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Currently, studios are being frantically courted by Sony and Toshiba to support their rival Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats. But they want to avoid the costly, not to mention consumer-unfriendly, situation of having to release DVDs in both formats.

Both systems promise higher picture quality and more interactive features, but crucially for the studios, they also offer far greater copy-protection which they hope will stem Internet and physical copying.

Until recently both Sony and Toshiba and their respective technology partners have resisted studio pressure to hold talks. However the recent appointment of Howard Stringer as CEO of Sony appears to have broken the ice. Stringer is believed to be less concerned with Sony's proprietary technology than the technically-minded executives who ran Sony before him. He also has close relationships with Hollywood bosses.

Stringer's position appears to be backed by Sony's newly appointed president, Ryoji Chubachi, who said recently that the company has not given up on a single format.

'In the area of next-generation optical discs, we continue to be open to discussions with supporters

Toshiba 'remains interested in a single standard that would be in the best interest of the consumer,' according to Warren Lieberfarb, the former Warner Bros executive, now working with Toishiba to persuade studios to sign up to its format.

Talks, however, can only go so far, as there are significant technological hurdles to overcome if the two formats are to be somehow conjoined. Although both use a blue laser to burn data, that data is stored in very different locations on the disc. HD-DVD's data layer is sandwiched in the middle of the disc, whereas Blu-ray stores data very close to the surface with just a thin protective film over the top. Therefore marrying the two could mean undoing years of research, which is unlikely to go down well with R&D departments.

Moreover, that is not a scenario that Hollywood wants as it is hoping to make Ocean's Twelve and The Bourne Supremacy the first high-definition releases this year, in time for the first HD-DVD players to hit the market in the run up to Christmas, with Blu-ray devices to follow early in 2006.

In all likelihood, any compromise would see the predominance of one format, with some technology from the other thrown in, so that they can to earn a share of the licence fee. This is precisely what happened 10 years ago when the original DVD format was settled: that time it was Sony that had to abandon its format, with Toshiba and Matsushita winning out. Given that Sony also lost the VHS/Betamax battle in the 1980s, it will doubtless be hoping that Blu-ray is third time lucky.