The adoption of the next generation DVD format is inevitably heading for a long and painful birth, as both sides involved in its “conception” are starting to use dirty tricks.

Take Toshiba’s move for example: almost two weeks ago the Japanese electronics behemoth vowed to pay $150 million to Paramount, in exchange for the Hollywood studio’s exclusive backing of the HD DVD proprietary format. Until then, Paramount was among the three major Hollywood studios (Lionsgate, Paramount Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video) that preferred to release their titles in both rivaling HD formats, Blu Ray and HD DVD. No one knew of the deal at first, but New York Times eventually confirmed what most people suspected: Paramount and DreamWorks Animation together will receive about $150 million in financial incentives for their commitment to HD DVD.

No one knows also whether Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, the main supporter and promoter of the Blu Ray format, did the same thing in the past with its allies, mainly 20th Century Fox and Buena Vista Home Entertainment. But the mother-company Sony declared on August 30 that it is close to surpassing the “1 million Blu Ray discs sold in the US” landmark, with other 250,000 discs having been sold in Europe. According to Sony's estimates, Blu-ray discs now account for 69% of the total high-definition market in Europe, with Sony titles making up more than 47% of the total European Blu-ray market.

This comes as a confirmation of a previous study from July, which also indicated Blu Ray as the winner in the US, despite the fact that less than 10% of the consumers in that area are familiar with the HD DVD or Blu-ray formats.

Furthermore, new data from Home Media Research shows that Blu-ray is also taking the lead in high definition media sales. As of August 5th, the top 10 best selling high definition movies are all available on Blu-ray, and half of those exclusive to the format. Warner Brother's '300' leads the pack, followed by 'The Departed', 'Casino Royale', 'Planet Earth', and 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'. The critical fourth quarter is packed with Blu Ray blockbusters, including ‘Spiderman 3’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind.’

However, China’s market seems to be the next battle ground for the two HD formats. Recently, Taiwan-based Acer, a former associate member of the HD-DVD Promotion Group, dropped its support for Toshiba’s discs and decided instead to go ahead with Sony’s Blu Ray, which the third largest PC manufacturer in the world will be including in its line of desktops and laptops.

China Film Group, one of China’s largest film distribution groups, has also adopted Sony’s Blu Ray, but Toshiba responded with the launch of a super-cheap, $199 HD DVD player from Venturer Electronics, a Canadian-based distributor of Chinese made consumer electronics.

The player, which will be on North American store shelves in Q4 2007, is called SHD7000 and features 1080i video output, an HDMI connection (to upconvert standard DVD to near HD quality) and Ethernet connectivity, which allows for network access to studios and third parties via the Internet. Toshiba currently sells its HD-A2 HD DVD player for $299 after a $100 manufacturer’s rebate.

Obviously, this would not be enough to dethrone the Blu Ray from its dominant position, mainly achieved through the now ubiquitous PlayStation 3 platform, which comes with an integrated Blu Ray drive. But since Microsoft is already offering an external HD DVD drive for its Xbox 360 console, it’s clear that we’re heading for a long and exhausting war…