HD-DVD is Dead, Long Live Blu-ray!

Putting an end to all speculation, Japanese electronics maker Toshiba today announced that it is withdrawing the HD-DVD format, thus clearing the decks for rival Blu-ray, which is backed by Sony Corp. The HD-DVD vs Blu-ray format war has been on for what seems like ages now.

With Toshiba's withdrawal of the format it has vehemently supported so long, the battle between the two camps comes to a decisive end. Blu-ray is, now, the last man standing in a home high-def video market estimated to be worth nearly $24 billion.
Announcing the withdrawal of the HD-DVD format, Atsutoshi Nishida, president and chief execu

tive officer of Toshiba, said, "We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called 'next-generation format war', and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop . Toshiba will begin cutting down shipments of its HD-DVD players and recorders, targeting closure of its HD-DVD business by the end of next month. Meanwhile, the company will continue to provide services to all owners of HD-DVD products. It said it is in the process of calculating the monetary impact of shutting down its HD-DVD business.

Consumers can now be more clear-headed than before, since practically all of the high-def format confusion has now ended. As regards the downfall of HD-DVD, Toshiba had already slashed prices of its HD-DVD players in an effort to compete with Blu-ray. However, the tide truly turned against the company starting with the defection of Warner Bros to Blu-ray last month, and major US retailers the likes of Best Buy, Target, Netflix, and Wal-Mart choosing Blu-ray over HD-DVD.

A day before Toshiba's formal announcement today, Microsoft had said it does not expect sales of the Xbox 360 to suffer if Toshiba actually went ahead with its decision. Now that HD-DVD is officially dead, it remains to be seen how Microsoft will react.

Toshiba, the maker of HD DVD players has pulled support for HD DVD and almost all major movie studios have moved to Blue-Ray. With Toshiba's announcement the rest will have to follow. Netflix and Blockbuster are Blu-Ray only now as well. Walmart has dropped support for HD-DVD players and media. Face it Joe, HD-DVD is officially dead. There may be a few players still floating around, but it will become increasingly more difficult to find any new movies until there just simply won't be anymore.