***UPDATE*** Read at the end of the post: possible exchange of HD-DVD for Blu-Ray players!

If you haven't heard yet, here is the news: HD-DVD has been declared dead, and will join the likes of all the Betamax cassettes, Zip drives, and MiniDisc players in a historic defeat. Yes, the latest new-format war is finally over.

Who won? Blu-ray, of course. Blu-ray, developed by Sony, is a new disc-format that is already predicted to replace the 15-year old DVD disc. Obviously, this means the highly anticipated use for Blu-ray discs would be for entertainment media, providing high-definition content to your home media center.

This whole war primarily depended on the support from major global production studios, like Warner Brothers, Paramount, Universal Studios, and others. Each studio had chosen to publish their movies and other releases on one format or the other, except for Paramount, whom supported both. The support had continually gone one way or the other, until finally Warner Brothers tipped the battle in the last major move; Warner had chosen to drop HD-DVD support and exclusively use Blu-ray for its latest productions.

There are a number of stores already stocked with Blu-ray players for you to choose and hook up to your home-theater system today. However, many critics have pointed out that the best Blu-ray player available today isn't necessarily called a "Blu-ray player", it's a video-game console: Sony's Playstation 3. If that doesn't scream "wait-for-better-players-to-come-out-you-dolt", then I guess I'm not doing my job here.

The point is this: if you don't need or want to play any video games, then don't buy a Blu-ray player just yet. The latest specs of Blu-ray discs aren't entirely supported by all the hardware that's available right now, and you won't be getting the most of your money by buying just any player right now. Be a smart consumer, and wait.

Now, as for all of you that are regretting your early-purchase of the HD-DVD format: it's okay to cry. Everybody hurts, sometimes. That's just the price you pay for getting involved early on in the midst of a format war, and now you have an idea of how all those people with Betamax players feel! In all seriousness, I do have some strong advice for you:

Jump into eBay, immediately. This is your best chance to get back as much of your investment as you can. If you're lucky, you may find some poor sap that is willing to pay full-price, and you'll be spared the loss.

I'm just glad this whole war is finally over; I've been waiting it out for a couple of years now. I've felt the regret that's associated with losing these wars once before, and that has taught me to play it safe since then. On a side-note, would you be interested in a 50-pack of Iomega Zip-Discs? Come on, don't you want to invest in the future of the floppy drive?! I'll make it cheap!

Update:

According to Gizmodo, Circuit City is seriously considering the idea of you trading in HD-DVD players in exchange for Blu-Ray players, and the price difference is at your cost. Any HD-DVD owners should take advantage of this immediately; you will need the original receipt. If you don't want a Blu-Ray player, you also have the option of receiving a gift card equal to the purchase of the original HD-DVD player, instead. My calls to local stores found no confirmation of an exchange program, but I'm guessing that I'm a day or two early in acting it out.

One thing that is not clear to me so far is this: does your HD-DVD player qualify even if you didn't purchase it from Circuit City in the first place? I assume not, but I'd still give it a try once the offer is open, if it ever does open.