You've been had. You've been hoodwinked. You didn't land on the next-generation DVD format; it landed on you. And boy, did it leave a mark!

That could pretty much sum up the feeling of many early technology adopters seduced by the sirens of the HD DVD player only to learn they were on the losing end of a war they probably didn't know they were a part of.

For the past several years, Toshiba had pushed its high-definition DVD format while Sony shot back with its Blu-ray. Last month, Toshiba raised the white flag, giving the victory to Sony, which had lost the VHS-vs.-Betamax battle 20-some years ago.

But where does that leave all those folks who in some cases paid up to $1,000 to be the first on their blocks to upgrade from the standard DVD player to the HD DVD one?

"If you bought an HD DVD player, you pretty much made a wrong choice and you have to eat it," said Dan Ackerman, senior editor at CNET.com, which provides tech news, reviews and information for consumers.

He said if Toshiba and Sony had been able to come to a consensus on the next-generation DVD format, consumers would have been the big winner.

While HD DVD may have had a slight edge in price, there was little difference in picture quality, according to reviewers. Both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs were developed as the successor to the DVD format and both were designed for high-definition video. Blu-ray, which has more storage capacity, got its name because it uses a blue laser to scan its discs rather than the red laser used to scan DVDs.

Because neither company would give an inch, Ackerman said, consumers who bet their money on Toshiba were left out in the cold. The big winners were the gamers who purchased Sony's PlayStation 3, which is also a Blu-ray player.

"Now, there are still a handful of HD DVD movies trickling out, but those are going to be coming to a halt soon as well," Ackerman said.

In the meantime, outlets such as Circuit City, Best Buy and Amazon.com are slashing prices up to 60 percent on their current stock of HD DVDs and players. That's all to make room for the Blu-ray discs and players.

Last month, Sony unveiled two new updated Blu-ray disc players, the BDP-S530 for $400 and the BDP-S550 for $500, which will ship this summer. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment plans to release 100 titles later this year in the Blu-ray format.

One of the major factors in Toshiba's decision to cry uncle was the fact that a number of major studios, including Universal, Paramount and Warner Bros., decided to go with Sony's Blu-ray format for upcoming DVD releases. Paramount released its last HD DVD titles, "Into the Wild" and "Things We Lost in the Fire," this week.

Previously, Paramount supported HD DVD; Warner Bros., which has a sizable chunk of the home-entertainment market, made releases in both formats.

"I didn't think we stood a chance after Warner left us because it meant HD DVD would have just 20 percent to 30 percent of the software market share. One has to take calculated risks in business, but it's also important to switch gears immediately if you think your decision was wrong," said Toshiba CEO Atsutoshi Nishida in a Wall Street Journal interview.

Another blow for Toshiba was the decision by retailers Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Netflix to jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon.

However, all is not lost. HD DVD players can play standard DVDs and Toshiba has said it will continue to provide technical support and honor warranties on its HD DVD players, said Jason Oxman, senior vice president of industry affairs for the Consumer Electronics Association. Plus, the major studios will continue to release films in standard DVD and Blu-ray formats.

"Certainly, it's impossible to say how long standard DVDs will be around," he said. "If you're looking for a historical perspective, the VCR is still around and it's been around for 40 years."

He said the standard DVD format is still enormously popular, projecting sales for those players at 21 million, compared with about 2.1 million for Blu-ray players, which also play standard DVDs.