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Talks to establish a unified DVD standard have ended in failure to this stage, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. In the Blu-Ray v. HD DVD battle, two powerful, rival consortia are ranged against each other. In the Blu(-Ray) corner are Apple, Sony, Matsushita, Dell and HP, while Toshiba and NEC have plumped for HD DVD. Having each touted their own format as superior, the two sides had come together to discuss whether they could develop a common DVD format. The main issue is compatibility: ensuring that discs can work in each other's players. The major movie studios are also split on the issue. Disney and Sony Pictures have backed Blu-Ray, while Universal, Paramount and Warner Brothers are members of the HD DVD consortium. The two sides have failed to reach any agreement so far. The president of Matsushita said that the Blu-Ray consortium's position had not changed, and they were awaiting a response from HD DVD's proponents. Analysis: The gist of the problem is, as the article notes, is that Blu-Ray is likely to cost a bit more to develop (and thus to retail) than HD DVD. But it does have superior storage. But compatibility is a major issue, and analysts are right to worry that if the problem isn't sorted out, we could end up with another Betamax v. VHS scenario.
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