The drives will be inherently backward compatible with the existing pre-recorded and recordable DVD and CD formats.
Invites for the public demonstration will include financial newspapers, magazines, wire services and feature syndicates trade periodicals covering the optical storage industry, as well as selected members of the investment community and key players in the media and optical storage industries. Demonstration will be held in London, United Kingdom, in January 2005. The scope and the detailed schedule of the event will be announced at a later date. Thereafter, the company plans to conduct a series of road shows across the globe to demonstrate the VMD products to select groups at various times and locations to be announced.
VMD was recently demonstrated to enthusiastic groups of industry leaders in several countries and was hailed and embraced as a breakthrough and compelling solution for cost effective High-Definition pre-recorded discs and players.
"We are thrilled with the opportunity of unveiling this remarkable technology to the public," says Ethel Schwartz, CEO of NMEN. "We anticipate a similar resounding response from the attendees as we have seen from the enthusiastic industry leaders that have already viewed our VMD products demonstration."
The pre-recorded VMD has four layers on one side for an initial capacity of 20 GB and is entirely based on the current Red Laser DVD industrial infrastructure. VMD is designed for viewing High Definition (HD) content requiring high storage capacity and high bit rate (up to 40 Mbs), such as full-motion pictures, sports entertainment and other demanding video content and data. Pre-recorded HD VMD's are capable of playing next-generation, high-definition movies and other video content, catering to the vast consumer base of owners of HDTV Television and large screen sets.
NMEN anticipates that by spring 2005 it will achieve pre-production 30GB of storage capacity with bit rates up to 60 Mbs, capable of playing even higher quality High-Definition content for HDTV and Digital Cinema on a single pre-recorded VMD.
In 2006, the company will start manufacturing cost-effective 50 GB VMD's on Red Laser, for HDTV and Digital Cinema. With minimal changes of its technology, the company can manufacture recordable VMD as well. With future applications in sight, the company has begun developing Blue Laser VMD systems with up to 1 Terabyte capacity for high-end Digital Cinema and Video-On-Demand (VOD) applications.
ABOUT THE COMPANY:
New Medium Enterprises, Inc. is positioned in the Optical Disc Storage sector, a huge and growing segment of the data storage market, of which DVD formats have an effective monopoly presently. This sector of the storage market is currently undergoing a cycle of change precipitated by the emergence of high-definition TV into the marketplace. New Medium's proprietary technology known as "Versatile MultiLayer Disc" (VSD) is a next-generation High-Definition successor to the current DVD Standard Definition technology and is based almost entirely on the existing, cost effective current Red Laser DVD components and manufacturing technology platforms.
ABOUT VMD TECHNOLOGY:
A DVD can only carry data on a maximum of two layers since an increase in the number of layers in the disc increases the interlayer cross talks and the data cannot be read properly. Today a standard 120 mm single layer disc is limited to its current capacity of 4.7GB single layer or 8.5 GB dual layer. A standard DVD only contains sufficient storage capacity to store a movie in Standard Definition format, but not High Definition format.
The existing CD-DVD infrastructure is based on off-the-rack Red Laser, Playback components which are highly cost effective. They are easily manufactured by hundreds of firms all over the world. The entire infrastructure involving manufacturing equipment including mastering and replicating processes have been created to accommodate Red Laser, with billions of investments by the industry and consumers to date.
Competing high definition formats currently proposed are attempting to change to a new technology based on Blue Laser. However, Blue Laser, while far more costly by itself to the entire value chain, will additionally necessitate the disc and players manufacturing industry - one of the largest consumer good branches of the Global economy - to refurbish their entire infrastructure.
VMD discs are scientifically very different from DVD, but are manufactured using exactly the same equipment as DVD discs at the same cost. VMD player (drive) based on the existing Red Laser industrial infrastructure is almost in all respects similar to DVD player. In particular VMD player is inherently backward compatible with DVD's & CD's which will enable viewing and listening of HD discs as well as current DVD's and CD's on a VMD player. The anticipated player price for end user will be $250 USD, a price that NME believes will encourage mass acceptance of VMD technology.
VMD is a high quality format with unparalleled built-in copyright protection that offers the most cost effective solution for next generation optical media. The size of the market for VMD technology is substantial, since VMD can be adapted to any optical storage formats proposed, adding substantial capacity, and versatility of applications and ease of manufacturing to any of the formats that become VMD capable. The VMD technology is easily adaptable for Blue Lasers at a time when the costs of Blue Lasers and associated manufacturing processes will become competitive on consumer electronics markets.
Forward Looking Statements:
The information contained in this press release, including any "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 contained herein, should be reviewed in conjunction with the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-KSB, 8k Reports and other publicly available information regarding the Company, copies of which are available from the Company upon request. Such publicly available information sets forth many risks and uncertainties related to the Company's business and such statements, including risks and uncertainties related to that are unpredictable and outside of the influence and/or control of the Company.
For more information about our Company, visit our website at: http://www.nmen.net