A high-capacity red laser disc, the Versatile Multilayer Disc has an optical storage capacity of 20 to 40 GB of data. Stored in high definition MPEG-2, 1080i/p format, the disc provides high-quality video playback with guaranteed copyright protection.
The manufacture of VMD drives requires only the addition of a HD decoder to currently marketed DVD drives, making them easy to produce at a low cost. The modifications required do not impair the ability to read all DVD formats, which makes the drives more attractive to consumers.
VMD's rival, Blu-ray disc technology, stores more information per layer than the VMD. This and its wider acceptance by US filmmakers have caused the low-cost VMD drives to attain greater acceptance overseas than in America.