In the battle between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD for the next generation of DVDs, China has chosen a different side — it’s own. China has announced plans to develop its own standard for high definition DVDs to avoid paying licensing fees.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the new standard will be based on but incompatible with HD-DVD.

“The Chinese standard, not expected to reach markets until at least 2008, would provide higher definition, better sound and better anti-piracy measures”, according to Lu Da, deputy director of the government-affiliated National Disc Engineering Center.

The new standard has not been given a name but without a release until 2008, it probably will not have a direct impact on this waging war between Sony’s Blu-Ray and Toshiba’s HD-DVD.