"Toshiba has clarified that even after the talks with the group led by Sony Entertainment has broken down, they have no plans to drop down with their plans to go ahead with the development of the HD DVD format of DVDs. The company plans to bring their products into the market as soon as they are developed considering Sony has already committed for Blu-Ray support in their Sony PlayStation 3 gaming console due to be launched next year.

Toshiba also said that Sony has been stubborn with their approach during the talks with the group led by them. They say that if Sony were a bit compromising, a solution would have been found out to combine the best features of both the technologies and make it easier for once and all. If the two separate formats of next generation DVD drives indeed come out, it would be bad for the consumer, the content companies and the developers of these drives.

Mark Knox, advisor to the HD-DVD promotion division at Toshiba said in a statement: “The picture has been painted that Sony is open to discussions and it’s Toshiba that’s shutting the door. It is Sony that is not willing to negotiate evenly.” Market analysts believe that the pie is too huge to be compromise on a solution. And Sony does not want to back down from their stand.

Sony’s format Blu-Ray is being supported by consumer electronics and computer companies such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic, Pioneer, and Apple Computer. Toshiba on the other hand have support from NEC, Sanyo, and Thomson. In terms of movie studios in America, both are evenly placed. However, Blu-Ray seems to be getting an edge over the support from the market. Microsoft is still undecided and plans to support both. Though, being a competitor of Sony… reports say that they might include support for HD DVD in their upcoming gaming console Xbox 360 in its updated release sometime next year.

Toshiba believes that they should be out in the market in time for the holiday season though Sony would be making a delayed entry in 2006 spring."