The wider adoption by studios, the superior technology and the bundling by Sony in the PS3 have all got Blu-ray off to a good start. Recently, Blockbuster announced that it would expand Blu-ray titles to 1,700 stores, leaving HD DVD behind in only a fraction of its stores. This could be the body blow that forces HD DVD into either demise or extreme measures, according to BusinessWeek.

Toshiba has few weapons in its arsenal. They’ve been depending on the less expensive players to attract potential customers who can’t see the visual difference in the two formats. However, the recent Blockbuster move is a body blow and could spell the end of the HD DVD format.

That’s not to say that Blu-ray has been racking up huge sales when the PS3 is excluded. Customer irritation with the next generation, high defintion disc format war has constrained stand alone player sales to a trickle.

That much has been well documented. Now, according to BW, Toshiba may be seeking a desperate alliance with the Chinese, urging them to adopt the technology for internal use. In fact, "two large Chinese DVD manufacturers have committed to doing just that, and aim to begin selling such products later this year," Cliff Edwards wrote.

The move is risky and perilous. The Chinese, loathe to honor patents, could end up selling very inexpensive players directly to the U.S., the brand would be diluted, and Toshiba would be squeezed out. However, players priced at less than US$199 could breathe new life into the format.

In addition, Toshiba just announced that they would be putting HD DVD players in all its PCs and notebooks. Apple, Sony, and Dell continue to support the Blu-ray format.

It’s a race now between the on-line availability of HD content, whether enough customers want to spend $30 on HD discs, which some claim don’t look substantially better than a good $7 DVD upscaled on a modest sized HDTV, and the effect of really inexpensive HD DVD players at Christmas time. The next move to watch will be the Blu-ray camp. If they can find a suitable counter to this desperation strategy by Toshiba, HD DVD may soon become just a memory from an ill-advised tech war.