Well it looks like the war of the formats has finally finished as of today. The bbc is reporting that toshiba one of major backers is dropping out. [BBC Article]
Toshiba have stated that they will stop production of HDDVD players and recorders so that they can concentrate there efforts in other areas. However they will still supply retailers with players and recorders till the end of march this year and will continue to give technical support to the millions of people that have gone with HDDVD. The death of HDDVD has been on the cards for sometime now with many of the larger movie studios supporting blueray and an ever decreasing presence at retail with major chains like Walmart either removing there HDDVD stock completely or Focusing more on the Bluray format.
Sony’s decision too include a bluray player in there gaming console the playstation 3 also gave blueray a huge advantage what ever the HDDVD camp also supported by Microsoft would like people to have believed.
I for one am glad that this war is over and not just because I am a playstation owner (although it helps :P) It makes things a lot easier for consumers and retailers, Don’t get me wrong in some respects the format war was a good thing. Competition is good as it means cheaper prices and more choice for the consumer and you can be certain that if there was only one of the formats Prices would not have reached the level they are now for a long time.
What i hope now is that the remainder of the film studios still supporting HDDVD will make a swift move to blueray And that prices for bluray players and films will continue to fall and not stagnate.
Oh and some buying advice for those that after seeing this news and wanting to buy a Bluray player. I really would suggest that you buy the playstation 3. Even if your not interested in the games or anything else It is by far one of the best bluray players on the market and is certainly the cheapest on the market.
The world of yxxxx 