“We've been working toward unification. But talks are now stalled. We will press ahead with the product launch as planned," Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told Reuters in an interview.”

Andy Parsons, a Blu-ray spokesman, confirmed that the talks had stalled but denied that it meant the two groups had reached an impasse.

“We are hopeful that we can still find a resolution," Parsons said. "We still have time to find a way to avoid having two formats go to market, which isn't good for consumers or us.”

HD DVD players are expected to become available in late 2005 and widely available in 2006. Toshiba plans to launch its first HD DVD products, a CE player and recorder, in the fourth quarter of 2005. The company also plans to release notebook PC with a built-in HD DVD drive at the end of 2005.

A single-layer Blu-ray Disc can hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data. In contrast, a HD DVD disc can hold up to 15 GB per layer per side, offering capacities up to 30 GB per side or 60 GB per disc.