Has Blu-ray won? Toshiba stops producing HD DVD players/recorders

It's all still second-hand--make that third-hand--but the IDG News Service has published a story quoting the Japanese public broadcast station NHK confirming that Toshiba has stopped production of its HD DVD players and recorders.

A full story appears in PC World.

It's been a tough six weeks for HD DVD. In what seemed like rapid succession, announcement after announcement went against the format:

1/5: Warner Bros. announced exclusive Blu-ray support
1/28: Gartner announced "HD DVD's price cuts only prolong agony"
1/29: Woolworths, a leading U.K. retailer, announced it would offer exclusive in-store support for Blu-ray beginning in March
1/30: Sonic announced that it will focus its R&D resources on Blu-ray and will conclude sales of its HD DVD authoring product line
1/30: National Geographic announced it will no longer release titles in the HD DVD format
2/11: Netflix announced that, citing a clear signal from the industry, it will only carry Blu-ray Discs and will phase out HD-DVD
2/11: Best Buy announced it will recommend Blu-Ray as the Customer's Digital Format Choice
2/15: Wal-Mart announced that by June 2008, Wal-Mart and Sam's Clubs stores will carry Blu-ray only

Nothing seems to be going right for HD DVD this month. Sephora just released its spring catalog featuring a new line of make-up especially designed for the new HD media. And the name of the line from cosmetics giant Cargo? The Blu-ray Collection.

We'll continue to monitor the situation and try to get some horse's mouth statements for our readers.