But it was convenience more than picture that sold it. In terms of ease, having an in-movie menu is not as big a leap as having a menu AT ALL.  And do blu-ray or HD-DVD allow shorter scene skips than on DVD, so you don't have to scan as much? That's the only thing that could compare with never having to rewind a DVD.

 This is the issue with HD discs. It's not about picture quality. It's that there is little else. 

Funai Confirms Blu-ray player for North America Fall 2007: Expected Price Sub $400

http://www.n4g.com/industrynews/News-47197.aspx

Blu-ray and HD DVD in Europe http://www.n4g.com/industrynews/NewsCom-47351.aspx#Comments

hddvd no where to be found.

I think the only people that care that HD-DVD is losing are the Blu-Ray owners. Let HD-DVD die, I don't care...nobody cares about this format war.

I care just enough to watch all the drama of the few that squeal their hearts out for their format of choice.

I don't really care who wins. I'm not having either for a very long time.

There is no doubt that Blu-ray is doing well, and the Blockbuster decision certainly helps.  But honestly, the guy who wrote that article couldn’t have presented a more biased view if he tried.  Here is a much more balanced article written on the same day at the Economist.

http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9388350

Note how they provide some thoughtful discussion about the merits of each format, and consider other competing technologies in the article (i.e. real journalism).

I wonder how many budget DVD players are typically purchased as opposed to players with more premium features.  I usually see a lot of both, so mabey this will have an effect on the market, perhaps not.  Either way, it is good to know that the HD movie market is evolving towards the same lines that the DVD market has, towards greater consumer usage. 

Here is another gem:
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_3/602-3194044-0367845?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000PHSHIU

Target is selling used HDDVD players, as apparantly there is a large supply of returned HDDVD players available. Well, they'll definitely be able to make a lot of money of this for a little while anyway, but I wonder, why aren't we seeing this with the BD players? The consumer speaks :))

Aussie entertainment media superchain ( like our hastings or virgin music) goes BD only...

http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/ck-live/2007/06/jb_hifi_also_goes_bluray_only.html