The High Def War is Over!

(Probably)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7250068.stm

Toshiba is likely to cease production of HD-DVD players, Wal-Mart has already stopped stocking both the players and the movies and a key supplier for Toshiba’s HD-DVD production line has alegedly already stopped production.

So it looks like Bluray wins by default.

It’s only taken two years, compared with the ten years that BetaMax hung on in there, so it’s sort of a blessing.

But I think Sony are going to be surprised by the number of Bluray players they’re not going to sell after this announcement.

I don’t think the world is ready to switch to high def movies yet. The TVs are still all over the place in terms of compatibility, the standards are still being re-written and the technology is still too expensive for most.