Now, I'm not claiming to be some kind of fortune-teller, but I saw this coming 4 years ago when Sony announced it would integrate the Blu-Ray high definition DVD format into its (then) next-gen gaming platform, the PS3. But obviously these things have to play themselves out and millions of dollars (and consumers) have to be burned before an official winner can be declared. Well, today it's official. HD-DVD, the Toshiba-backed format, is dead.

There's one thing that you can count on technology for: over time, prices come down and performance goes up. As a result, what was once only available to professionals and governments eventually makes its way into the hands of average consumers. Nowhere has this trend been more obvious than in photography and music production. The accessibility of digital cameras and Photoshop have impacted the professional photography industry in a way that few in the profession saw coming. The same holds true for audio production, with bands foregoing expensive studio time in favour of using software like Logic Pro and modest home-studios. Now it's time for video, the last bastion of high-end AV, to come down from the pro-heavens and be let loose upon the masses. And the signs are already clear: video artists are going HD.   read more »