So HD DVD is officially dead, and we're more than a little pleased— as of a few months ago there was no end in sight for this tiresome format war. Last week teary commenters were bemoaning the death of Polaroid film, saying it was too young to die. Not so this week with HD DVD, a much, much younger technology. While there are a few true Sony haters out there, the general consensus seems to be relief that consumers can now buy a High Def player with confidence, and hope that general confusion over the issue won't last much longer. After the jump, critics from around the web look to the future and answer some important questions: should you buy Blu-Ray now, are cheap HD DVDs worth it, and what, exactly, should you do with your old HD DVD player?

On whether you should buy a cheap HD DVD player for its upscaling abilities
"Seriously, do you really want an outdated hunk of metal clogging up your home entertainment center for the next few years? Of course not. You might as well just move into a cave and start calling yourself "Grok" and go hunting for mammoth. You can even use your Newton to keep track of your kills!" — Danny Dumas, Wired

Conspiracy Theory: Toshiba's planned to drop the format for a while
"I bought a HD-DVD player after the price drop in mid-January 2008. Toshiba made all kinds of representations of their intent to fight Blu-ray with reasonably priced players under $150. Then, one month later, Toshiba drops the format. It certain smells of a massive dumping of inventory with the intent of passing the losses to the consumer." — Joh Nash, commenter, Bits

On Microsoft's possible reaction
"I think they will continue to push digital downloads via the XBox 360. Some believe that Microsoft's intent from the beginning was to prolong the high-def format war so they could buy more time to develop the download business." — Phillip Swann, The Washington Post

Not everyone's chipper
"I hate Sony. Now that they won they will seek revenge because they lost the last format war."— commenter Oreo, TV Squad

Stuck with an HD DVD player? Just a few of Engadget's suggestions…
"7. Put it in a time capsule, just to confuse future generations.
8. Buy a few dozen of 'em and build a little hut for your Blu-ray player.
9. Lock it alone in a room with a few lethal weapons... let it die honorably.
10. Use it to upscale DVDs, which is all you ever used it for anyways."
— Ryan Block, Engadget

Sony's not home free. It will still need to lower prices to get people interested
"Sony shouldn’t abuse its position in the market now. Rather, it needs to focus on lowering prices or it will find itself with an expensive toy that only a few people give a damn about." — Nicholas Deleon, Crunchgear

The war may be over, but it's still not a great time to buy
"Wait one more year for the Blu-ray format to mature, for more titles to be released, and player prices to drop before jumping in.— Jason Chen, Gizmodo

Blu-Ray for just $200!
"The cheapest way to go Blu is with Philips and Lite-On's PLDS DH-4O1S ($200, www.pldsnet.com) This internal Blu-ray drive doesn't record, but it plays Blu-ray discs on any HDCP-compliant monitor or HDTV.— Scott Taves, Seattle Post Intelligencer

What do you think? Do you have feelings other than relief? And when is the right time to go Blu-ray?

Last Week: Polaroid stops making instant film, critics get shaken up