Bye Bye HD DVD

Last week, electronics maker Toshiba said it will no longer develop, make or market HD DVD players and recorders, which leaves Blu-ray disc technology as the go-to format for any future video electronics.

Blu-ray is backed by Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, and five major Hollywood movie studios. Just last month, Warner Bros. Entertainment decided to release movie discs only in the Blu-ray format. Blu-ray is already the format du jour for Sony Pictures, Walt Disney Co. and News Corp.’s Twentieth Century Fox.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recently joined fellow retailer Target Corp. and film rental companies Blockbuster Inc. and Netflix in selling/renting only Blu-ray DVDs and hardware, and doing away with HD DVD products.

While HD DVD and Blu-ray both produce crisp, clear high-definition pictures and sound, they are incompatible with each other, and neither format plays on older DVD players (but both formats do play on high-definition TVs).