So Sony has officially won the format war. Ars technical reporting today that Toshiba will stop shipping HD-DVD’s at the end of March. Why did Blu-ray win?

I believe the whole war was won with the all mighty dollars. I think Sony bought its way out of the war. In my opinion, the HD-DVD format was better. The HD-DVD was better priced and it was more useful. They did not require you to purchase a new player for new features, they pushed out firmware updates to make your investment more useful.

When I found out that my store (Wal-mart) was going exclusively Blu-ray I knew it was over. When the world’s largest big box store stops supporting a certain format you knows its over. The good thing is I did not run out and grab a certain player. I followed the advice from the crew at Buzz out Loud and waited.

I am still looking at getting an HD DVD player just to have a nice DVD player for a good price. I am sure by next week the price on the A3 will be 50 bucks on clearance. What a deal…

Who will win? HD or Blu-Ray? What do you think? Paramount and Dreamworks released a press release stating they are moving to HD DVD. Big titles include Transformers, and Shrek the Third. The first movie to make the switch will be Blades of glory. (Which was going to be released for both) This is going to be a never ending battle. I think it is going to come down to cost.
The consumers will go with what ever is cheaper. I also think the dual purpose (Blu-ray / HD DVD) players will be the most popular. Why can't we all just get along.

Carpe noctum
T.J.