New Medium Enterprises today announced its first U.S.-based distribution deal with PC Rush to bring its HD Versatile Multilayer Disc (VMD) players to the U.S. market for the first time. Through this three-year distribution deal, PC Rush will distribute and market the HD VMD Media Player Duo and HD VMD Media Player Quattro, which will allow consumers to play their existing standard-definition DVD collections up-converted to HD, as well as allow consumers entrance into the HD playback market with the high quality, and high value VMD disc format. The HD VMD Media Player Duo, starting at $199 (MSRP) and the HD VMD Media Player Quattro, starting at just $249 (MSRP), will both be available from PC Rush in Q2 2007.

NME said that the new HD VMD Media Players Duo and Quattro will fill the market need by delivering high-definition discs and players at an affordable price for a broad consumer base.

HD VMD is a HD format with 1920 x 1080i/p resolution, up to 40 Mbps bit rate playback, video up-conversion for SD DVD, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and all region codes. The HD VMD media format is suitable for playback on all HD capable display devices and will support existing optical disc formats: CD, DVD (DVD5 & DVD9).

VMD is currently being adopted by content providers and distributors in 12 regions worldwide, the company claims.

VMD technology can provide up to eight information layers on each side of a disc and can be utilized for both blue laser and red laser formats. VMD is applicable for single- and double-sided discs and a multiplicity of formats, including Blu-ray and HD-DVD.