Thats the fact of this whole thing, because the players are still so expensive the mass market hasn't decided yet.

And i even wonder if they will ever choose a HD format over DVD. Eventually they will but i can imagine a new format descending from another money smelling frim that has more capacity for all that next gen material.
Imagine: one X-disk instead of 3 blue-ray disks!
A lot can happen, and possibly Blue-Ray will win in the end, but thats something that we will only know late 2009.

This kind of posts is just a desperate need for good Sony news. Vgcharts don't even include movie format players.

 That's exactly why I believe Sony and Toshiba decided on this format war. Fewer people would give a sh*t about Hd formats otherwise.

Personally, I think it means fewer people will invest in either technology... and wait until a clear standard is decided and settle on DVD until then.

@ LordTheNightKnight

Although conspiracy theories are fun, note that Micrsoft has a major stake in HD DVD and only now when they are clearly losing this war are claiming that both HD DVD and Blu-Ray would soon become obsolete technology. Making such claims wouldn't make much sense from the perspective of a faked format war.

Isn't this the same type of argument that some Sony fanboys are useing to justify the purchase of PS3's?  It doesn't seem to be working real well right now for the PS3.  Why would this logic work for the HD disks (Blu-Ray or HD DVD) instead?

Agreed.

Frankly, I'm surprised MS even tried once it was clear that 1) HD-DVD wouldn't be a standard format for the 360 and 2) Blu-Ray would be the standard format for the PS3. Even in worst-case scenarios, where the PS3 sold just a few million systems as it has now, that's still a sudden burst of 3 million+ new Blu Ray players, and growing.

In my opinion, this "war" was over the second the PS3 launched, even if the PS3 itself doesn't end up winning its own console war. 

 What major stake? Did they do anything other then allow Toshiba to make an HD-DVD drive for the 360? I wouldn't call that a major stake.

 And calling it a conspiracy theory does not prove it didn't happen, especially since there is precedence for companies to keep secrets, such as nearly every third party developer keeping mum on the Wiimote's design until Nintendo revealed it. So it isn't unreasonable to assume that with ALMOST EVERY electronics company pushing HD (even Nintendo made the Wii with some HDTV standards), a couple companies, that had worked together before, would try a simple publicity stunt to get attention to their formats.

 And it is simple. Most conspiracy theories involve elaborate plans. This is simply that Sony and Toshiba agreed to make two formats, and keep them around as long as it took to get people talking, even if one sold better and had greater support. It's just a larger scale game of good cop, bad cop. That's hardly a conspiracy. 

@Sony-Fanboys: This Thread will go on forever^^

Please Shut up this prediction-shit and just wait some months (years) to see who wins!

 are you that delusional, take two thing put them side by side people will choose the better loking thing its humen nature.

i really can't understand why people get so defensive at the possibility of a media format overtaking another.

seriously gents, thats been happening for a long time.

when VHS was slowly replaced by DVD people said the same thing. and don't make it sound like DVD took over quickly with little opossition. many people hated the idea of the, at the time expensive, digital format. people didn't want to replace their already large investment in home videos.

the advantage to BR is that you don't have to replace you old DVD colection. just buy the new flick on BR as the come out. that what i've been doing.
i have a collection of 567 DVDs and a growing BR archive of 32. i love movies and have always been ready to flow with the media change.

consumers do have a certain amount of power as to whether DVD is replaced NOW. but in the future its the sources who provide the media whom ultimatly decide what format thet're going to put their product on in the years to come.
hollywood has obviously decided that the future of home video is upon them or they wouldn't be creating media in HD.

just like they put an end to VHS, they can do to DVD over time.

bitching about the unavoidable conclusion that formats will eventually change is futile. IMO