Microsoft Corp. will release an HD DVD player for its Xbox 360 video game machine in time for the 2006 holiday season and will have 10 million of its next-generation consoles to market before its rivals debut their new systems, company executives said on Tuesday.

High-definition DVD titles continue to trickle into US stores, but the arrival of the first titles in the rival Blu-ray disc format has been pushed back by a month to June 25. Samsung has delayed the US launch of its next-generation DVD player for a month in order to complete testing.

Still seeking a buyer for its accessories and A/V business groups, Thomson staged a press conference here for a series of products coming to market shortly, including an RCA-branded HD DVD player, a video-enabled Lyra portable media player, a lineup of remotes and an external ATSC/NTSC TV tuner for PCs.

On the last day of March, Toshiba put on sale the world's first HD-DVD player, the HD-XA1. HD-DVD is one of two formats vying to replace DVD for high-definition movies and the players have been awaited for some time.

February 19, 2006 — This past week two stories circulated around the Internet that dramatically illustrate the confusion surrounding the next-gen optical disc formats. The first rumor had both formats being delayed due to failure to agree to the finalized standard for the AACS copy protection that will be employed by both formats. The second was that Toshiba will kick off a 40-city promotional tour this coming week to hype HD DVD's March launch. Well, is it on again or off again?!