Some of the big news this week has been that the battle for the next generation DVD format has been won by Sony’s Blu-Ray format, with Toshiba announcing that they would stop future product of their rival HD DVD format.

This is of course is an echo of the old VHS versus Betamax video cassette format war that Sony as makers of the Betamax lost. This time Sony have come out as winners on the back of decisions by a number of film studios to focus solely on the Blu-Ray format, and of course through the viral effect of all those Playstation 3’s already sitting in the front room of many houses. I think Toshiba could see through their sales figures the writing was on the wall and have decided to cut their loses and focus on other things.

This is a good result for us the consumer, as it ends the confusion of have two competing technologies, which is going to boost the uptake of the new technology, as many people were holding of buying. This allows those of us who have been waiting for things to be clarified, can now buy something like the highly rated Sony BDP-S300B Blu-Ray/DVD Player, without worrying we are buying a dead format. Expect more laptops to start featuring the new format also.