Well if that calculation is correct (take up * percentage of HD disk sold) then almost all of the HD TV players are Blu Ray (courtesy of it being included in the PS3), so who needs HD DVD?

Sony are also claiming the crown on standalone players now too, since Sept:

http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/09/06/sony-says-standalone-blu-ray-players-are-ouselling-hd-dvd/

So Zune failed against iPod, XBox lost to Wii, and HDDVD lost to BluRay.

What we want, is what happened for dvd's and what is slowly happening to hd. we want players to just play regardless of format and let the studios have their pissing contests amongst themselves.

I currently don't have to worry about dvd- dvd+ or dvd ram now, i buy whichever i want in the knowledge that almost every other player will handle it, no matter which i choose.

When i finally buy a HD player i want that same freedom.

Well, who cares? All those people who really think going to a shop to buy a shiny plastic disc is the future of movie distribution will (eventually) buy a multistandard BluRay/HD-DVD player, so it won't matter one tiny bit which of the "Standards" is used.

Ok lets see 25 quid for a HD/Blu-ray disk or 10 for DVD. Need to get a hdtv screen, a good one mind, 900 quid, oh and don't forget the HD/BR player 500 and up. why am I not convinced.

Then there is my existing dvd collection 400 titles, ain't going to be replacing them soon.

And lets not forget the record function. paid throught the nose for a CD writer when they came out, and again when re-writers appeared. The same with DVD player and then recorders. So what I want is a HD/BR player-recorder for about £100. Seems fair.

Ah more spin from a PS3 fan... Surprised that comment wasnt ended with "FACT!!" or other such nonsense.

93% of PLAYERS, as you mention, includes the PS3... How many 12 year old gamers do you think are interested in High Definition - Home Cinema? Surelly anyone with a home cinema would be using a stand alone player? I've tried watching DVDs using a console (PS2 and Xbox 360)- and its not fun...

Surelly your statistics would be more valid if you discounted the PS3, and only included stand alone players - however with Toshibas recent $99 HD DVD player in Walmart, and the £199 player over in the UK as of last week, those stats wouldnt look quite so grand would they...

Also please remember who the company behind such hits as: 8-track, Laser disc, ATRAC, Betamax, Minidisc, Super Audio CD, HiFD, UMD... ;)

Thanks a lot Sony/Panasonic/et al for producing 2 completely incompatible and opposing media types. You should have learnt the first time round with the VHS Betamax fiasco that people just want to buy one type of media and be able to play it regardless. Stop being a bunch of money grabbing idiots (Sony...etc) and just agree to a standard....

Believe me, the idea of having a shiny plastic disc SENT TO YOU (who buys DVDs in shops) is far more workable than trying to download tens of gigabytes over flakey, capped broadband.

I'm backing Sony in this 'war' - BD does what it says on the tin - great HD picture and sound quality, and the PS3 also happens to be a very civilised DVD, CD playing web browsing and game playing machine.

You know where you are with a disc.

"93% of PLAYERS, as you mention, includes the PS3... How many 12 year old gamers do you think are interested in High Definition - Home Cinema?"

Most of them. According to this article some 2.1 million BluRay discs were sold in the USA, yet hardly any stand alone players (the European number quoted on that French site was only 5000 players!). So if PS3 users aren't buying them who is?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/24/bluray_vs_hddvd_us/

It's possible that things have shifted again since September and a discounted HD DVD player is now top, but then why haven't the HD DVD crowd been crowing about it if that's the case?

"Ok lets see 25 quid for a HD/Blu-ray disk or 10 for DVD. Need to get a hdtv screen, a good one mind, 900 quid, oh and don't forget the HD/BR player 500 and up. why am I not convinced."

Because you've got your numbers wrong?

BDs usually weigh in at around £17 (the same price that Sainsburys or somesuch would tap you for a DVD) whereas many DVD can be found for £5 or thereabouts; you can get a nice 1080p set for <£700 and the PS3 40GB (the best BD player) is now available for £280.

If your argument against BD, HD-DVD or anything else is that they cost ACTUAL MONEY to buy, then I wonder how you manage with other aspects of your life.

How about not sticking the disks together and putting both in the same

box. Oh sorry I forgot that would cost them 5p more per disk,

wouldn't wanna hit their profit margin now would we...

Are you all seriously arguing amongst each other about FORMATS?

I can understand the time honored Coke vs Pepsi, Christianity vs Islam, Spitting vs Swallowing, and even Trek vs Wars arguments, but arguing about the best format for reading little pits from a piece of plastic when nobody (unless they work for one of the involved companies) actually has a vested interest either way? You geeks have sunk to an all time low.

Already bought a panny full hd telly, bluray the way to go I thought, stand-alone player? nope too expensive..

hmm, a unit that plays hi-def games, video files(transferable by wi-fi/ethernet/ usb stick) broadband capable with an ok browser, downloadable content, some free some chargeable and plays bluray movies that I have bought from sendit.com for a TENNER! or ones i rent from tesco online aka lovefilm(huge choice btw)

no brainer- buy a ps3.

40 year old nerd.....

Seems sensible, but you just know I'd buy an HDDVD player, you'd buy a blu-ray, and we'd only buy the film once between us ;-)

Leaked multi region playback for SD discs... the flagship XE1 HD DVD player can now play any region standard definition discs, something i was waiting for as i have a high proportion of R1 discs in my existing DVD collection. Now i can replace my current player and get top quality upscaling on all formats, plus as it's HD DVD and not Blu Ray i can buy my HD discs from anywhere and they'll play just fine.

Looks like Sony may be losing the grip of this market too.... hardly surprising, identical playback quality, identical audio quality but more expensive to manufacture, region locked and significantly more expensive players i struggle to see how it was even a battle to start with... remove the PS3 from the Blu Ray camp (unrealistic i appreciate as it does exist and it is a very competent BR player) and the format war was over months ago.

Historically Sony hasn't had much success in getting their formats widely accepted.

Sony projects that never got mass market appeal...

Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC)

BetaMax

Digital Audio Tape (DAT)

Digital-8

eBook

High capacity Floppy Disk (HiFD)

High capacity Mini-Disc (HiMD)

Memory Stick

MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD)

MicroMV

Mini-Disk (MD)

Mini-Disc Long Play (MDLP)

Music Clip

NetMD

Professional Disc for Data (PPD)

Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS)

Super Audio CD (SACD)

Universal Media Disc (UMD)

Sony projects that were abandoned

Aibo

Clie

Copy-Protect CDs

Direct Digital Stream

DVD-RAM

Pen Tablets

Sony success... telling Apple to use 3.5" Floppy on their Macintosh.

They may not have a winning track record but one of these days that ant will move another rubber tree plant.

Hmmm.. Egg, face.. on your... In your own time...

BD outsells HD-DVD - big style!