Toshiba has said it would still like to develop a unified format for advanced optical DVD discs, but two competing--and incompatible--products are likely to hit the market at first.
Toshiba is a leading proponent of next-generation HD DVD optical disc technology, which competes with the Blu-ray standard promoted by Sony and Matsushita, a maker of Panasonic brand electronics.
"We have not given up on a unified format. We would like to seek ways for unifying the standards if opportunities arise," Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told an annual shareholders' meeting.
The failure of the two groups to settle on a unified format has resulted in a costly battle similar to the VHS-Betamax war that caused widespread consumer confusion in the late 1970s and mid-1980s.
Toshiba, Japan's second-largest electronics conglomerate behind Hitachi, in March started rolling out the world's first HD DVD players in Japan.
