The increasingly dirty technology war being fought for dominance of “next generation” DVDs took another twist today when one of China’s largest film distribution groups said it would back Blu-ray, the technology developed by Sony and Philips.

China Film Group’s decision comes as the Blu-ray Disc Association – a consortium of more than 170 content and hardware producers – is reeling from the defection of Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation two weeks ago.

China Film Group, in addition to producing movies such as Kung Fu Hustle and a range of popular film and TV series for its domestic market, plays a central role in the distribution of foreign films in China, acting as a de-facto regulator.

Analysts said that China Film Group's move was evidence that the struggle between Blu-ray discs and the rival format, HD-DVD, would be heavily influenced by the choices of content providers and consumers in Asia. HV-DVD is produced by Toshiba and backed by the likes of Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard.

Blu-ray received another fillip yesterday when Acer, one of the world’s big three personal computer brands, said that it too would be adopting Sony’s format. Acer, previously an associate member of the HD-DVD Promotion Group, will build Blu-ray disc players into its laptop and desktop PCs.

Many believe that, while the decisions of the major studios will be important in deciding the outcome of the high-definition format war, it may be the PC market that has the final say.

Paramount and DreamWorks previously released films on both Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs. Both studios have said that they will now produce content exclusively on HD-DVD, pointing to cost advantages with the Toshiba format.

Their decision, which surprised analysts and drew heavy criticism from senior Hollywood insiders, came as Blu-ray appeared to be gaining the upper hand over the Toshiba format in disc sales. Toshiba has denied offering Paramount and DreamWorks any financial inducements to encourage their defection from Blu-ray.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 games console, which has sold more than 4 million units worldwide, includes a Blu-ray disc player and is thought to account for the early lead of the Blu-ray format over its rival.

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