Ian Grayson20 February 2008, 6:31 AM
After a two year battle, Toshiba has hammered the final nail into the HD DVD coffin, announcing it's no longer supporting the high-definition video format and handing victory to rival Blu-ray.
Customers eager to get their hands on a high-def DVD player can now buy with confidence after Blu-ray emerged as the victor in a long and hard-fought battle for next-generation lounge room supremacy.
In a sombre press conference in Tokyo Toshiba's president Atsutoshi Nishida acknowledged last month's announcement by Warner Bros to back Blu-ray had made his company's decision inevitable.
"That had tremendous impact," he said. "If we had continued, that would have created problems for consumers, and we simply had no chance to win."
Another blow was dealt late last week by US retail giant Wal-Mart when it announced it would only be stocking Blu-ray movies and players.
While Toshiba will cease production of HD-DVD equipment, it has assured the estimated 1 million people around the world who have already purchased a player that they will continue to receive after-sales support. However it's not clear how long this support will be continued.
In Australia prices of HD-DVD players have plummeted in recent weeks following the Warner move with retailers desperate to shift inventory. Some were offering player / movie bundles for less than $300 dollars.
According to Toshiba, product will stop shipping to its channel partners by the end of March. It also plans to pull the pin on manufacture of drives for personal computers.
The company stressed its move away from HD DVD did not mean it was reducing its commitment to standard DVD and it planned to continue developing and marketing drives, players and recorders based on this format.
Toshiba's long-held argument in support of HD DVD was that it was cheaper to produce as it shared more in common with standard DVD than rival Blu-ray.
Blu-ray backers, on the other hand, pointed to that format's larger recording capacity as a key reason why it should become the next-generation standard.
Sales of Blu-ray players and DVD titles are now expected to surge as retailers expand their ranges and movie studios gather behind the winning format.