Toshiba Corp. has decided to exit the HD DVD business, ending its war with a group led by Sony and Matsushita over the next-generation DVD market. The group has been pushing the Blu-ray format. The decision is a bitter one for Toshiba but will benefit consumers, who no longer need worry about which format to choose.
As DVDs have replaced video cassettes, and with terrestial digital TV broadcasts starting soon, development of high-definition, large-capacity DVDs became a strategic necessity for electronics firms. This led to the birth of the HD DVD and the Blu-ray camps, but in 2005 they failed to agree on a unified format.
The two camps started selling next-generation DVD players about two years ago. But consumers thinking of buying replacements for their conventional DVD players have been cautious about buying new-format DVD players, because interoperability is completely lacking between the two formats. Thus consumers welcome Toshiba's decision since it means that only Blu-ray players and software will be on the market from now on.
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