SWNOVELXO Chapter 73: Chapter 73 The Poker Table and the G-Spot
Chapter 73 The Poker Table and the G-Spot
Materials and brochures were brought up to the booth. These materials were printed in Chinese, English, and Japanese, detailing the principles, specifications, functions, advantages, and market prospects of the VCD. Su Yuanshan noticed that when reading the specs, many Western merchants showed expressions of regret — just as he had realized at the beginning of the project, although VCD was much cheaper than traditional videotapes and aligned with the new MPEG1 digital standard, its maximum resolution was limited to 352x288 under the PAL system due to compression constraints. Compared to traditional home video recorders, VCDs had no real advantage in picture quality.
Moreover, MPEG1 was essentially only an initial attempt by the International Organization for Standardization to formalize digital video and audio standards, laying the foundation for future high-definition algorithms. As early as two years ago, the Motion Picture Experts Group representing Hollywood's seven major film studios had submitted a vision, hoping for a 135-minute optical disc format that could surpass LaserDisc in both video and audio quality — this vision would later become the DVD.
In the previous timeline, it wasn't until Wanyan launched their VCD players in 1993 that the vision became tangible. By reverse-engineering Wanyan's technology, companies like Philips, Sony, and Toshiba jumped into the game. They fought viciously through alliances and betrayals, enduring humiliation and hardship, all to set the DVD standard. Although they eventually agreed on the physical disc standard, the encoding and decoding standards had already been determined back in 1994 by the MPEG organization as MPEG2.
After dissecting Wanyan's invention, companies like Sony, Philips, and Panasonic quickly standardized VCD features such as menu functions and began patenting like crazy, bleeding the Chinese VCD market — ironically, the very birthplace of the VCD.
But now, Yuanchip not only owned the complete machine technology and patents but also controlled the decoding chip itself. This meant that Su Yuanshan had every qualification to sit at the global poker table with giants like Sony and Philips and help determine the future VCD standard.
That was Su Yuanshan's ultimate goal.
In some sense, it was also the inspiration he got from the man standing in front of him.
...
"Manager Jiang, hello," Su Yuanshan said warmly, handing a brochure to Jiang Wanmeng.
"Hello, hello," Jiang Wanmeng replied, though his eyes refused to leave the VCD on display — even the nearest one was still over a meter away.
Su Yuanshan casually fetched a sealed sample unit from under the booth and handed it to him. "Your research institute focuses on TV technology. How did you get interested in this?"
Jiang Wanmeng froze slightly, then glanced back at a middle-aged man standing behind him, whose face looked like he had just eaten something terrible.
Su Yuanshan smiled kindly and extended his hand: "And you are?"
"Chen Yansheng," the man said curtly.
"Ah, I've heard of you." Su Yuanshan smiled and flipped his badge to show his name: "I'm Su Yuanshan, from Yuanchip Technology."
Chen Yansheng shook hands with a stony expression, then flipped through the brochure briefly before sighing heavily: "When was your decoding chip completed?"
"Last October," Su Yuanshan answered with a faint smile.
Chen Yansheng's body stiffened, his eyes darkening. After a long pause, he said bitterly: "Our company, Scopus, also developed a decoding chip based on MPEG1."
"Oh? That's really unfortunate."
"Yeah... terribly unfortunate," Jiang Wanmeng added, sighing heavily beside him. "This morning, when I saw the decoding chip displayed at Mr. Chen's booth, I thought maybe it could be used to create a new type of home appliance. We were just discussing it... and then you unveiled a complete machine."
Su Yuanshan chuckled: "Oh? You were imagining something like a VCD?"
"Pretty much."
"Well then... my apologies," Su Yuanshan said politely, nodding to them both before stepping back a few paces and ending the conversation.
If he still felt a bit of sympathy and goodwill toward Jiang Wanmeng, he had none for Chen Yansheng. During the crisis at Wanyan, Chen Yansheng had abandoned Jiang Wanmeng without hesitation, making billions by selling chips. There was nothing wrong with making money — that was fair — but after cashing out, Chen Yansheng had no ambition left. He was only focused on selling Scopus at a high price.
Looking around the crowd, Su Yuanshan noticed that most of the Western faces were starting to leave. He nodded to Howard.
Howard, unable to wait any longer, pulled a cordless phone out of his pocket and placed it at the center of the booth.
Next, he directed a microphone toward the handset.
A Xinghai employee got the hint, left the crowd, and used a "brick phone" to call the booth's extension number.
The handset looked similar to a brick phone but was much smaller, thanks to its use of digital signaling technology. It was closer in shape and size to future smartphones. Thus, when it started ringing, the crowd was attracted by the sound but didn't immediately associate it with the small device sitting there.
Until Howard picked up the handset and pressed the answer button.
His voice, amplified through the microphone, clearly reached the confused crowd.
"Hello! It's me. I'm at the exhibition, thinking about how to promote our cordless phone."
"Yes, you're calling the exhibition office's extension line. I'm about forty meters away from the office."
"Yes, if you install one of these cordless phones at home, you'll finally be free to roam — no more being tied down by an extension line. Yes! It uses regular local call rates, very cheap."
As Howard played his role with great enthusiasm, the Yuanchip team struggled to keep a straight face. They quickly unboxed several more cordless phone units and placed them neatly on the booth.
Once people saw the physical devices, it immediately became obvious what this product was for — but Howard, a natural performer, insisted on delivering a full demonstration. Xi Xiaoding had even gone to great lengths to borrow an extension line from the exhibition office just to make this show possible.
Compared to the VCD, which seemed somewhat redundant to the Western market, the cordless phone immediately captured everyone's attention.
Even in the West, mobile phones were still a luxury tool for the wealthy — prohibitively expensive both in hardware and in call rates. Most people still relied on public payphones and pagers. Whether at home, in the office, or in public spaces, having a pager was enough for instant communication.
And let's not even mention the maddeningly poor call quality of analog mobile phones.
"Our cordless phone uses a digital signal baseband. The call quality is stable. Even from forty meters away, I can hear you clearly."
"In the future, whether you're swimming, sitting on the toilet, or eating dinner, you won't have to go racing toward the phone the moment it rings."
"That's right! Today, we cut the damn cord forever."
Howard shouted his lines passionately, each word striking the Western crowd right on the G-spot.
(End of Chapter 73)
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