TOKYO, June 27 (UPI) -- Microsoft Corp. and Japan's Toshiba Corp. Monday said they would jointly develop high definition DVD players.
The alliance strengthens Toshiba in its battle with Sony Corp. over the industry's dominant format for the next generation of DVDs, the Financial Times reported.
Whereas Toshiba supports HD DVD, Sony has been pushing Blu-ray, a rival technology with larger storage capacity.
"From the HD-DVD viewpoint we now have a very strong supporter," said Atsutoshi Nishida, chief executive of Toshiba. "We want to leverage this support and come up with a concrete outcome."
The Blu-ray Disc format is supported by Sony Pictures and Disney, while HD-DVD is backed by Warner Brothers, Paramount and Universal.
Though Microsoft is a member of the HD-DVD group, Bill Gates, its chairman, said his company maintained a neutral position on the format wars.
