According to Digitimes the oversupply of DVD players in China has forced over 30 small makers to shut down in the first half of this year and pushed retail prices down to 500-600 yuan per unit.

Unwilling to pay royalties on DVD players, the Chinese makers are unable to export their products and face increasing competition in the domestic market. There are more than 200 DVD player producers in China.

Despite the intense competition, leading consumer electronics brands, including TCL, Skyworth, Changhong and Haier, have recently begun selling high-fidelity DVD players costing more than 700 yuan. Their goal is to develop products for the EVD (enhanced versatile disc) format, a DVD-like format jointly developed by China?s main consumer electronics makers and the government.