Talks between Sony and Toshiba about a unified DVD format are starting to look like one of those marriages where one of the partners threatens to leave the residence hoping that the other will sing the chorus of reconciliation.

The faith of a unified DVD format alternates between being six feet under and hovering in the seventh heaven. After Sony attempted a forced marriage between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, (announcing that it wants to reach a compromise), Toshiba started to pack its bags (announcing that the HD-DVD discs are ready), but according to Nikkei Net, it doesn't seem like it's ready to go. (And negotiations might be resumed)

Truth is that the compromise between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD has nothing to do with technical difficulties, and, as always, the financial impediments are the ones stalling the negotiations. It's hard to believe that the two companies won't be able to solve the technical issues, and it's more tangible that the problem is who gets the bigger cut.

The company to control the DVD format, will also control the movie industry and this is the source of all the problems: who gets the biggest share of the enormous sums of money.
The fact that one format proposes 25GB and the other 50GB is irrelevant, this aspect concerning only users. The companies are interested in seeing more money into their accounts (and who can blame them). And frankly, I doubt their are negotiating over the layer's 0.2mm or the number of GBs, but more likely on "how do we divide the profits".

So until someone will settle with less, don't expect to see movies on the unified format!