Sony and Toshiba have given up trying to create a unified format for future DVDs due to time pressure, according to Japanese reports.

Toshiba is planning to have its first HD DVD drives on sale by Christmas, which means that production should start in the next few weeks. Japan's Yomiuri newspaper has reported that officials at the company have said that it is now too late to broker a deal between members of the HD DVD and Blu-Ray camps over future standards.

Talks to unify the two formats began in February, according to the paper, but have been on hold since May. Sony is due to include Blu-Ray in its forthcoming PlayStation 3, scheduled to be out in 2006.

The prospect of two competing formats has caused confusion within the entertainment industry. While Blu-Ray has the support of many Hollywood studios, which were key to VHS becoming the standard for video over Betamax, HDV DVD has the support of the official DVD Forum.

Meanwhile some studios are hedging their bets and will be using both formats. Experts believe that it could be years before one of the competing standards gets enough market share to become the de facto standard.