All HDM players play DVD. Blu-ray doesn't make that standard, but manufacturers are not dumb enough to leave it out. 

Omg, the European release of LotR has NOTHING to do with why I think Warner Bros. will go Blu exclusive (thus resulting in LotR also being exclusive in NA). Insiders on Blu-Ray.com have been saying that Warner has been leaning Blu for months now.

Although, Warner going Blu has now been called into question because of an apparent private meeting between representatives from Toshiba, Microsoft, Universal, and Warner on Firday. The Insiders, however, are saying that no deal was signed, so we shouldn't be worried. Supposedly Microsoft said they would only financial support Warner going red if they agreed to a contract giving MS the exclusive right to digitally distribute Warner films via Live. Apparently Warner wasn't so keen to do that, and the money they would've recieved from Toshiba alone wasn't enough to change there decision.

Of course, the Insiders are saying don't count your chickens before they hatch, as things could still change in the future. Sound advice.

Negotiations between Warner and both camps have been happening since the Paramount deal, and things could go either way, though the Insiders say Warner is still leaning Blu (not taking bribes from either side into account).

I think the war's going to go on and on. All the companies are doing is screwing themselves.

A very large proportion of people have never even heard of blu-ray or hd dvd. When I mention either to non techy friends they look at me blankly. I don't know anyone with an HDTV to take advantage of it either. In the UK there hasn't been the same level of adoption of HDTVs as in America. Maybe that'll increase as prices come down, then people will become more aware of blu-ray and hd dvd.

Personally I've got no intention of buying either format and I'll only buy an HDTV when a 42" 1080p TV is available for less than £200. I'm quite happy with dvds and downloads. If the war does rumble on I expect hd downloads will take over with both formats as losers.

Well the insiders on thelookandsoundofperfect.com are saying that...

Actually, I don't go to either site. They aren't disinterested parties, so I get my info from sources that cover both. Sites like highdefdigest.com, dvdtown.com, and engadgethd.com, are just covering the rumors, so I tend to follow the unbiased sources. 

Well HD DVD movies arent being sold in my local best buy anymore, the whole line has been blurified.

This is why the head of the HD-DVD group said that getting the public's attention is more important that beating blu-ray, and why the BDA is going on tour to promote their product. 

The insiders from BR.com mostly migrated from AVS. AVS hasn't been to kind to Blu-Ray supporters, to say the least.

The main Insider talking about Warner going Blu is Penton-Man, and he rarely gives inside information, and only if he knows his stuff is accurate. He usually leaves rather cryptic messages, as he often he can't say things specifically.

The only big stories he's really broken early were the Paramount deal, Steven Nickerson leaving WB, and Chris Cookson leaving WB to go to Sony Pictures. Seeing as he was correct with all of those, I turst his most recent information - Warner leaning Blu, not accepting deals from Toshiba/MS, and that the Men in Black encode is finished, and will be shown at CES. He doesn't know the release date, but predicts Summer some time. I mean, why would he suddenly lie about something like this. It would ruin the great reputation that he has.

The thing is that you are getting this from a biased site. I believe the Paramount deal because it was reported in a major newspaper (someone said the New York Times), which is not a party with a vested interest in who wins. blu-ray.com is obviously otherwise. 

To understand what Blu-Ray fans went through on AVS, you had to have posted regularly in the HDM section there for the month and a half prior to it being shut down. HD DVD fanboys like Rdjam (who now runs an FUD site, hdnow.com), Kosty, Plazman, and Lee Stewart were given free reign to do what they pleased, while Blu-Ray fans were moderated left and right. It came out after the fact that Rdjam knows three AVS moderators in real life. Luckily, after the "cleansing" of avs, most of those members were banned (the last being Lee Stewart just a week or so ago, or at least I think he was, he now posts at HDD.com). Still, things like Michael Bay's comments and anything else pro-Blu have been banned from the site. Every thread discussing such subjects is immediately locked, but threads discussing rumors from hdnow.com (Rdjam's site) are left open.

As for Penton-Man, I don't care what site he posts on.  He always ends up being right.  His messages may be cryptic, but they're still easy to figure out. As for his past "prophecies", the only really confusing ones were the Paramount and Nickersonn ones, both of which made sense after everything came out, and the Paramount one was clarified the next morning.

PM's message on AVS the day before the Paramount deal broke:

PM's message on AVS the next morning:

It’s not Lee.
What’s true is that Paramount has been, and is now being actively courted with soft red suitcases filled full of monopoly money.

What’s speculation is whether or not there is a done deal of some sort and the exact *figures* involved, as to the former, I fear the worst.
I hinted as much as I could about this “development” in a post early yesterday morning, hours before this reporter posted his article.………..

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...&postcount=124

^
Note the edit…..c.b. stands for crystal ball.

I don't have his specific post concerning Nickerson, but I have a quote of it from AVS:

^^He posted that before Nickerson's departure was announced. And if you need some context, Amir was a MS employee at the time that represented HD DVD on AVS. He is no longer employed for MS, but still posts on AVS, and now tends to take the "digital downloads are better" stance in his postings concerning MS and HDM.

PM's BR.com post concerning Chris Cookson a few days before the story broke:

Guys I want to give you a heads-up on something because I don’t want it to be misinterpreted as a confirmation nor a repudiation of a rumor of a certain studio going Blu-ray exclusive. It has absolutely nothing to do with the format war, whatsoever. It’s simply a career move for a well-respected individual at a Presidential level.

I suspect some news outlet will run a short piece on it sometime around New Year’s Day but, as of now, Dec. 24 at 3:10 p.m. P.S.T. this has not been mentioned by any of the major news outlets and definitely not by any pseudo studio insiders on any forum.

So, please Blu-ray forum members don’t use this upcoming news as some sort of vehicle to promote the rumor of WB going Blu-ray exclusive. I want to be Crystal Clear about this. It would be discourteous to do so to the individual as well as the two organizations involved. It is just a fine man leaving one fine studio to advance his career in another fine studio and any studio would be glad to have him spearheading their 4K Digital Cinema movement as well as other things. Again, it has nothing to do with the format war.

P.S.
Now don’t be surprised if some blogger or pseudo studio insider picks up on whom I talking about and posts it as breaking insider news on some fringe forum-- as everybody apparently reads our little Blu piece of heaven.

^^Notice the words "Crystal Clear".

Here's the last paragraph of Penton-man's latest post on BR.com (from an hour or so ago):

See, they're cryptic, but if you keep with the Insiders thread, they make sense.