Blu-ray has won the high-definition format war against HD

Both formats, released in 2006, were backed by two projects from companies such as Toshiba and NEC Corporation of America for the HD DVD format along with Sony and Phillips for the Blu-ray format. Last month, Toshiba announced it was pulling the plug on its high-definition video disc format, HD DVD. Within days, Toshiba's partners announced that they were now Blu-ray shops.

However HD DVDs were more compatible with regular DVDs. They used the same file systems as regular DVDs and could be produced by manufacturers with the same equipment used to make regular DVDs. Blu-ray discs didn't and couldn't.

Two of the most likely scenarios that lead to Blu-ray winning the format war would be the Sony Playstation 3 and Warner Brothers, the largest distributor of DVDs, dropping the HD DVD format and then Wal-Mart announced that it would start phasing out HD DVD completely by June 2008.

In the beginning HD DVD players ranged from $499-$799, while the Blu-ray players were anywhere from $500-1,500. Eventually movie buffs could purchase a combo player in 2007 for $1,199. So one could say Blu-ray battled HD DVD to the death to win the high-def format war