Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp., the largest software company, and Intel Corp., the biggest chipmaker, will support Toshiba Corp.'s format for high-definition DVDs, a setback for Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray standard.

Microsoft will make software that is "friendly"' to Toshiba's HD DVD format, while Intel will make chips for players of the system, the companies said in a joint statement today. Both technologies offer better picture quality, greater recording capacity and improved copyright protection.

Sony, which last week forecast its first annual loss in 11 years, lost a similar battle two decades ago, when its Betamax format was scrapped in favor of VHS as the video standard. Toshiba has also won the backing of Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. and Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures for its standard, while Sony can count on its own music and film library for content.

"It is a plus for Toshiba, but much more important are the moves by content makers, like movie studios and music companies," said Takeo Miyamoto, a Tokyo-based analyst with CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, who has an "outperform"' rating on Toshiba. Shares of Toshiba fell 0.6 percent to 484 yen in Tokyo today, and Sony's stock gained 1.3 percent to 3,870 yen.

Talks between Toshiba and Sony to unify the DVD standards broke down in May.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=aGn6FPfMCgzk&refer=japan
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I think this battle is over. Is there anyone out there to fight with these giants... and win?

Whoa, deja vu, Sony's a great company, but it's like they're cursed as a standards maker for consumers. It would be interesting to see them win at least one consumer standard to see how they handle it.

I wonder what the odds are in Las Vegas for HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray.

Paramount Pictures just announced support for Blu-Ray! Go Blu-Ray!

It will definitely be a bigger battle than 30 years ago when Sony lost the Beta versus VHS fight - for one reason: the armies got a lot bigger! Besides stand-alone players, we now have computers... See for example Dell and HP's reply:

Sep 29, 2005 - Dell and Hewlett Packard Set the Record Straight on Blu-ray

Dell and Hewlett Packard, the worlds two largest PC manufacturers, today reiterated their support for Blu-ray and addressed the inaccurate information cited by Microsoft and Intel regarding the Blu-ray Disc format. "Every computer manufacturer in the BDA carefully reviewed both formats and ultimately chose Blu-ray as the superior solution for meeting customer demands and providing the best possible end-user experience," said Maureen Weber, General Manager of Hewlett Packard's Personal Storage Business. "It is surprising that Tuesday's announcement is not aligned with that of the vast majority of the computer industry and is contrary to our consumer research." Virtually every computer company that has expressed a preference for a high definition disc format has chosen Blu-ray Disc as the superior format for computer platforms and applications, including top-tier computer brands such as Dell, Hewlett Packard, Panasonic, Sony and LG.

Source: http://www.blu-ray.com/

Well, it's simply because Blu-ray can hold more info. Now if they got that stupid disc format made out of chicken feathers that supposedly got like 500gb right off the bat up and running, then we'd be in business!