Aw, HD-DVD, we hardly knew ye!

Is this Sony's first format-war win?

Sony partnered with Philips to create the CD format, which was a win.

But Sony blew it with Beta, DAT, Mini-Disc, SACD and UMD.

Before the DVD was released, Sony and Philips were ready to go to war with a Toshiba alliance over the format, but a compromise was brokered. The result was the most successful consumer electronics introduction ever. You would think that they would have learned their lesson.

Just yesterday, I heard two news reports about how Blu-Ray seemed to be winning but nothing was decided yet.

Nah, it was pretty much decided a few weeks ago when a major studio decided to drop HD-DVD.

You would think that they would have learned their lesson.

But that would require them to play nice.

Yeah, yesterday's news reports were of the "they've announced that they're going to make an announcement soon" flavor, but the studio news a few months back had since been followed up by news that Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Netflix would all be switching their new purchases to Blu-ray only. Lots of writing on the wall for the dork obsessives who watch such.

We have Blu-ray, but only because it's what's in the PS3 -- we certainly weren't going to buy either format for its own sake until after the format war worked itself out, but they're mighty nice to watch when they turn up in the Netflix.

But Sony blew it with Beta, DAT, Mini-Disc, SACD and UMD.

And what's with the proprietary memory stick? They can't use SD like everyone else?

Wasn't their proprietary memory stick a part of their bizarre and onerous DRM scheme for their portable digital music players? Or was that a separate fuckup?

Okay, I'm horribly plebian and uninformed, but what does this actually mean for the rest of us? I'm assuming that my regular DVD player will continue to work, and it only matters if I'm trying to watch something in super clarity (trying not to say HD and confuse the issue). What about people who have HD DVD players? Burners?

We have Blu-ray, but only because it's what's in the PS3

For that, you are fortunate since the Blu-Ray folks admitted recently that special features on the new generation of BR discs might not work on the older BR players. I'm told they were quietly recommending that people buy Playstations.

Okay, I'm horribly plebian and uninformed, but what does this actually mean for the rest of us? I'm assuming that my regular DVD player will continue to work, and it only matters if I'm trying to watch something in super clarity (trying not to say HD and confuse the issue).

Basically, you need a big-screen TV (and a Blu-Ray player and disc, of course). Your old DVDs will continue to work in a Blu-Ray player. Most or all of the Blu-Ray players come with the ability to "upscale" older DVDs, so that they will look a little better, but still not as good as a native Blu-Ray disc.

What about people who have HD DVD players? Burners?

They're basically screwed, although you can still use your HD DVD player to watch upscaled regular DVDs, which aren't going away any time soon.

okay. My new laptop has an HD DVD burner, but I don't have an HD tv, so I wasn't particularly concerned about it. Although, eventually, I'd hoped to upgrade.