What was rumours a week ago is now official: HD-DVD is dead.

Toshiba announces that it is ending production of HD-DVD players and recorders. Blu-ray wins the format war, and at what cost? This is the Betamax vs. VHS of this decade. Gizmodo liked the HD DVD format more than Blu-ray.

It is rather ironic that the pull out of Warner Brothers – one of the proponents of the HD-DVD – from HD-DVD triggered HD-DVD’s death. Yeah, Toshiba could almost have said “You traitor.”

(Note: While HD-DVD was first conceptualized in 2003, the very first player was released 2006, hence the year in the title of this post.)