Well, looks like the final nail is in the coffin. The handkerchiefs have been passed around camp Toshiba and HD DVD is on the slow, agonising path to obsolescence.

The Blu Ray team (Sony) has (against what seemed like impossible odds) beaten the people’s champ HD DVD. A non existent HD DVD presence at CES was the beginning of the end and with Warner recently defecting to support only the Blu Ray format, the final blow was struck against the lowly HD DVD disc sending it down the path to become the Betamax technology of the 21st Century.

So, what happened? Well, it looks like Gizmodo.com has the answer: “Don Lindich at the PIttsburgh Post-Gazette says Fox was handed $120 million by Sony to stay put, and Warner received around $500 million for painting itself Blu. BusinessWeek put the Warner number ‘closer to $400 million,’ which trumped the $100 million Toshiba was prepared to offer it.”

I’m just happy that “collectively” we can all move on and support a standard HD format (well, at least until the next HD HD format is released). I’m sure the studios are also happy that a format has been “chosen” as those (like myself) who had given up on supporting DVDs and their lowly 480 lines of resolution (why buy a DVD when you can get a HD equivalent for pretty much the same price and have a superior visual experience?) can now buy a player and know that there will be content released for it for the next 15 – 20 years. By the end of the summer, it should be a Blu only world. And by this time next year, I’m sure we’ll see Toshiba producing some of their own “hybrid” players.

It’s pathetic that this “war” even made it to the marketplace to let the consumer choose the superior format. Ultimately, however, the consumer had very little to do with the eventual winner of the HD format wars, just Sony looking to cash in on the Blu Ray royalties (I can’t wait to get my copy of Spiderman 3!).

For a full report on the Blu Ray back room shenanigans check out Gizmodo.com.