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The (still) ongoing war between Sony and Toshiba over the next DVD format has seen another battle lost for Toshiba: UK retailer Woolworths has officially abandoned the HD DVD format in favor of Blu Ray.

After seeing Warner backing Blu Ray exclusively Toshiba has to face yet another blow, this time coming from the friendly chaps across the pond. One of Britain's largest retailers decided to go the Blu Ray path because of the sluggish sales for the rivaling format, the HD DVD.

Woolworths reported that sales for HD discs were in an overwhelming proportion in favor of BD during last year's Christmas shopping season, outpacing HD DVD by a factor of 10-to-1. Moreover, with the arrival of new movies and games for the PlayStation 3, the interest for Sony's console (which has a built-in Blu Ray player) has increased.

"Sales figures clearly show that the market is moving towards one format of high definition DVD," said Woolworths DVD buyer Steven McGunigel, quoted by Tech.co.uk.

"The main reason is the success of Sony's PlayStation 3 machine. Because it plays Blu-ray discs, there are over three quarters of a million homes in the UK that can view the new high definition format. There is nowhere near that number of HD DVD players around.""Switching to Blu-ray only will provide one clear offer to customers in the format they want to watch high-definition movies in."Toshiba's HD DVD spokesperson, Olivier Van Wynendaele, responded: "We have been hugely successful in expanding the number of consumers owning HD DVD players," he said. "Consumers can now pick-up an HD DVD player for less than £150, around half the cost of other HD formats. Even before pricing reached this level, HD DVD represented more than 60 per cent of the overall standalone high definition market. "Just as importantly for movie retailers, HD-DVD has always enjoyed greater software sales per player than any other HD format. In fact, HD DVD owners have already bought around 3.5 movies each, compared to less than one movie sold per Blu ray device. "While we're disappointed by Woolworths' decision, it is extremely early to spot which format will eventually win. As the figures I mention show - where consumers have a choice, they choose HD DVD.