Bye-Bye HD-DVD

It is unofficially official. Toshiba has decided to shut down its HD-DVD operations and end support for the format altogether. It appears the last nail in the coffin was Wal-Mart's decision to stop stocking the format. If you were one of the millions (?) who bought an HD-DVD player when prices began to plummet before Christmas, all hope is not lost. We are hearing that Wal-Mart, Target, and other retailers will be having blowout sales soon to clear their inventories and you may wind up picking up some titles for a few dollars that won't be out on Blu-Ray for years and even then may cost $40 and up.

If you have not yet invested, and do not plan to buy a Playstation 3, my advice is still to wait. Holographic discs, iTunes HD downloads, and other options are still out there, so the "next generation format war" may not truly end with this move.

HD-DVD to go Betamax

The debates have been raging for some time now about which format would win the HD video format battle and it now appears that BluRay has won. Today Warner Bros. announced that they were supporting BluRay. I believe that means that all of the major studios have gone with BluRay and thus HD-DVD doesn't have much of a chance to win out. Though as the article points out, other delivery options are on the very close horizon, so going out and buying that BluRay player might not be the most prudent use of your funds.