Toshiba Corp. said on Monday it would start selling Blu-ray products later this year, joining the rival camp after its own format was defeated in an industry battle in high definition DVDs.

The decision comes more than a year after Toshiba pulled the plug on its HD DVD format in the face of growing competition from Blu-ray, the format created by Sony Corp. and its partners.

The defeat banished HD DVD to the way of Betamax, the format which lost out to VHS as the standard for videocassettes in the 1980s and became obsolete.

The two next-generation DVD formats both offered cinematic-quality images and multimedia features but Blu-ray won crucial support from leading Hollywood studios and large US retailers.

Toshiba said it had applied to join the Blu-ray Disc Association and plans to introduce products that support the format, which is becoming more popular.

"We see the (Blu-ray) market is growing, and we felt we need to have a product lineup for that market," said a Toshiba spokesperson. "We thought that it was important that we expand options for our customers."

Japanese electronics makers invested heavily in the future of DVDs and fought a fierce campaign to try to convince consumers that their product should become the dominant format.