Format war set to continue

The battle between high definition DVD formats HD and Blu-ray could rage on until 2012, it has been claimed.

According to ABI Research, despite the advent of players and computers which can handle both formats, the battle could still continue for the next three or four years.

Principal analyst for ABI Research Steve Wilson, said: "ABI Research expects high-definition drives to bring in revenues of about $2 billion (£1 billion) by 2012.

"Of that, about two-thirds will be accounted for by universal drives, which can play either format."

He added: "Few universal drives are sold today, partly because of their higher price. But those prices will fall to about the same as Blu-ray players by 2009, and we forecast universal player sales to exceed Blu-ray the following year."

However, experts from the New York Times recently claimed that the format war had reached a stalemate.

The newspaper claimed there might be no clear winner, as both formats continued to land Hollywood blockbusters.