HD DVD

Nothing like beating a dead horse, but Toshiba has just released version 4.0 software updates for their HD DVD players. Umm . . . Does someone want to tell them the format isn't really around anymore?

Granted, there are a lot of players out there, and folks who bought them bought movies, and sure, they should be able to play them forever.

The Korea Times is reporting that Samsung and LG will stop making Blu-ray/HD DVD combo players. This is another blow to the fast-sinking HD DVD luxury liner.

Claiming to share consumers' frustrations that they were asked to make a choice in a format war, Best Buy is placating HD DVD player customers who bought players or before  Feb. 23 fire sale prices with a $50 gift certificate.

Come Tuesday, the list of to-be-released HD DVDs will be considerably shorter. Perhaps HD DVD player owners should consider shopping for a stylish vase to put on that empty shelf reserved for HD copies of  Paramount's There Will be Blood, Sweeney Todd, the Jack Ryan films, Cloverfield, and subsidiary DreamWorks' animated Bee Movie.

  The high definition disc format HD DVD was killed today — the victim of abandonment.

Toshiba Corporation, the company behind HD DVD's development, announced that it was pulling the plug on the nearly two-year-old format, effectively making Blu-ray disc the victor in the great high-def format war of the 21st century.