Well, this weekend, Toshiba all-but threw in the towel on HD-DVD, and it's all a matter of time. While I was personally hoping the battle would last much longer, Warner Bros tipped the scale, and it was all downhill like a good Line Rider track from there.

So what does this mean for consumers?

First off, when Best Buy starts selling HD-DVD players for pennies, don't buy one. All those HD-DVD-only discs will eventually be available in Blu-ray format, and the last thing you need is one more box on your TV stand. My condolences to all those who bought one already, but you should've known better.

At this point, you want to watch the sales. A good price for a cheap Blu-ray player is between $300-400, and they can be found in the $300 range. If you wait, I'd wager that, when the final nail goes into the HD-DVD coffin, every electronics store on the planet will be offering a Blu-ray sale, and you'll probably be able to get one for $300 with a few movies thrown in. When the "stimulus checks" start arriving this summer, you can also expect some decent sales not only on Blu-ray players, but also on HDTV's, so you may get a cheap package deal if you watch closely. I doubt you'll get anything worthwhile for much less than $300 for the next month or so, but if you want to wait until November, I expect to see $200 Blu-ray players on Black Friday--it all depends how long you want to wait.