I've stayed away from both the Blu-ray and the HD-DVD camps since these squabbling companies and groups -- again -- can't seem to agree on a single standard for next-generation DVDs. We've seen this story before. Remember the VHS-Betamax war? How about the DVD-Divx war from just six years ago? Do we *really* need another war over formats that will keep customers confused and downtrodden about buying into yet another technology format?

In an unusual step in this industry, Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), a huge media company that is starting to "get it" in a huge way (great news, really), has proposed a new DVD format that combines the Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats into a single disc. It has announced that the nation's two largest consumer electronics firms -- Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) and Circuity City Stores, Inc. (NYSE:CC) -- have agreed to carry the discs.

This is a win for the consumer, for retailers eager to sell equipment and avoid unnecessary customer confusion. As my colleague Jon Ogg wrote, it is als a positive for Time Warner -- which stepped in with a solution when nobody else could or would. Yes, it is a "third" format -- but combining the first two formats into a single disc should solve loads of stupid problems currently underway with the stubborn DVD hardware industry.