Talks have been so on-again off-again between the Blu-ray and HD-DVD folks that I didn’t know they were on enough for them to become off. But that seems to be just the case.

The Associated Press is reporting the talks between Toshiba and Sony have broken down again, and the bargaining table is quite empty. But “We are hopeful that we can still find a resolution,” Andy Parsons, a Blu-ray spokesman said. “We still have time to find a way to avoid having two formats go to market, which isn’t good for consumers or us.”

Frankly, I don’t see any compromise being reached until it becomes obvious that one of the formats has more momentum. And since I think the word “obvious” there is key, we’ll be waiting quite some time.

Forbes - Update 3: Report: Toshiba Quits DVD Talks With Sony