Sony has finally exacted revenge for their loss in the “original” home video format war with the announcement that competitor Toshiba is pulling support for HD-DVD effective immediately.

So what do I do as a result? Go out and buy a brand new HD-DVD player of course! On sale for $100 at Amazon I decided to take the plunge into a dead format that I know I’ll have to replace in a year or two.

I know, it sounds silly. But does anyone really want to go out and spend $500 on a standalone Blu-ray player? The cheapest player is a PS3, but I can’t possibly scorn my Xbox360 for another system. Why exactly did this format win anyway?

The answer lies with Sony themselves, whose seemingly endless cash flow allowed Blu-ray to emerge on top in the end. I guess they learned from the first time around that the better format doesn’t always win out with consumers - especially when you have all of the major film studios in your pocket.

Filed under: Fun and Games, TV