For the past 2 years the battle over the hi-def optical disc format has been hard fought by the HD DVD camp heralded by Toshiba and the Blu-ray camp lead by Sony. This is the second go round in the home video player market for Sony, so they gained a lot of experience and knowledge from their previous failure. There’s been plenty written about the two formats in the mainstream media and even in this blog, so there’s no need to continue discussing the merits of either format. However, now there seems to be a clear victor in this battle of hi-def supremacy.

Though it’s been speculated for months that Blu-ray will be the eventual champion, the HD DVD camp was intent on making a last ditch effort by dropping the price and willing to fight on. This past Friday, it was reported, though not officially confirmed, that Toshiba has admitted defeat and will discontinue the HD DVD line. For both sides there was a tremendous amount of money spent in development, promotion, advertising, etc, all in pursuit to be, what is estimated, the heir apparent to the DVD format. In the end the writing was on the wall and there was no reason for the HD DVD group to throw good money after bad. It will take some time to sort out all the loose ends, but that’s really all that’s left to do.

So who is the real winner in this decision? Of course Blu-ray because they reversed their previous failure in the video cassette field and can claim victory and all the accolades that go along with it. But really it’s the manufacturers of optical disc products like drives, players, media, DUPLICATORS, etc. They no longer have to sit on the fence trying to work with both sides and can concentrate all their efforts on one format. At the same time, the consumer is no longer torn as to what format to purchase and not be frightened about purchasing hi-def merchandise for fear of being stuck with the loosing format. So the market has narrowed, opening the competition between vendors to make the Blu-ray products desired by the consumer and get them into the market quick before the price and in turn profits drop significantly or a new technology makes it obsolete.

Who knows how long Blu-ray has to bask in their victory, but they’re not the only one’s who will rejoice with HD DVD’s withdrawal. So for all the manufacturers who produce products using Blu-ray technology, now your only competition is each other and may the market bear fruit for us all.