no this is strictly software ie movie sales. Not hardware sales. 

It was posted on the Official PS Forum a few months back, from an impartial source (so not the Blu-ray association or anything) but since it was so long ago the thread is gone... Will have a look to see if i can find the link anyway :)

Rush out and buy me a DVD-Burner that only supports either DVD-R or DVD+R (no dual format!!).

If neither format achieves a crushing lead (80% to 20%) stores will still cary movies for both formats, many studios will continue to make movies for both formats, and many customers will wait until there is some sort of winner before they enter the market. As time goes on dual format players will drop in price until they are only slightly more expensive than the single format players ... at that point in time no one is going to buy a single format player.

If the format war is very close (your 51% to 49% example) it is likely that exclusivity will slowly disappear as Disney realizes they can make a lot of money releasing the pirates trilogy on HD-DVD and Transformers suddenly gets the directors cut on Blu-Ray.

In order for this to be a one format world one format has to die not just sell less units.

i think its only movie sales not hardware

 well we will have to see as if the weekly numbers stay in Sony's favor Since Inception should rise which is the most important number in the figures. 

I have always wondered, do sales of HD moves include the ones handed out for free in bundles such as get a PS3 and get five free blu-ray movies and stuff?

 no. Only if they are scanned at point of sale (POS) So, mail in rebates dont count, in box dont ocunt. But, fo rinstance on black friday, open season coming with the 40gb from Best Buy counted sicne the consumer had the item scanned and price deducted....but Spidey 3 in the 40 gb does not count. Neither does bourne and 300 on the 3rd gen HD DVD players, but on amazon when you get free movies in your cart from amazon for the current HD DVD sale, those count as well.

 the rebates no but Amazon's Buy one get one free sales did and they have had tons for both formats. 

I think as HD tv adoption goes up, people will increasingly buy HD players & services. As it stands, both blu-ray and hd-dvd are niche formats, appealing mainly to those with a reasonable home theatre setups. Upscaled DVDs look fine, but a good blu-ray or hd-dvd movie looks better, no argument. With that said, many people with be fine with DVDs for a long, long time. Any HD format to prevail has some huge hurdles to overcome.

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