Toshiba joins European DVD battle

Roughly 40 HD-DVD titles are released in the UK this week

Toshiba has launched its new high-definition DVD player in Europe, marking the start of a battle for living room domination.

The electronics firm wants consumers to use their HD-E1 DVD system rather than the rival Blu-Ray format.

Blu-Ray is being backed by electronics firms Sony, Samsung and Panasonic as well as a number of film studios.

The tussle between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is similar to the 1980s war between VHS and Betamax video, analysts said.

Toshiba has forecast 500,000 worldwide sales of its HD-DVD player by March 2007.

HD-DVD Price: Roughly £450 Disc: 15GB or 30GB Supporters: Toshiba, NEC, Sanyo, Microsoft, Intel Studios: Universal, Warner, Paramount HD-DVD Promotion Group

Its system will retail for about £450, roughly half the price of Blu-ray.

A more feature-laden HD DVD player from Toshiba - the HD-XE1 - is planned to launch from late January 2007 for around £649.

Despite differences, both of the new DVD formats offer greater storage capacity than traditional players to cope with the increased size of encoded images needed for high-definition televisions.

And both players have an internet connection, which adds further possibilities of downloadable extras and film teasers.

Blu-ray Price: Roughly £900 Disc: 25GB or 50GB Supporters: Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Sharp, Philips, Hitachi, Pioneer, Apple, Dell Studios: Sony, Disney, 20th Century Fox, Warner, Paramount Blu-ray Disc Association

HD-DVD discs contain up to 30 gigabytes (GB) of data, compared with 50 GB for Blu-ray.

Disney and 20th Century Fox are backing Blu-ray, while Universal is supporting HD-DVD.

Warner Bros and Viacom have said they will support both.

With no agreement between studios, both formats may continue to exist side-by-side for a while, analysts said, adding that many consumers may put off buying a system until a clear winner emerges.