The companies backing competing formats for next-generation DVD technology will never again talk about forming a unified standard, an executive at Matsushita Electric Industrial said on Friday, leaving it to the consumer to choose the winning side.

"We are not talking and we will not talk," Kazuhiro Tsuga, an executive officer at Matsushita, the world's largest consumer electronics maker, told Reuters in an interview. "The market will decide the winner."

The two sides held inconclusive talks last year in the hopes of avoiding a prolonged format battle. The backing of Hollywood studios was seen until recently as the main deciding factor in the format battle, but with studio support split between the camps, the focus will now shift to cost-competitiveness and the products themselves, Tsuga said.

He said it was doubtful how long Toshiba, which launched an HD DVD player this month for $499, could continue selling its next-generation equipment at such low prices, estimating that Toshiba was probably doing so at a loss. A Toshiba spokeswoman is reported to say that the price point was aimed at helping the HD DVD industry grow.

"It's now a test of physical strength," Tsuga said. Matsushita plans to launch DVD players later this year with a price tag likely to top $1,000. In the Reuters interview, Tsuga said that Matsushita was working hard to lower production costs and that it would make a profit on its next-generation DVD products from the start.

Story filed 24.04.06