Experts and analysts have always agreed that when Blu-ray players legitimately reached the $199 pricepoint the format would go mainstream. It’s not exactly working out that way.

$200 Blu-ray players are a dime a dozen this holiday season, but according to ABI Research only 8 percent of holiday buyers were considering upgrading to the format. This comes as quite a surprise considering half of American homes have gone HD and its old rival, HD DVD, is all but dead. We’ll have to see in January, when the smoke clears, if this is due to the recession or the public’s general hesitance to pick up another movie viewing format.

Netflix has finally ended support for HD DVD. Starting on December 15th, all HD DVDs listed in queues will be replaced by regular DVDs. The company supported the format long after most institutions, so their subscriber base can at least thank them for that. RIP HD DVD.

Qflix, the hottest of the hot in DVD burning technology, has wormed it’s way into two new Pioneer burners. The DVR-2920Q and DVR-X162Q will allow you to burn CinemaNow movies onto specially-keyed blank DVDs. Each drive is also bundled with Roxio Venue software to help with that testy download-to-DVD process. Each drive comes with Roxio CinePlayer as well, if you hate televisions and would prefer to watch stuff alone on your laptop. Curled up with an empty bag of Cheetos balled in one hand. Get a grip man.

Pricing and availability have yet to drop, but it should be soon enough. Click the link for a well worded press release.

Toshiba in a joint promotion with CBS Home Entertainment’s launch of "Star Trek: The Original Series," Season 1 has unveiled this "Star Trek" Combo which features HD DVD on one side of the disc and standard DVD on the other.

Purchasers of the boxed set and any Toshiba HD DVD player will be offered the limited edition "Star Trek" Phaser – a remote for Toshiba’s HD DVD players.

Toshiba has given us a peek at their ultrathin PC HD DVD burners: HD DVD-Writer and HD DVD Super-Multi for about $400.

The HD DVD-Writer supports CD, DVD+/-RW, HD DVD-ROM, and single and double-layer HD DVD-R formats. The HD DVD Super-Multi supports all of the above except HD DVD-R. Both units supposedly measure in at just 5.04- x 4.96- x 0.51-inches and weigh 5.82 ounces.