Blu-ray supporters scent victory
The backers of the Blu-ray high definition DVD system are predicting victory in the format wars with HD DVD.
The two rival camps have divided consumers since the two incompatible systems were launched.
But Blu-ray supporters are touting the decision by Warner Bros to shift allegiance as a tipping point.
Andy Parsons, of the Blu-ray Disc Association, said: "It's much clearer to consumers now which of the formats is going to prevail."
Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, he added: "We still have a little bit more work to do before we can say the format war is over."
" Howard Stringer, chief executive of Sony, the creators of Blu-ray, was also unwilling to declare outright victory.
"I never put up banners that say 'Mission Accomplished'," he said.
In North America, films on Blu-ray disc are outselling those on HD DVD by more than two to one.
HD DVD, which is backed by Microsoft and Toshiba, now has support from only Universal and Paramount among the big film studios.
No-one from the HD DVD promotion group was available for comment after the organisation cancelled all press interviews at the show.
"Nobody likes a format war - it's not fun, it's very time consuming and it confuses consumers," said Mr Parsons.
The battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray has echoes of the rivalry between Betamax and VHS in the 1980s.
The cheaper format, VHS, prevailed while 20 years on it seems as though Blu-ray, the more expensive system, is winning the race.
David Bishop, president of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said the Warners' decision was "a great message for consumers".
Mr Bishop said the Blu-ray camp would welcome any move by Universal and Paramount to shift formats.
"We'd love to have them over and hopefully they will in the short term so we can act as a single industry."
Sony has been talking to retailers about the possibility of helping HD DVD owners who now wanted to move to Blu-ray.
"We haven't had any meaningful dialogue as yet. But it is something we have considered."
Kevin Tsujihara, president of Warner Bros Home Entertainment Group, said the decision to back Blu-ray exclusively had been driven by consumers.
He said sales of the studio's movies on Blu-ray were outselling the same title on HD DVD by three to one.
He said that a disc unveiled by Warner last year at CES which could hold both formats had been dropped because none of the other studios would support it.
"As a result retailers would not stock it," he said.

How the PS3 led Blu-ray's triumph  
The next-generation DVD format war is over, and the future is Blu-ray.
Ever since the two rival high definition DVD systems were launched in 2006 - Sony's Blu-ray and Toshiba's HD DVD - there could only be one winner.
In a re-run of the VHS and Betamax video cassette battle of the early 1980s, each raced to win over both the home consumer and the big Hollywood film studios.
Toshiba's announcement that it is to stop production of HD DVD players leaves the way clear for Blu-ray to become the industry standard.
Yet how did Toshiba fail while Sony succeeded?
It is a story of computer game consoles, marketing savvy and schmoozing in Los Angeles, as well as Sony's determination not to let history repeat itself.
Which, at the end of the day, all boils down to much higher sales figures for Sony.

Playstation advantage
The first factor that needs to be put completely to one side is picture quality. Unless you are a technology geek with a television the size of a multiplex cinema screen, there is no difference between the output of HD DVD and Blu-ray machines.
Both offer high definition DVD playback superior to standard DVD players.
Where Sony had the killer edge is that its Playstation 3 (PS3) computer games console comes pre-fitted with a Blu-ray player.
So as Sony has sold 10.5 million PS3 consoles since it was launched in late 2006, that is 10.5 million Blu-ray machines already in homes around the world, before you add sales of stand-alone Blu-ray players.
By contrast, Toshiba has sold only one million HD DVD machines.
Toshiba does have a tie-up with Microsoft's Xbox 360 games console, but Xbox users are required to buy an external HD DVD drive.
And as Toshiba's one million sales figure for HD DVD machines also includes shipments of these drives, it appears that not many Xbox owners have been bothered to go to the additional expense.

Hollywood moves
Sony also had a head start over Toshiba in persuading the big US film studios to back Blu-ray - its own Sony Pictures is one of the main players in Hollywood.
Walt Disney and 20th Century Fox joined Sony Pictures in supporting Blu-ray.
And although Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros initially decided to back HD DVD, Warner Bros switched sides last month.
For many analysts, this was the final nail in the coffin for HD DVD.
"When Warner made its decision, it was basically over," says Kazuharu Miura, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo.
Key US DVD retailers Target and Blockbuster have also decided to go with Blu-ray.

Betamax lessons
Other analysts also point to Sony's better marketing campaign for Blu-ray, fuelled by its determination not to lose a format war that brought back painful memories of the defeat of its Betamax video format by the JVC-developed VHS.
Although Betamax offered better picture quality, VHS machines were cheaper and quickly gained the majority of market share, eventually killing off Betamax.
It appears that Sony spent many years analysing that defeat and this time around, it was much better prepared.
Putting a Blu-ray player in each PS3 was the secret weapon to ensure the format's presence in customers' front rooms around the world, effectively making their choice of high definition DVD player for them.

Toshiba's gain
While Toshiba's decision to end the production of HD DVD players is undoubtedly a humiliation for the company, analysts say it will be good for the firm's profits.
Goldman Sachs estimates that the move will boost Toshiba's profitability by up to 40bn yen ($370m; £190m) a year.
"The potential losses are small compared to the savings," says Goldman Sachs analyst Ikuo Matsuhashi.
Commentators also point to the fact that as consumer electronics is such a small part of Toshiba's business, it could afford to lose the format battle.
For while finished electrical goods such as laptops, DVD players and televisions make up just 6% of Toshiba's profits, it makes 40% of them from the sale of computer chips and a similar proportion from its nuclear power operations.
By contrast, consumer electrical goods have always been core to Sony's profits.

Uninterested consumers?
But what does it all mean for consumers?
"It's good for consumers, some of whom must have been resisting buying next-generation DVD recorders because of the two incompatible formats," says Hiroyuki Shimizu, an analyst at IT research company Gartner.
"If there's only one format, consumers don't have to worry about incompatibility."
Yet while Mr Shimizu predicts sales of Blu-ray players and discs will now take off, other analysts say the format battle is meaningless.
They say this is because a growing number of consumers are already turning their backs on DVD players to download their movies via the internet instead, or from their satellite or cable television provider.
Adding that electronics companies are wrong to assume that viewers want ever better picture quality, they point to the failure of high fidelity music formats Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio in the face of the explosion in the popularity of music downloads
While typical digital music formats such as MP3 have reduced sound quality compared with even standard CDs, their convenience has more than won over consumers.
The future of high definition DVD players may very well be Blu-ray, but whether they can make a dent in the face of the growing march of computer downloads is quite another story.

RIDATA at CES Show Enriching Your Daily and Digital Life

RIDATA Showcase the Latest Memory Card and Consumer Electronics

CES show, considered the most important fair of global high-tech industry, is to be open in Las Vegas, US from January 5 to 8, 2006. RIDATA will exhibit many new products, including all high-speed DVD st! orage products, such as 16x DVD+R/16x DVD-R, 8x DVD+R DL/4x DVD-R DL, 8x DVD+RW/6X DVD-RW and 5x DVD-RAM as well as the next-generation blue ray discs with storage up to 25GB “BD-RE 25GB”, 15GB “HD DVD-R (recordable)”, 15GB “HD DVD-RW (re-recordable)” and 20GB “HD DVD-RAM (rewritable)”. Besides RIDATA will also showcase the branded high-speed memory cards, USB drives, MP3, PMP, solar cell and the TOPY series of products for Dataplay microdisc. As a leader of storage media, RIDATA will introduce the memory cards for digital contents to emphasize their added value of applications. RIDATA T100 USB DVB-T will be introduced as a new and awarded product with “CES Cherry Picks” during CES Show.

The memory card with preloaded/prepaid content against duplication will be the key exhibit during 2006 CES for RIDATA. Mobile phones with 3G and MP3 applications will be the driving force for downloading files and music from Internet, so memory cards will perform more than a simple storage! device. RIDATA’s memory cards are preloaded with contents, as the pioneer for the era of digital multimedia contents in 2006. However, these contents should be protected with their copyrights, so the core technology of RIDATA, DRM (Digital Right Management), provides the best and safest solution for the producer of digital copyrights by way of protecting and encrypting the contents and verifying subscriber's authorization.

RIDATA, as the first company in APAC region providing memory cards with digital contents, have launched the unbalanced SD card with electronic map. Later, a series of SD/MMC cards will be launched to support all compatible players. Consumers may enjoy the contents of memory cards and the needs of the developers of computer game, music and movie producers about copyright protection. The next application of SD/MMC cards are expected to support mobile business, credit card payment via mobile phone, MRT tickets, cash card for shopping and on-line monetary transaction.

urthermore, RIDATA will exhibit a series of new consumer electronics, including the slim TV box for notebook. RIDATA T100 USB DVB-T is as big as a USB driver, supporting MPEG-2 video recording, schedule recording, time shift and EPG. Installation and operation are both convenient. When viewing in a car running at 100km/hr, viewers can still obtain stable signal and video quality. Users may watch digital TV through computer any time and anywhere without missing any favorite program. RIDATA USB EZ Drive with outstanding sales record in the global market will have new edition during CES, too. The RIDATA Laser Pointer USB Drive of the latest patented design focuses on the added value of software, such as, Auto Login, Mobile Favorites, Flash Mail and Secret Zip to secure data with the best convenience. With the laser pointer and huge storage capacity, bus! inessmen will just enjoy it. RIDATA SIP USB Drive, as big as a knuckle, will win people’s hearts with its stylish design.

RIDATA, as the No. 1 disc manufacturer in the world, insist on providing complete and high quality storage media and technology to people. Besides each kind of storage medium as above products, for the products of multimedia playback, RIDATA’s OLE series include MP3 player and PMP (Portable Media Player). This time, RIDATA plan to establish a trial area for visitors to use and enjoy their MP3 players, such as, OLE3000, OLE2000 and OLE2100 to listen to music, as well as, Mini Writer, Photocopier and PVP-R (Personal Video Player-Record) of the TOPY series.