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Toshiba announced an end to its HD DVD business, leaving the high-definition DVD market to Sony and its Blu-Ray format.

Retailers let out a sigh of relief as the two-plus years of Toshiba and Sony going head to head over the next generation of DVD formats came to an end. Finally, a holiday shopping season will arrive with a clear winner in high-definition video.

"We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war' and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop," Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation, said in a statement.

HD DVD presented a way for current DVD manufacturers to use their existing processes to manufacture the new disks. Blu-Ray will require some expensive overhauling to take place.

Blu-Ray offers more storage per DVD than HD DVD did, 75GB to 50GB. Though Hollywood studios were split for a while over the formats, they slowly shifted over to Sony's version.

Wal-Mart may have been the biggest influence, as it arbitrarily decided to no longer stock HD DVD equipment or movies. The massive retailer opted to go Blu-Ray only, winnowing the field of competitors to one and removing a barrier that kept consumers from buying either Blu-Ray or HD DVD players.