As the title says, how exactly does having both Blu-ray and HD DVD surviving this format war hurt those of us that have already dove into the HD player market. I suppose this question is more geared towards format neutral or bi-format or whatever you want to call owners of both formats.

With that being said, like I mentioned in another thread, if BD-only owners can't pony up $200 for a HD DVD player and HD DVD-only owners only need about double that for a BD player, something's amiss. How can people spend several thousand dollars on their HDTV, HD player and other audio/video gear and refuse to drop another few hundred on "the other format's" player? I don't get it. To answer my own question, I suppose the principle of having to buy two players is the largest driver of apprehension, but even then it's only a couple hundred dollars, which seems a small price to pay for enjoying anything and everything in high definition.

So assuming more and more folks go with both formats, if the studios continue to produce content, regardless of how large the market is, who cares if HDM remains somewhat of a niche market? Is the fear that studios may cease to produce HD content if the market does not grow or grow to a certain point?

You make some excellent points. If only one format existed, the players would be much more expensive, the software (movies) would be more expensive, and as a result the movement toward HD would actually be slower. The arguments that two formats confuse consumers is false in my opinion, for sadly, the average consumer does not yet care enough to be confused! I do think HD will succeed, but it must reach a point where the average shopper will see the price of an HD player and begin to think that he could certainly afford that. Even the Toshiba HD-A2 is not at that level, although it is approaching it. Thirty years ago when the American automobile market was stronger, I am certain that General Motors could have given you dozens of reasons why it would be a better world if Ford Motors did not exist, and vice versa. I think that it is quite American (even with Japanese companies) to allow the two formats to compete and to force each other to evolve quicker than they would have otherwise.

I have been asking this same questions for months. I liken this format war to what has been going on in the video game world for years now. You can't get every game on on every system. I think people have become "spoiled" over the years because everything has always been in one dominating format with Movies and Music. Fortunately, I feel HDM will be slow to be adopted and maybe when it finally does, either we will have 2 formats and people will accept it (dual format players), OR one format will finally dominate, OR (and what I feel will be more likely) the first mass market HD media will not be Blu-Ray or HD DVD.

I love this format war. Call me a militarist.

Without the war we would enjoy all the benefits of $1000 players and $39.99 discs with no price drops in sight. "It is High-Def baby, that's why it is so expensive".

I hope the format war lasts forever.

I don't care about J6P being confused. And not absorbing. And not turning studio profits into the tens of billions instead of the hundreds of millions.

All that matters to me is that I have my Hi-defs.

That's why I bought the LG dual format player. $1200.00 was no big deal to me (although I didn't pay quite that much for it). I paid almost that much for my standard DVD player. Plus I added an external video processor to furthur improve it's picture. So actually, I'm way ahead with the LG.

I think it keeps the borderline adopters out of the game. With HDM, most of the possible adopters out there are not early adopters. They are people who bought HDTVs but have busy lives and do not want to worry about having to buy a specific format or own 2 players. If it were an easy thing to do, they would buy it but they hear about a war and have better things to think about.

Most of the people I know fit into this category. I am the only one in my circle of friends that owns HDM but I know people with HDTVs and they occasionally ask about the war.

The sooner the CE companies realize that HD will be dual format the better -- and that includes both Sony and Toshiba. They all need to get on the ball and figure out how to produce attractively priced combo players. Either they do that or HDM is relegated to niche status and the CE companies completely concede the volume market to the cheapest Chinese DVD player manufacturers.