Toshiba's HD DVD format could emerge the surprise winner from this year's Christmas sales - sales that are seen as crucial to the long-term survival of both HD DVD and its arch-rival Blu-ray.
Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg says HD DVD could make strong inroads in the US thanks to cheap player prices, a strong line-up of titles - including Heroes and Star Trek box sets - as well as a crises of confidence in the Blu-ray camp.
Warner plumps for both formats
Earlier this month, Warner Bros was embroiled in a PR hoo-hah after one executive spoke out about his company's support for Blu-ray and how it was watching Q4 sales before finally deciding to jump. Dan Silverberg, vice president for Warner Home Video's high definition arm told attendees at a Blu-ray festival:
"One thing that may be changing is our strategy. When both formats launched and hardware prices were high, we made a decision to support both formats and let the consumer decide.
"But now that hardware pricing is affordable for both Blu-ray and HD DVD, it appears consumers no longer want to decide - so the notion of staying in two formats for the duration is something we are re-evaluating now that we are in the fourth quarter."
However his comments were immediately dismissed by Jim Noonan, a senior vice president for Warner Home Video. Noonan told High Def Digest that Warners remained committed to both formats.
However Noonan also admitted that Warners' plans for a hyrid Blu-ray / HD DVD format called Total HD had been shelved.