Blu-ray Won Battle - But is the War Over?

Blue-ray may have won a major battle in the DVD wars, but it appears that its main contender, Toshiba, has yet to put up the white flag of surrender.

According to the Australian PC Authority, there are rumours clammering among the hi-tech crowds that a new High-res upgrade for existing DVD technology is in the works from Toshiba.

The rumor claims the Japanese company is putting together an extension to their existing DVD format which will offer video quality comparable to that produced by Blu-ray and Toshiba’s one-time HD-DVD discs.

Toshiba is said to be ready to sell a DVD player based on this new technology within the next six months, according Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese daily talks with inside sources from Toshiba.

The new enhanced DVD players will be sold at lower prices than Blu-ray players, according to PC Authority’s article. The players will also be backwards-compatible with standard DVD discs, according to those same unnamed Toshiba sources.

If the rumor of this latest DVD format, which insiders claim will be a newly-developed large scale integrated circuit chip designed to rapidly convert the stored video, comes out to be more than just tech-net-talk, then consumers are back to the quandry faced before Blue-ray became the new HD champ.

Most industry experts are skeptical and will wait as the date draws closer to the six month period the rumors predict Toshiba would put their first product on the open market.