Toshiba leaves, it is the format Sony

The DVD format next generation Blu-Ray Sony has virtually assured victory in the war against his rival HD-DVD: Toshiba in fact is getting ready to sign the death certificate. Officially, rival Sony continue to say to the mouth of a spokesman that no formal decision has yet been taken", but a source close to industrial issue said that a "complete withdrawal is one of the possibilities taken into consideration".

Analysts from them give the HD-DVD for dead and buried since the studios Warner, the first DVD sellers in the United States, have clearly announced in January that will use only the Blu-Ray format. The coup de grace was given Friday by the American distribution giant Wal-Mart, which has expressed anch'e it to deploy the only Blu-Ray, joined the decisions of the distribution network Best Buy and the studios of 20th Century Fox Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, Disney and Lionsgate.

The HD-DVD, which is currently cheaper to produce compared to the Blu-Ray but with a more limited memory, is far preferred by Intel and Microsoft in some kinds of Universal studios and several electronics manufacturers to China. The benefit of Hollywood film studios has proved decisive for Blu-Ray, now used in 70 percent of American films. "Without the support of film distributors, DVD players are just a shell" says Yuichi Ishida, analyst Mizuho Investors Securities.