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The Blu-ray camp appears set to declare victory over the rival HD DVD camp in the next-generation data storage format war. Korea's top two electronics giants, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, are both in the Blu-ray camp.
Nihon Keizai Shimbun and other Japanese media reported Sunday that Toshiba, which has led the HD DVD camp, is about to abandon its high-definition format.
The company is expected to decide soon whether it will exit the business completely, reduce production of HD DVD equipment, or withdraw from the Japanese and U.S. markets where sales have been slow and focus instead on Europe.
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Toshiba¡¯s HD-DVD player HD-A35.
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If Toshiba chooses a partial pullout, its already weak position will be further damaged in this highly competitive market and it will likely have to announce a complete pullout in the end, Japanese media predicted.
The global electronics industry has been engaged in a fierce battle to establish a standard for high-definition DVDs and players. The two rival formats, Blu-ray and HD DVD, can hold ten times more digital information than traditional DVDs.
The two formats are not compatible with each other, and the war between the Blu-ray camp, led by Sony, Matsushita and Samsung, and the HD DVD camp, led by Toshiba, NEC and Intel, has been intense.
At one point the two sides were negotiating to standardize the format, but they failed to reach an agreement. Since 2006 each has been vying for a lead, releasing products in their respective formats.
The tide turned in favor of Blu-ray at the end of last year when companies began to introduce Blu-ray DVDs and hardware in earnest. Blu-ray accounted for over 90 percent of the market in the U.S. and Japan.
The Blu-ray camp gained further ground recently after Warner Bros. Entertainment, one of the largest movie studios, announced it would issue its movies only in Blu-ray.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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