And the winner is: Blu-ray.
Yes, if you’ve purchased an HDTV and been contemplating whether to get a Blu-ray or HD-DVD player, the decision just got a whole lot easier. Toshiba announced that it’s abandoning the HD-DVD technology it invented, thus signaling the end of the format. It will now be remembered alongside other failed formats such as Betamax and 8-track tapes.
R.I.P. HD-DVD.
This is a sad day for HD consumers. It will be that much longer before HD players and movies will be reasonably priced, if ever. I see this now as being a laserdisc replacement rather than a DVD replacement. Which I kinda wonder if that isn’t what Sony and the other studio’s want anyway.
Too bad. HD-DVD is more customer-friendly: lower price & no region-locking. Of course “customer-friendly” is only used here in a relative sense. Both consortia (HD-DVD & Blu-Ray) are used by their Hollywood puppet-masters to screw their customers in every possible way.