On the Friday before the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show was about to start, Warner Bros. dropped a bombshell on HD DVD by announcing their exclusive support for Blu-ray.  Two days later, Toshiba's Jodi Sally admitted that it was a "bad day", but she continued to defend HD DVD as the better choice.  No one, including Microsoft (another strong backer of HD DVD) gave any hints at giving up the fight.  However, a planned press conference that was to be held on HD DVD was quietly cancelled.

Pundits predicted the immediate demise of HD DVD.  This free DIGDIA report explaineed the complexity of the situation in January, looked at various scenarios, and made some predictions.

Update (February 19, 2008) - Following the release of this report, DIGDIA got some strong push back from Microsoft, point out all of the reasons by HD DVD was better.  Toshiba also tried to go for broke with aggressive pricing, including a Super Bowl spot. 

But, on February 19, 2008, Toshiba announced the end of HD-DVD production on the heals of decisions by major retailers to support Blu-ray exclusively. 

This announcement came faster than we had predicted, but it is good for the consumer and the market.  Now we should expect a small burst of sales of players and some related accessories, such as HDMI switches.  We should also see a more aggressive releasing of Blu-ray titles.