I recently discovered that a neighbor had bought an HD-DVD player. Whoops. If only I had known I would have told them the last thing they should be buying is an HD-DVD player.

The writing on the wall has been clear for some time now. HD-DVD is dead. Oh, you can still find HD-DVD players and discs. In fact, you can often find the players at clearance prices.

Before you rush out and buy one keep in mind that that they’re not worth a dime on the dollar. You see, by year’s end, you’re going to be as likely to find new HD-DVD movies as you are new 8-track tapes.

For anyone who still has doubts that Blu-Ray has beaten HD-DVD to a pulp, today’s, February 11th, news should be the clincher. First, Netflix announced that it was dropping HD-DVD. Starting immediately, Netflix will only be buying Blu-Ray discs. By the end of the year, the DVD-rental company expects to have completely phased out its HD-DVD movies.

Electronic retailer giant Best Buy didn’t go that far. But, the company did announce that starting in early March it will begin pushing Sony Corp.’s Blu-ray over HD-DVD. In a statement, Brian Dunn, Best Buy’s president and chief operating officer, said “Best Buy will recommend Blu-ray as the preferred format.”

If that wasn’t clear enough, Dunn went on to say that “Best Buy has always believed that the customer will benefit from a widely-accepted single format that would offer advantages such as product compatibility and expanded content choices. Because we believe that Blu-ray is fast emerging as that single format, we have decided to focus on Blu-ray products.”

So, good-bye HD-DVD. I won’t be sorry to see you go. With only one HD format left standing, Blu-Ray, buying HD players and recordings has just gotten a lot easier.