If you have a PC and don't mind watching on a monitor (mine is connected to my HDTV) you canget a blu ray drive fpr your PC for about $300. I don't know if its out yet but it is a pioneer drive.

 you can get a BR player for $490 already.

 Yeah, but then there's the HD-DVD xbox add-on that works for the PC.  Dell and Gateway are going to include blu-ray drives now in computers, too.  

Having a $300 blu-ray player by Christmas should about do it, too.  That $320 hd-dvd player isn't very good (bad reviews), but obviously blu-ray needs to close that price gap to leave no option.  Sony, Disney, and others releasing more movies wouldn't hurt either.  When is Spiderman 1 and 2 coming out?  And where are all the Disney classics?  ugh.

still don't know if it's blu-ray or HD-DVD.

part of chinese translation:

"2 mln blue light HD-DVD, $300 mln contract"

whatever "blue light" is.

"philips has it for sale at $599, Sony and Toshiba sells them at $499, we'll sell them at $299".

i have no idea why 300mln/2mln is $299, must be the retail price. i do know that sony makes blu-ray, toshiba makes HD-DVD... so it's kind of conflicting that statement.

"[this guy] emphasizes that blue light HD-DVD is highly compatible with the DVD's currently on the market"

the article is just highly confusing. but i don't think they would say "blu light" if it's not blu-ray.

however: 

"substantially lowers the transition costs from DVD to HD-DVD for manufactures" 

 well, that isn't blu-ray.  HD-DVD does use blue laser diode, maybe that's what they mean.  

 i don't follow this kind of news in chinese so i don't know the common chinese nonmenclature. 

ah, probably it's HD-DVD, from another source:

"此外，ＨＤ ＤＶＤ碟片記錄容量雖較小，但防刮、防污能力好，不需卡匣，因此生產製程較容易且成本較低"

translation:

"in addition, although HD-DVD disk has a slightly smaller capacity, it is more scratch-resistant and dirt-resistant, doesn't need cassettes (???), that's why the manufacturing process is easier and has a lower cost."

yeah, I just read this ridiculously long thread here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=836632&page=22&pp=30

They seem to think it's hd-dvd. Apparently TDK's media was bought by Imation, who I thought supported hd-dvd and blu-ray but everyone on that forum claims they support only hd-dvd. Still, I can't find any confirming reports (other than copies from engadget or avs) concerning TDK all the sudden helping out hd-dvd since they were the first on board with blu-ray (R&D of TDK is still TDK alone).

Easier manufacturing and smaller space points to hd-dvd, though. Blu-ray is by far more scratch resistant, though, because you can't ruin these discs with sandpaper, fingerprints, or anything I've found so far (rented copies). HD-DVDs are just as scratch-prone as DVDs. I'm not sure why people prefer hd-dvd other than hating Sony, because blu-ray has a slight quality advantage (video/audio), space advantage, and scratch-proof advantage. Granted, hd-dvd is cheaper but to me I would rather root for the better format to become cheaper rather than worrying about scratching my discs for many more years for a sacrafice in quality. Oh well.

Anyway, not much can be said about this until details are released...in English...from TDK, Walmart, someone official.

"Blue light" means "blue laser" and "cassettes" might mean "jewel cases."  Though the cases thing doesn't make a lot of sense, that's just a packaging decision.

The big question is, will this $299 HD DVD player suck?

Well, the mention of a blue laser is not relevant since both BR and HD-DVD use it.

But the fact that these players will be manufactured in chine is. Apparently, because of the very heavy investment made by the BR manufacturers for the first plants, there was an agreement : not allowing chineese low cost plants to produce BR players, so the japaneese ones could get the investment back, at least for a while.

So if it's made in china, it's most certainly HD-DVD.

I meant Sony's $600 Blu Ray player that they call a PS3