Paramount Home Entertainment is the latest company to back the Blu-ray Disc format as the next-generation DVD standard.

Paramount said Sunday it will join a growing list of media and technology companies endorsing Blu-ray that includes Sony Corp., Apple Computer Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc.

Paramount will still market all its DVD movies in the competing HD DVD format so consumers can have a choice, company officials said.

Backers of HD DVD include Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Toshiba Corp., Universal Studios and others.

Paramount decided to support the Blu-ray format after an analysis of the cost and copy protection solutions available, according to a prepared statement. Paramount also said it was attracted by Blu-ray's storage capacity, which is five times that of current DVDs.

"We have been intrigued by the broad support of Blu-ray, especially the key advantage of including Blu-ray in PlayStation 3," said Thomas Lesinski, president of Paramount Pictures, Worldwide Home Entertainment.

Paramount will begin releasing its content in the Blu-ray format in North America, Japan and Europe when the hardware is available to support it.

Efforts so far to merge the standards into a single format have gone nowhere as tech companies and studios have divided into the two camps. Analysts say consumers are likely to stick with standard DVDs until there is a resolution.