I actually think its sad. Further competition would be good for prices (I dont see blank blue ray disk prices dropping anytime soon, as there is no competition). I dont see any prices dropping more soon (not like they have). Further, it might sound like a good deal to get a
hd-dvd palyer and movies now that they are going mega cheap, but whait if your player fails? I'm guessing at most a 1 year warranty. If you bought other than a factory extended warranty, they cannot replace it if units are not avalable. I fear getting stuck with a bunch of hd movies that I may never have a player for (and if you got a library of movies cheap like many might, the player might eventually become in high demand, making prices.... not so nice).
Also, forgive me if I am wrong, but they tried to pack so much copy protection capabilities into blueray, there were many problems, meaning lots of equipment out there that is incompatible, so no used/cheaper/clearance market for a while (fully compliant equipment might fetch a preimum for being compliant). That means that stores/online sellers with old outdated tecnology (new sealed stuff though), might not be dropping prices near as much (old technology, but compliant so charge more).
I'm guessing, no blue ray bargin hunting for several years to come.....They might not even fix the exsisting problems with the format in a hurry anymore (no more competition, why rush, there is nothing else to buy). Sounds like another microsoft. By the time they start to get the bugs finally worked out, something new comes out, and they just never fix those last bugs.