What's the latest in the next generation DVD format war? Well, where were we? Talks between Sony and Toshiba to bring in a unified format came to nothing after Toshiba walked away, announcing that the HD-DVD discs were ready. There was no hope, it seemed, for the two formats to be married on a technical level. However, it seems that this was not quite the truth.
Truth is that the compromise between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD has nothing to do with technical difficulties, and, as always, the financial impediments are the ones stalling the negotiations. It's hard to believe that the two companies won't be able to solve the technical issues, and it's more tangible that the problem is who gets the bigger cut.
More likely than not, the disagreements in this war are not about technological issues, rather they are about financial ones. Whoever controls this new format will have an enormous influence over the movie industry, and that means huge profits. As always, it's profits first and consumers second.