CES 2008 promised to start, if not with a bang, then with something that might have passed as one in the highly controlled world of trade shows: wireless HDTV distribution around the home is the future, it’s how we’re all going to be getting our HD content from room to room.

Both LG and Sharp unveiled wireless technology that will enable us to dispense with cables – which is something many people will applaud – but the wireless story got sidelined by real, breaking news… at the eleventh hour the HD-DVD Group cancelled its press conference. The move, triggered by Warner Brothers’ decision to axe its support for HD-DVD in favour of Blu-ray, turned heads and probably one or two stomachs, too.

Jodi Sally, Toshiba's vice-president of DAV marketing, told her CES audience “we’ve been declared dead before” during her speech to conference. However, whereas in the past the signatories to HD-DVD’s death certificate all looked a little dubious, this time around the format’s pulse really is looking weak.

The HD-DVD Group issued a statement about the cancellation of its press conference, which was unsurprisingly terse: “Based on the timing of the Warner Home Video announcement today, we have decided to postpone our CES 2008 press conference scheduled for Sunday, January 6th at 8:30 pm in the Wynn Hotel. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. We'll continue to keep you updated on new developments around HD-DVD.”

The only new development the Blu-ray Disc Association is hoping for, presumably, is the life support being turned off on HD-DVD. And in order to keep up the pressure, the association has decided that its stand at CES is the “best booth of all time”.

This all looked rather too self-congratulatory – HD-DVD isn’t buried yet – especially as overall consumer interest in next gen DVD has failed to ignite. A battle may have been won but the war for hearts and minds still has a long way to go.