The battle for supremacy in the market for next generation DVD players intensified as Toshiba and Sony unveiled plans to launch competing advanced DVD models in the first half of this year in the US market.

Toshiba said it would start selling the first next generation HD-DVD player in the US from March and a notebook PC with a HD-DVD drive within the year. The new players, which will be able to show video in high definition format, are priced from $499 up to $799.