Dual format releases always MSRP'd for the same price.  The difference in manufacturing costs were neglible to the consumer (~$1 per disc), and due to economies of scale, BD-Rom manufacturing costs were constantly falling, primarily due to the mass production of ps3 games (MGS4 alone outsold all HD movies sold on either format combined prior to its release).

Also, while the ps3 gave Blu-Ray a nice advantage, Blu-Ray's primary advantage came from its support throughout the industry.  Ultimately, it was Toshiba vs Sony, Matsushita, Samsung, and Pioneer, and Universal vs. Sony Pictures, Disney, Lionsgate, and Fox, with LG, Warner, and Paramount being dual-format. It was basically Toshiba against the world, and they couldn't win.  They did their best to hold off the BDA by paying Paramount to go HD DVD exclusive in late 2007, but the BDA bit back by paying off Warner in early 2008.

And people knew that HD DVD was unlikley to win, which is why Blu-Ray standalone players were outselling their HD DVD counterparts numerous times throughout 2007.  I can't find any articles stating that Blu-Ray players were leading over the 2007 holiday season (though they were, iirc), but I do have this article which shows that Blu-Ray standalone players were outpacing HD DVD standalone players in both August and September of 2007:

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/11427.cfm

some americans still use hd dvd. that doesnt mean it still has a chance

This just doesn't even make the least bit of sense. I'm beginning to believe these studies less and less...when did they survey me? Or any of my family? Or any of my friends?

I feel a headache coming on...

First off, to people like you who are just complaining about the survey, try reading the methodology. Just like this website, this survey did not ask every single person in the US what they bought this week.

After reading the methodology and looking at some facts posted by the users of this website, it seems that all the %s are on the high side.

I highly doubt that

See what I mean survey's are no indication of what reality is..

Among other nonsense, their survey results say that 23% of XBOX 360 owners also have the HD DVD add-on. Whatever. Microsoft had sold 300,000 units worldwide when the add-on was discontinued.

Their results are a combination of poor sampling and ambiguity in their questions. How should you answer if you own a PS3? Do you say "yes" to owning a Blu-Ray player or "no" because that's supposed to mean standalone players? Their questioning method doesn't explain it. Does the average consumer even know there were (note past tense) multiple formats? If someone owns an upconverting DVD player do they think that's considered HD DVD because it's a player that plays movies in (supposedly) high definition? If they own a Blu-Ray player do they think they're supposed to answer yes to the same question because they have a player that plays movies in high definition?

You have to ask these questions because it's the only way you'd come up with their ridiculous results.

The survey was done in April (more than a year after HD DVD threw in the towel) and yet implies that HD DVD adoption almost doubled during that period. Even with the sell-off last year, these numbers are just ludicrous (and Harris Interactive's conclusions do not attribute the supposed HD DVD growth to a sell-off at all).  And did they not think to verify their findings against actual sales data? If they looked at home video sales in the month of their survey they would have seen that for the top 20 titles, 12% of units were Blu-Ray (up from 6% a year prior indicating a doubling of market share yoy) and 0% were HD DVD.

Finally at the very end of their report they have a disclaimer saying that they don't provide an error margin because it's impossible to determine one based on their surveying method. Convenient.

This survey was obviously meant to shake consumer confidence in Blu-Ray. It even calls Blu-Ray the "unofficial" winner of the HD disc format war. My question: Who commissioned the survey?

Actually, they said 3% did, but what's 20% amongst friends?

I agree that the results are skewed, but I think everyone doing math using "300+ million Americans" is doing it wrong. These kinds of figures wouldn't count individuals; they'd count households. (If a man buys a Blu-ray player for his home, his wife is considered a Blu-ray owner as well.) The number of households in the US was around 111 million is 2007. If you do the math again using 111 million instead of 300+ million, the numbers don't look so bad. Still off, but not by orders of magnitude.

Actually, I'm guessing he did the math. 3% of the US population is 20% of the X360 population within the US. However, I haven't run the numbers.