One word to people re-living the old Beta vs. VHS battle and thinking the same rules apply when it comes to porn choosing the winning, that word is the INTERNET!

The battlefield has changed since the 1970's, before VHS it was probably very difficult to get hold of porn without visiting one of those shady backstreet movie theatres. Suddenly people could enjoy it in the privacy of their own home - that was a huge development, huge enough to turn the tide of the format war.

Nowadays people can get porn on demand - they can download HD porn from the internet, they can subscribe to porn on their TV, they can view HD porn on pay per view channels, they already have porn DVD's etc. Porn is not a big taboo anymore, most "sexy" TV shows are probably considered to be "porn" by 1970's standards!

In this day and age porn is not the critical factor it was back then, it is more likely that it will come down to console ownership than porn, and since Microsoft refused to put a HD-DVD player in the 360, HD-DVD are on the back foot on that battlefront.

Also if you want to put so much stock in what single company execs say, why don't you look a few months back when a Microsoft exec was asked why they didn't build in HD-DVD, his answer was that they refused to commit to an unproven format and if the need arose they would switch to making a Blu-ray add-on for the 360 instead. Hardly encouraging talk from your formats greatest ally!

Also can I just point out that America is not the centre of the Universe! Just because Toshiba are stock dumping their old unsold stock of their first generation none-1080p HD-DVD player for $98 to make room in their warehouse for the new model, doesn't mean that is happening everywhere! In the UK for example there is barely any difference in price (and I think the 40GB PS3 is cheaper than the cheapest HD-DVD player here), and the discs are also priced the same too.

The only Country where HD-DVD is having a fighting chance is in the US. In the UK for example you hardly ever hear the term HD-DVD in the media, but at the end of most DVD ads now it says "Also available in HD on Blu-ray disc". In addition Blockbuster is by far the biggest rental store in the UK and they only stock Blu-ray, big supermarkets like Asda (UK equivalent of Wal-Mart) have started stacking HD-DVD's side-on in the bottom corner of their displays, whereas Blu-ray has big forward facing stands, the same is happening in HMV (Big UK movie/music store).

It's not only America that buy movies, when a format is adopted it will have to be a World standard, and Worldwide sales will have to be taken into account. Forget Beta vs. VHS, HD-DVD will be this generations Laser-Disc!

Finally I want to correct some of the MIS-INFORMATION in earlier posts, "Home Theatre Builder" for example doesn't know what he's talking about. The line about Blu-rays being easier to break made me laugh - try searching YOUTUBE for Blu-ray stress tests where they still play after being scratched with wire wool, scraped with a screw driver and written on with permanent marker. Then try doing that on HD-DVD and tell me if it still plays. Blu-ray is much more durable so your comment is plain nonsense.

Also to the guy that reckons the PS3 isn't compatible with all Blu-ray special features that is also nonsense. The only thing missing from most none compliant Blu-ray players is internal storage and an Ethernet port (for the online aspects). Everything else is firmware upgradeable. Given that the PS3 has both a Hard Drive and Internet Access, as soon as the new Blu-ray profile is available the PS3 WILL BE COMPATIBLE WITH ALL BLU-RAY FEATURES INCLUDING BD-LIVE. (an upgrade has already been confirmed to make it "Bonus View" or v1.1 compliant)

To the person on about Computer support, Microsoft may support HD-DVD, but the big hardware manufacturers like Dell (exclusively), Apple (exclusively) and HP (non-exclusively) are supporting Blu-ray.

As a last point, why don't you sit for a minute and think of the names of the big TV and DVD manufacturers. Now see how many were on this list:

Hitachi

LG

Panasonic

Pioneer

Philips

Samsung

Sharp

Sony

Thomson

What do all these companies have in common? They are the founders of the Blu-ray disc format. Just because Sony has become synonymous with Blu-ray doesn't mean that they are going it alone (which was the case for their other "failed" formats).

Aside from porn Sony failed with Beta because it didn't have the support of the industry, the lions share of Betamax players were Sony's own, because they wanted to monopolise the format, as a result the other manufactures went off and partnered with VHS. Although not through choice the same thing is happening with HD-DVD, there's a reason most HD-DVD players are made by Toshiba you know...

Oh and shall I also overlook the fact that Blu-ray is exclusively supported by

Sony Pictures

MGM

Disney

20th Century Fox

and Lionsgate?

As well as non-exclusive support from

Warner Bros

New Line Cinema?

Or overlook the fact that the Paramount pay-off expires after 18 months, and excludes Steven Spielberg's films?

That leaves HD-DVD with Universal's films.

So it occurs to me that if you actually want to have movies to watch on your HD player you need Blu-ray!

Honestly it amazes me all these people (HD-DVD/360 owners?) that think HD-DVD is ahead in this battle!

VHS/BETA was a different argument.  

Beta was a format that offered really high quality, at a higher price.  It didn't lose quality the more you played it, and the more made copies of it.

VHS was a cheaper format that broke down easier and lost quality every time you copied it.

That's one of the main reasons why VHS won out over Beta.   Because Sony and other movie companies didn't want us to have a format that would allow for pirating (copying) at a high level.  Beta was still the prevelant format in news rooms up until 5 years ago (digital) because it was a better quality format, and allowed for copying without losing anything.  Make a copy of a copy of a VHS tape and see what you get.  Make 20 copies off copies of a Beta format, and it'll look the same as the original.

The Blu-Ray/HD-DVD argument is something that has come up since the government didn't regulate what HD format they wanted companies to go with.

That's why there are 50 different types of TV's with HD, 720P, 1080i, 1080p.  It was probably just a way to have the consumer electroics industry skew the facts and sell more TVs to people who can't figure out all the differences in what's out there.

now that movie prices are dropping to 7 dollars for a lot of semi-old titles why should we spend more money to buy movies priced at 40 dollars? Plus I have a lot of movies and couple of dvd players.

the cost of making the discs DVD or blue ray or hd dvd is the same so why are they charging so much for them? They are stealing our decreasing paychecks.

I understand the dollar has lost 50 percent of it's value since 2002. That is a hugh drop in just 5 years. I need to save even more money for retirement so why pay more for HD DVD.

They did a test study and with a 52 inch HD TV no one could tell a HD DVD movie from a DVD movie. So why pay for something that makes no difference.

Blu-Ray or HD-DVD that is the question: When Video stores or retail outlets side with one Format product instead of offering a choice of both then they are in my opinion cutting one of their legs out from under them. This makes consumers fill that big business is telling them they must buy their idea of what's right or wrong and I believe we the consumer should have the right to pick what every format we want and the stores should sale both. It only makes since that if you offer both then your business will make more money and customers will be happy they get a choice.

The the porno industry has already endorsed hd dvd. Remember what happened to beta!

The consumer only loses if you you have to be the one to run out and get the latest "in-thing" right when it comes out.  For now, my cheaper DVD's on my much cheaper DVD player are just fine for me.  When they settle on a standard, and when I decide to upgrade all of my components, I will get the better TV and then the winner of this "war".  

I think "Barnum....." has it right about the porn industry, that's the elephant in the corner.  That industry by itself has the ability to set the standard.  But didn't the HD guys already turn their backs on the porn industry?  Bad move....

I don't know if I want to see some porno's in that high of a quality.  Some of those women are beat up and better at 50/50.  Good looking at 50 miles an hour or 50 feet away.

I bought a PS3 as a game system and a BD player.  I believe BD is a better format based only on the capacity.  In truth, it doesn't matter to me.  If blu-ray dies, I still have a gaming system, not an obsolete piece of hardware.  

I'm still waiting to see how this battle plays out, but my money is on HDDVD coming out on top.  Sony has a history of making expensive, proprietary formats which trap a small segment of consumers, but never attain broad market appeal.  They've only had one or two "successes" with their proprietary formats, the largest of which is probably MemoryStick, and that's only due to the popularity of their digicams, otherwise the MS flash format would bite the big one.

Sony, listen up: tightly-held proprietary formats don't win in the long run.  Make high-quality products that use open storage formats, and you will succeed.