Blu-Ray Edges Towards Victory As Toshiba Reviews HD DVD Format

Toshiba looks set to abandon its high definition DVD format HD DVD in response to the defection of major US film studios to Blu-ray.
While no decision has yet to be taken, the electronics firm said it was reviewing its strategies.
Toshiba shares have increased 5.7% to close at 829 yen and was one of the biggest risers on Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 share index.
Warner Brothers have become the latest Hollywood studio to support Sony’s Blu-ray format leaving Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures favouring HD DVD.
In a further blow for the Toshiba-backed format, video rental firms, including Blockbuster and Netflix, have said they will phase on HD DVD.
Paul O’Donovan, Principal Analyst at research firm Gartner said Toshiba are, “under a tremendous amount of pressure to pull out following Wal-Mart’s stance and Best Buy’s decision to recommend Blu-ray disc players over the HD DVD format”.
The success of Blu-ray can be attributed to Sony’s relationships with the industry’s heavy weight DVD player manufacturers including Philips, Panasonic, Denon and Pioneer.
However, Blu-ray comes at a cost, according to research firm IDC, the cheapest Blu-ray player on the market is Sony’s Playstation 3 video game console costing about $400 while the cheapest HD DVD system costs £117.
Blu-ray and HD DVD have been at loggerheads to become the leading high definition format. Although there is not much difference between them, the two formats are incompatible with each other.
DVD players from South Korean firms LG and Samsung are the only two to play both rival high-definition DVD formats, but they can cost twice as much as single-format players.
(DS)