Two years ago, I previewed the next battle of consumer electronic formats. Sony and Toshiba offered competing systems for high-definition video discs. I offered a wager on Toshiba and lost the bet. Last month, the company said it would cease production of HD-DVD players, leaving the field clear for Sony’s Blu-ray.

The war of the video cassette recorders is a classic of business history. Philips was quickly eliminated but Sony and JVC slugged it out until the latter’s VHS system emerged triumphant. The wars have continued. The current DVD standard is the product of an agreement between Sony and Toshiba, but that agreement left Toshiba dominant.