wait for it...and heres the HD DVD Spin.

Best Buy sucks anyways, we have Amazon!

i thought it would be at least till 2009 for hd-dvd's fall (before warner made the announcement anyway), but wow its hapeing so quick, I'M SO HAPPY(no sarcacsim here)

Heck, my MOM has declared Blu-Ray the winner by now....

The sooner the better

@Playstation:

The sooner HD-DVD dies, the better off we all are.

The move that really needs to be made is Universal and Paramount going blu-ray or at least release movies in both formats.

I have no idea why those two studios would even stay with HD-DVD in the first place after WB's announcement.. what the hell are they up to?

@zombieistired: I heard its some sort of a contract?!

@Simpsons-Movie-ruled: Yeah, apparently they are stuck until Toshiba admits that it's dead?

I was a firm HD-DVD supporter but at this point a quick death to HD-DVD is what needs to happen. I'm very happy to hear news like this as well as the news about Netflix. I just wish that I could buy a Blu-Ray player for $199 or less. I'm not willing to spend a penny more. And if Apple TV turns out to have a solid lineup of content...I may just shell out $230 and forget about Blu-Ray all together.

HDDVD is the "Jason" of hi-def discs. it just wont die.......

Uh...what took them so long?

@deitiphobia: toshiba makes the best video players for the price. they need to just drop this whole HDDVD game they're playing and start making blu-ray players...

Lets bring on the $99 blueray player.

Best Buy employees have been doing this since the warner switch anyways. Point of Purchase cock block.

Great now I can't wait for Apple to finally take a stand and release MBP's with Blu-Ray players. Can't wait to switch out that drive.

@Razta: & deitiphobia: once HD-DVD is declared officially dead, blu-ray player prices will drop dramatically, and the race will be on to sell as many discs as possible before disc-media itself becomes extinct.

About time. Blu-ray won a long while back. Now the only company that people should be mad at would be Toshiba for continuing this stupid fight.

@tucker: That makes perfect sense. Blu-ray wins and the players price goes down? Wouldn't it make more sense if they brought their prices down now to encourage more people to switch. Without competition, there is no need for Blu-ray prices to go down. The only way Blu-ray lowers their prices is if the generic brands start making blu ray players. That is blocked by patent laws.

@Franklin Comes Alive!: you got it right dood

am i the only one that is sad to see this war end?

without this war... we may never see a $99 blu-ray player until the next format is created... and when would that be... in another 5 years or so?

it was this war that brought the prices of hd-dvds so low, and for bluray to their low-in-comparison price to what they used to be.

not only that but the end of the war means the end of those great sales.

i doubt that the price of a bluray movie will go down, and let alone stay the same. without hddvd it will most likely go up!

i honestly would not be surprised.

the death of hd dvd to me means the death of all these great deals on HD discs (in general) except of course hd dvd clearance sales... (one yay at least)

@MadColombian: You are correct, we won't see a $150 BD 2.0 player until mid 2009 at least, and it'll probably be a Toshiba ;-)

@MadColombian: I think you're confused about standard economics. Blu-Ray players will continue to drop in price, much like DVD players did 10 years ago. They will have competition between other brands of players (ie. samsung, sony, panasonic).

@AJ_Syrinx: Well, considering the 2.0 spec won't be done until 2009 or so. Yeah, you're right. :P

And what lesson did we learn from this everyone?

NEVER put all your faith in a recycled ad that you spent three million dollars on just to air during the Superbowl (only in select areas).

Didn't Circuit City already state they will go exclusively Blu-ray?

@eleazar: careful now, you can't go around making too much sense around here. "hddvd fanboy" vertabraker will be along shortly to explain to you why your wrong and that without competition the evil empire Sony with their inferior format is never gonna drop prices. He's also probably gonna tell you how he has both formats and can clearly see hddvd is better

@eleazar: See, I think you're the one who's confused about standard economics. Here's a hint; when the competition folds, prices don't go down...

The prices on Blu-ray players will go down eventually, as the components become more commoditized. But in the short-term? Well, what's Sony's incentive to continue to sell their players at a loss, when HD-DVD is all but out of the game?

o well, with a PS3 for Blu Ray and only a $99 investment on an HDDVD player with 14 free movies...I think I am good. I can take advantage of the HDDVD firesale, and still have support for the winning format. Still sad to see the format with more features lose (I am one of the film nerds that actually watches the extras)

@HeartBurnKid: true I bet we don't see a player for less than $250 for almost a year. They want to push the $200 PC drive they just released.

@HeartBurnKid: Sony's incentive is to sell players to compete with Samsung, Pioneer, LG, and every other manufacture of BR players. There is still competition. Just not between two incompatible formats. It seems to have worked for DVD.

@Brown_Noise:

HELL YA! brother

...so how many retailers will it take for toshiba to finally cave? how long will i have to wait before i can see 'saving private ryan' on my ps3?

Combo drives FTW.

@ProfWho: thanks. You saved me the trouble of having to explain it to the "HDDVD FANBOYS". They believe Sony is the only ones that can make BR players.
I can't wait for toshiba to start making great and cheap BR PLAYERS!

@izim1: And don't forget about the digital download croud.

@w00zzy: of course. im still waiting on them. the ones who think that becuase THEY have boradband and can download the crappy 720p with crippled audio, it somehow means that they are the majority. that EVERYONE can and WANTS to download watered down HD movies instead of buying true HD discs. nevermind the fact that the majority is still either on dial-up or the basic 1.5mps DSL because that's all they can get.....

"what do i need physical media for?! i can store ALL my porn on my HDD that's just waiting to crash..... what can be more important than that???"....
i wouldnt even THINK about putting my family albums and vids on one of those things without backing it up on a disc first....

@ProfWho: There is no competition. If you know anything about patent laws, Sony has no incentives to compete with Samsung, Pioneer, Panasonic or LG. Patent Laws requires the above mention to pay a fee for the rights to create Blu-Ray players. Xerox had one of the first patents in technology and prohibited any competition for 17 years unless given the rights by Xerox. Sony has a similiar patent. Why do you think there are no generic brands yet? Sony is afraid of competition driving the prices down. and @izim1: Fanboys like you are so devoted to some false beliefs you have that leads you to think you know everything. Really? How dense of a person are you?

@ProfWho: Considering that Sony holds the patents on Blu-Ray, anybody who manufactures Blu-Ray players has to license the tech from Sony. Meaning Sony gets a cut of every Blu-Ray player sold, whether it has a Sony badge on it or not.

So I ask you again, what's Sony's incentive to sell low? They could just as easily raise their license fee and force everybody else to sell high.

.
@vertibraker: No competition? Perhaps you have never heard of iTunes movie rentals? Video-on-demand? Satellite and Cable TV? Movie theatres?

There are many ways to purchase media, and the physical disc is only one of them. Stop being so paranoid that Sony will act like Microsoft. There's no monopoly in video distribution.

If Sony wants to maximize its profit, it will attempt to make the Blu-Ray as ubiquitous as the DVD. Otherwise, video download services will steal its thunder. How dense a person are you?

... and need we mention that Toshiba holds the patent of the DVD and makes plenty of money licensing it?

Ok, the war is finally coming to a close and the HDDVD camp is really missing the big picture. Pull your head out of the sand, Blu Ray is the new format for audio, video, data, etc. There will not be two paralell formats, HDDVD is dead. The main reason is people will transfer data from their camcorders and cameras, to their computers, then burn a Blu Ray disc to watch on there Blu Ray player, end of story. See the linking of technology? There is simply no room for the HDDVD format. Even Net Flix saw the light and went 100% Blu Ray, the hard coating layer on the discs makes them virtually unscratchable under normal use, therefore makeing them a great investment for rental use. Best Buy has sold off the majority of their in stock HDDVD players to unsuspecting victims and now is moving to the Blu. What a suprise! What does it take for Toshiba to get the message? Bye bye HDDVD RIP. Keep an eye out for the Blu Ray release of National Treasure and NT2 in May, its sales will seal the HDDVD coffin. The internet download services have many miles (and years) to go before they can efficiently and quickly send a movie in 1080p across the internet uncompressed. Not to mention the transfer to an HD television for viewing. So until then I dont want to hear any talk about internet downloads from Microsoft, etc, because the two (internet and Blu Ray) are not comparable. Its like comparing a Chevy to a Lexus. To like the internet downloads, you must be happy with the crap resolution on a laptop. Not me.
Later.

@vertibraker: you're such a fanboy you dont even know that samsung, lg, pioneer, jvc and phillips already have blu-ray players out. cheapos sharp,deneon and daewood (or however the butftuck you spell those) have blu-ray players coming out next month. just stop posting on these threads man. your format lost and you're just misinforming people like@HeartBurnKid: who ALSO is starting to wrongly believe that sony own BR. the BDA own BR and are the ones that get profits from BR. and the BDA is formed by MANY companies from sony to Apple.

@my favorite car is a motorcycle: Dude dont even bother with him. he's been on atleast 4 of these format articles telling everyone he has both and that he can clearly see HDDVD is better. if thats not just a blind fanboy i dont know what is....

@izim1: You seem so interested in someone who don't have any format or gaming systems. Go back to your Atari 2600 oldtimer