Royalty-free is one thing, but open source means rampant piracy, and no publisher will accept that.

 Point taken, but in "open source" I mean an ecoding algorithm that is royalty free.  There still needs to be some sort of mechanism to stop piracy.

Then you have the problem if people who buy this HDDVD player for $200 with transformers...then get home and decide to buy Ratatouille, Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean for the kids for Xmas...oopps!!!

Ultimately the films will decide!

Thats like saying buying shrek 3 oops.

I've never heard of Shriek 3...but it's a shame about Shrek 3.

As I've saide before though, it all comes down to films.  Losing Transformers is a big miss for Blu-Ray, but losing all 3 Pirates films as well as all 3 Spidermans and all Disney films is a huge miss for HDDVD.

And then you've got the list of exclusive films coming out until the end of the year:

I have just included the bigger films...as you can see, Blu-Ray has the better lineup

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most of those movies will be on HD DVD outside of the U.S. It's a lil more expensive, but hay, it's region free and thererfore, will be able to play on an HD DVD player.

Cars and Die Hard look good - and Castaway's a good one, but like I stated earlier, I can probably buy them overseas.

Not most. A few, if that.

For example, Transformers is being released exclusively on Blu-Ray in Korea (region 1, so we can import, yay!), and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has been out on HD DVD in Europe for months, but at least 75% of the movies are on the same formats internationally as they are in the states, like Disney movies.

 Dude, I was about to tie a string around your balls, and hang you by it. Then I realised you mean a FRONT projector.

a LCD projector, is NOT a FRONT projector. It is your standard box TV, rear projection. LCD rear projector = GARBAGE.

And actually, DLP front projectors is what you want. Keep away from the LCD projectors. (sorry LCD, I love you and all, but LCD projectors look like crap. Sorry to my 2 LCD TVs, and 3 LCD screens)

Just for an example of what a 'good' DLP projector is. Go to the biggest screen 'digital' regal theater you can find.

That is 128 pixels wider, than the one you can buy for about 5grand.

Truethfully, you should be able to get similar image quality. I am going to invest in one of those, as well as a 15-20 foot basement. Sound dampning walls, carpet floor, carpet celing, and a 2nd floor in the middle of the basement for the projector box. Not to mention a few rocket-recliner theater seats.

I should be able to do that (besides the basement) for under 15-20 grand.

That seems like a lot, but consider. I plan on having a screen the size of the ones in a theater, damn near the same quality screen, better seats(confort by 10x), about the same sound. In my basement... and I can play computer/PS3/360 on it. (sorry wii. But it wont work on a screen over 50 inches truthfully... screw a 240 to 360 inch screen... XD)

That includes seats. (2 grand)

Sound (1-2 grand)

reflective-ish white paint for screen, will cost about 20-50$

projector will cost about 5 grand

and then the carpet/noise reduction kits, will run about 2-3 grand.

Sounds REALLY expensive. But we are not talking a 'home theater' that I'm building. I'm taking a 'theater'!!!