Blu-ray hopes to beat HD DVD within 3 years

The Blu-ray disc association has said that it hopes to have won the format war within 3 years.

"Within 3 years it will just be Blu-ray", Frank Simonis, the Blu-ray Disc Association's European chairman, said at the CeBIT technology trade show.

However the Blu-ray association will first have to beat the rival HD DVD format which offers an equal storage space and cheaper production of players, burners and discs.

Blu-ray is hoping that the launch of the PlayStation 3 console in the UK will help boost sales of Blu-ray discs and popularity making it the number one choice format.

However before Christmas in the UK, HD DVD claimed an early victory.

According to the official UK charts company, sales results of the two formats in the run up to Christmas show that HD DVD outsold Blu-ray by 4 to 1.

The results are put down to Microsoft's cheap HD DVD player for the Xbox 360 costing just £129 compared to Samsung's standalone player which had a price tag of £1000.

However the official chart company report that just under 10,000 movies of both formats combined sold in October, November and December, meaning the battle is far from over.