Sony: Blu-ray/HD DVD Format War a “Stalemate”

Sony CEO Howard Stringer says that Blu-ray and HD DVD are currently in a "stalemate" and is "playing down the importance of the battle," according to the Associated Press.

Stringer addressed a crowd at Manhattan's 92nd Street Y cultural center Thursday, where he said that "it was a matter of prestige" which format wins.

"It doesn't mean as much as all that," Stringer said. He added that he believed there was an opportunity of uniting the two camps under one format before he became CEO, and he wishes he could travel back in time to make that happen.

HD DVD has had a lot of momentum recently, with reports of 90,000 units sold during last week's major price slash by Wal-Mart and Best Buy. The big-box retailers sold Toshiba's HD-A2 HD DVD player for $99 for a short period of time late last week.

Stringer pointed to the switch by Paramount from producing movies in both formats to only HD DVD as a turning point. "We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides," Stringer said.

Even with the switch by Paramount and Dreamworks, recent statistics have shown that Blu-ray discs outsold HD DVD titles nearly 2 to 1 through September.

With the holiday season nearly here, we'll find out if consumers have determined a preference -- or if they're even buying high-definition units in any meaningful numbers at all.

What do you think? Is the format war a stalemate?