For people put back by a "payoff":

Someone on HD-DVD camp had to do that to have an edge. Sony owns movie at least 1 movie production studio (http://www.sonypictures.com/). I also think MGM is owned by Sony. Try to watch "Casino Royale" in HD and your only choices are Blu-Ray or HD Broadcast (when it happens). Is it because the movie was produced by the studio which is owned by Sony? You decide. Sony used to have an adventage HD-DVD had to answer by getting in bed with Paramount.

LG has not sided exclusively with BluRay....  They make their "Superblu" player which does both formats... they dont even make an exclusively BluRay player

oh and HD-DVD stores more than 8 gigs.... so RC was incorrect there

Jesse, you do not need an HD TV by 2009, you need a tv with a digital tuner... there is a HUGE difference. Also, you do not need an HD converter for your old technology, all tvs still have their standard analog inputs

Tom,

I think RC was refering to standard DVD with that "8 gig" comment.

Here's the deal:

We have a DVD collection here at home that currently runs to slightly over 700 titles. Very seldom do we pull one of those movies off the shelf and watch it, which means that week-to-week the whole collection just sits there on the shelves, collecting dust.

Now along comes Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Why should my wife and I invest in either format? Simply to repurchase movies we already own and don't watch anyway? DVD is only 10 years as of this year, and already there's a move on to get people to abandon a still-viable format for the sake of "newness." I guess it makes sense if all you have to do is sit on a sofa all day and night and watch movies, but most people have other things to do as well, like earn a living.

Between living life, working, watching regular television and everything else, the last thing most people need/want is an expensive Blu-ray/HD-DVD player that will only afford the ever-so-slight improvements over the picture which "regular" DVD currently affords them.

For those who want one of these next-gen players, great. But as for me and my wife, well, pass.

You forgot that the HD DVD has won another major battle: China. Just three months ago, the Chinese government has picked a HD DVD-based/compatible format, the CH DVD (the Chinese HD DVD - how original), as their official national hi-def format.

What does that mean?

That means as Chinese adopt the CH DVD format (as mandated by the national standard,) the local manufacture will shift away from Blu-ray production into mass producing CH DVD players for the local markets.  The CH DVD players, being based on HD DVD players and technology, can be easily converted into HD DVD players for export.  CH DVD components, which are HD DVD components, can be used to assembled HD DVD players.

As CH DVD went into mass production in China, the prices of the players would come down quickly -- and that of course would bring down the prices of HD DVD quickly.  Blu-ray will have a seriously problem on their hand when they have to compete with Chinese prices.

All the recent HD DVD player price cuts we've been seeing recently... it's the Chinese effect kicking in.

MSN should be ashamed. This is a news site and to see Microsoft blatantly using their influence to make sony's comments into something more than they are. Everyone knows that the battle is in a stalemate. This is why people love to hate Microsoft

Because of thinner protective coatings, I wonder if Blue Ray Discs will hold up to the abuse in disc rental business! If the discs get damaged in say 3 rentals, Blockbuster will learn an expensive lesson and the customers too. If the discs hold up, then it really does not matter what you buy as long as I get my Divx with it.

For a company that basically put their entire company's future on the line to bank on blue ray, thats an odd comment.  There losing billions of dollars on Blue ray in the form of PS3!