[Updated] The war is over. Toshiba, the force behind HD DVD, has thrown in the towel leaving Blu-ray victorious. But this only begs even more questions: where does that leave those of us who bought into HD DVD? Is it now safe for the rest of us to upgrade to HD? Or does Blu-ray still have problems of its own, which the format war has obscured?
We'll be looking at all of this over the next few days as we bring you our definitive view on whether you should upgrade to Blu-ray. We'll analyse what's happened, what it means for you, and what the best Blu-ray options are for you. Check back each day and find out.
What to do if you have HD DVD
How to convert your HD DVDs to Blu-ray
Retailers discounting but still hard selling HD DVD
LG to continue making hybrid HD DVD players
Why you could buy an HD DVD player without realising
HD DVD not yet dead in laptops?
End of the format war
Universal abandons HD DVD, joins Blu-ray
Is Toshiba planning on joining Blu-ray?
Toshiba: 'it was just bad luck'
Toshiba: we won't say sorry for HD DVD failure
Official: Toshiba kills HD-DVD
Blu-ray chief tells us why Toshiba should join Blu-ray
Why Blu-ray sales should rise later this year
What's the best Blu-ray player?
Our top 5 budget Blu-ray players
Why it's time to focus on movies, not hardware
7 things you didn't know about Blu-ray
Our thoughts go out to...
All TechRadar's format wars coverage
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martycoop
February 21st 2008
1. Technically is it probably safe to buy into Blu-ray now, unless Toshiba gets its second wind. That said, if I were in the market for a HD TV and a Blu-ray player I’d wait until after the Olympics. Audio visual firms rely on big sporting events to create a demand for their products – witness the Super Bowl and how it caused a spike in high def TV sales.
You can well imagine Panasonic, LG, Philips, Sony and all the rest ramping up production and rubbing their hands in anticipation of Beijing. I don’t imagine there will be many bargains beforehand. But after? I wouldn’t hurt to wait and see – unless you really must see javelins flying, runners running and swimmers swimming all in glorious HD. And as I’m not much of a sports fan, I’ll be keeping my pennies in my Griffin Savers account down at the Midland Bank until the Olympic torch has been extinguished.
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