Blu-ray officially won the format war this past month after Toshiba, the main manufacturer of HD DVD players, pulled out of the market.
It’s not surprising that Toshiba was going to lose after seven of the eight major motion picture companies signed with Blu-ray exclusively.
What’s surprising is how fast everything came to a screeching halt. Amazon.com is liquidating its stock. Movie Gallery is selling all HD DVD’s for $10 and Microsoft immediately discounted its HD DVD player from $120 to $50 overnight. I was expecting a little bit of phasing out over a couple of years before it went away, but like a genie that already granted you your three wishes — poof! — HD DVD is gone in a puff of smoke.
The majority of people that just bought one of these players (like me) are trying to recoup some of their money by selling their players on eBay or other shopping sites to try and lessen the sting of buying into a dead technology. But who wants an outdated player?
History repeats itself in funny ways sometimes. Back in the ‘80s there was a similar format war between VHS and Sony’s BetaMax. Sony’s format was shameful and VHS (obviously) was declared the winner.
I guess Sony (which owns Blu-ray) is getting the last laugh on this one. With exclusive titles and the winner of the next generation format war, every HD DVD owner is going to be “Blu” with buyer’s remorse.
I’m feeling a little sick about it already.
Jonathan Masker is a wireless solution expert and a self-proclaimed gadget guru. Reach him at jonathan.masker@gmail.com.