Toshiba announced plans to join the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) and introduce products to the market that support Blu-ray, finally putting an end to the format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray.

Back in 2002, Toshiba together with Microsoft and NEC proposed a replacement for DVD for high definition movies in the form of HD DVDs. Meanwhile, Sony and a group of other companies announced their intentions to unite with a Blu-ray disc. Over several years Sony, Toshiba and other industry heavy weights went head to head against each other which unleashed increasingly heated debates on both of these formats taking place.

The battle was affectively over last year when Warner Brothers joined other major movie studios in deciding to abandon releasing films in the HD DVD format, shortly afterwards several North American rental services and retailers announced their exclusive support for Blu-ray products. The release of the Sony PlayStation 3 with a Blu-ray player built in also helped considerably too.

In a statement released by Toshiba they said, “In light of recent growth in digital devices supporting the Blu-ray format, combined with market demand from consumers and retailers alike, Toshiba has decided to join the BDA."