The new VCD was also incredibly easy to copy...
movies of a quality available elsewhere. Not only did the local VCD shops make mega stars out of traditional theatre actors, it also provided an incredibly effective new advertising platform. Big business was not slow to take heed; the age of product placement in Chinese cinema was about to begin. The VCD’s price and portability was also to play a big role in the format’s rapid market penetration. The limited storage space of a VCD meant that the average film would be sold as a two disc package, but still for only ¥5-8 per movie. Again, its similarity to CD meant that the Walkman type of portable player could easily be adapted to a VCD version. Only marginally larger than their audio counterpart, the portable VCD player was often cheaper too; and all one needed was a player, a flick and access to a television set.
MPEG-3 The same technology that was able to compress the video part of a movie to a size small enough to get on a VCD (or two) was also able to make the soundtrack considerably smaller in size. The Motion Photographic Expert Group, from the people who brought us JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group), developed a series of compression techniques including MPEG-2, 3 and 4; techniques that were in the coming years to become immortalized with the MP3 revolution in music distribution.
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This birth of easy access for all to this new digital code meant
In the more recent past DVD was to trounce VCD but its domi-
that identical copies thereof could easily be created.The world
nance of the Chinese market place was much harder fought
of analogue was rapidly becoming out-dated; along with its in-
than that of VCD, and was to take considerably longer. Such
convenience to would be pirates. For when a copy is produced
language is measured in Chinese terms, for while the introduc-
using the analogue method, a loss of quality occurs with each
tion of the DVD in most western markets was to be hampered
subsequent copy, leading to the terminology first-generation
by prohibitive pricing, here from the very word go one was
copy, second-generation copy and so on. In the digital realm,
availing oneself of a superior product, complete with optional
with its two sole occupants, Mr. One and Mrs. Zero, there
subtitles, soundtrack and extra features, for virtually the same
is theoretically no limit to the number of generation copies
price as a VCD. It also managed to conveniently fit all of this
regarded as lossless.
on just one disc.
This new industry (legal or otherwise) quickly gave birth in
Jane is now in her late 30s, and has forgotten where she left
China to the VCD shop. In perhaps as little as one year, every
her pager, lest how to even use it. She pauses the movie she
block of every Chinese city was to have one. A step inside any
is watching on BlueRay, checks a few emails using her Black-
would be enough to remind one of the sheer size of China’s
berry, chats quickly with a couple of friends on QQ For Mobile,
movie industry. Far from any argument over Intellectual Prop-
and heads out to the shops, a small bound detectable in her
erty, these little shops were of enormous help to an industry,
step. For Jane is excited. Today she will be among the first in
that although vast, still lacked the funds necessary to produce
China to get her hands on an Apple’s shiny new iPad2.