I was at CES when Warner Studios announced that they will no longer be supporting HD DVD. That was considered the nail in the coffin of HD DVD. Toshiba then decided to do a full fledged marketing campaign to revive HD DVD. Rob Beschizza of Wired has reported the final death rattle of HD DVD announced by Toshiba today.
“Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.”
So who got screwed in the end by this whole format war? The consumers who bought into these HD DVD players and Laptops who are now left out in the cold with an expensive piece of historical gadgetry. Was this whole format war necessary? Did they learn nothing from Beta Max? I guess at least Sony finally learned how to win a format war. 
