In the trend of developing next-generation high-definition optical disc formats, several companies in Taiwan have begun mass-producing products adhering to the Forward Versatile Disc (FVD) standard. This format allows content on the disc to be read using the red laser of current DVD players. 
The content on FVD discs is encoded using Microsoft’s WMV HD format. The FVD was developed to bridge the price gap between DVDs and the next-generation formats expected to flood the market by 2008.
A single-layer FVD disc can store between 5.4 and 6 GB of content, and this capacity increases to 9.8 – 11 GB per layer for dual-layer discs. This amount is sufficient to hold 135 minutes of high-definition content at a resolution of 1920 x 1080i HD. The FVD is promoted and developed by the AOSRA Alliance, an organization comprising 29 media companies and disc/player manufacturers in Taiwan.
Der-ray Huang, Deputy Director of the OES Laboratory Center at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) of the Taiwanese government, and a participant in the development of the FVD standard, stated that players using this format are now being mass-produced by the domestic company Idar. It is expected that next year, Idar will ship 300,000 products. They aim to have over 1,000 films released in the FVD format by the end of 2006.
The FVD officially appeared in March of this year and is being promoted in the Taiwanese market as well as in several other countries in Asia. However, supporters of this format also desire its acceptance in Western markets, although this is challenging due to the fierce competition from two giants: Blu-ray and HD DVD.
The Taiwanese format is not the only optical disc standard competing with Blu-ray and HD DVD. China is also developing its format called EVD, aiming to free domestic manufacturers from the pressure of paying technology royalties to Western companies when producing Blu-ray and HD DVD compatible players.
