I had just bought an hd-d3 (rebadged a3) standalone on boxing day for $99 canadian thinking that it was the perfect price to adopt into the format wars only to have warner say this now. Im well aware i have a 30 day return period and right now im waiting for more news from paramount/universal/toshiba regarding HD-DVD but what are your thoughts about what i should do?

Just 3 days before warner made the announcement i bought batman begins/superman returns for $30 and theyre opened so i cant return. I got 300 and bourne identity free but havent sent in for the other 5 free. the total with shipping and taxes was $120 which could like halfway pay towards a BR standalone but what are your guys thoughts? Keep the $99 player for the remaining universal/paramount titles, wait for a firesale, or go and return it. I know its nowhere near what others have spent but its still money nonetheless.

I'm the same boat bro... I am keeping it because some of the versions of movies I have are a better release than the Blu-Ray version like Terminator 2. I own a few movies which still aren't on Blu-Ray, and no point in buying them again if they release in Blu.

At the bare minimum, $99 for a Toshiba upscaling DVD player that happens to play HD-DVDs ain't too bad at all. Mines a keeper.

Return it and buy a PS3.

Honestly you won't regret it. It's the best HDM player money can buy, and it's futureproof.

Same here guys, I'm returning mine tomorrow. I was thinking of holding on to it, but now with Paramount appearing to be using their out clause to leave the HD DVD contract, its a no brainer.

Return it and buy a PS3.

Honestly you won't regret it. It's the best HDM player money can buy, and it's futureproof.

untill sony is forced to abandon it because it lost the console generation and they have to quickly launch a new playstation line up.

Thus leaving is lacking profile 4.0 , 5.0 and whatever else bda dreams up to re sell you

I had just bought an hd-d3 (rebadged a3) standalone on boxing day for $99 canadian thinking that it was the perfect price to adopt into the format wars only to have warner say this now. Im well aware i have a 30 day return period and right now im waiting for more news from paramount/universal/toshiba regarding HD-DVD but what are your thoughts about what i should do?

Just 3 days before warner made the announcement i bought batman begins/superman returns for $30 and theyre opened so i cant return. I got 300 and bourne identity free but havent sent in for the other 5 free. the total with shipping and taxes was $120 which could like halfway pay towards a BR standalone but what are your guys thoughts? Keep the $99 player for the remaining universal/paramount titles, wait for a firesale, or go and return it. I know its nowhere near what others have spent but its still money nonetheless.


Return it!

untill sony is forced to abandon it because it lost the console generation and they have to quickly launch a new playstation line up.

Thus leaving is lacking profile 4.0 , 5.0 and whatever else bda dreams up to re sell you

1. Sony sold over 1M PS3's during the holiday - they're not going to 'lose' the console generation and have already stated they'll be breaking even on the hardware soon.

2. There is nothing other than profile 1.0, profile 1.1 and profile 2.0. These have always been the profiles.

FUD much...

$99? Count your blessings. It's like taking the family to a dinner and the movies. in fact less. Use it for rented HD DVD exclusive content and also as a very capable upconverting player. No loss.

Beware OP.. this site is getting overrun by PS3 fanboys from gaming sites. You're gonna get a biased view.

I had just bought an hd-d3 (rebadged a3) standalone on boxing day for $99 canadian thinking that it was the perfect price to adopt into the format wars only to have warner say this now. Im well aware i have a 30 day return period and right now im waiting for more news from paramount/universal/toshiba regarding HD-DVD but what are your thoughts about what i should do?

Just 3 days before warner made the announcement i bought batman begins/superman returns for $30 and theyre opened so i cant return. I got 300 and bourne identity free but havent sent in for the other 5 free. the total with shipping and taxes was $120 which could like halfway pay towards a BR standalone but what are your guys thoughts? Keep the $99 player for the remaining universal/paramount titles, wait for a firesale, or go and return it. I know its nowhere near what others have spent but its still money nonetheless.


First of all Madness. you will not get some of the movies you have on Blu-Ray. Don't listen to the blu zealots. You got a great DVD player that plays HD DVD movies they can't get. It's simple as that. They won't even have Batman Begins despite Warner or Matrix as there are technical difficulties with authoring these for Blu-Ray. They might come in this year or not. Not to mention that you will be getting quite a few releases from Warner until Q3 2008. There's no worries. By June 2008, things can happen where they actually might reconsider. Tricky thing this checkbook philosophy, it goes both ways and can be quite unexpected.

My advice, wait to see what the official HD DVD Group announcement will be and don't run to sell things 2 days after one studio switched. Most of them are telling you that becaue they are afraid that it's not over, so they are doing everything they can to lie to people that HD DVD has nothing. 40% of movies is still a lot that Blu-ray owners won't see. You need HD DVD player anyway you look at and you got an incredible deal, something that any Blu-Ray customer wont' be able to get for $300+.

Paying $400 for PS3 or having HD player for $99 that still plays a bunch of great titles and much more to come this year should be a no brainer for you, don't forget there's almost 400 titles and more coming for HD DVD, it's not like every poof dissapeared with Warner. It's pretty obvious why they all scared crapless. Just look at the blockbuster list for this year and it will be clear to you. Not to mention movies you already have like Bourne, Transfomers and many more.

Just keep it real and wait to see if any other studio jumps ship, if they don't you will be safe. The announcement will come by end of this week. \

My advice.

^ Listen to this man.

Since your investment in the discs is low, you may want to return it and get the standard Hi Definition player(Blu-ray) to be supported in the future.

I would get rid of my HD DVD player but I own too many discs to trash it at the moment.
Luckily, I own both so the Warner news wasn't too big of a shocker. :)

First of all Madness. you will not get the movies you have on Blu-Ray. Don't listen to the blu zealots. You got a great DVD player that plays HD DVD movies they can't get. It's simple as that. They won't even have Batman Begins despite Warner or Matrix as there are technical difficulties with authoring these for Blu-Ray. They might come in this year or not. Insiders and Warner themselves just said this isn't the case.
Paying $400 for PS3 or having HD player for $99 that still plays a bunch of great titles and much more to come this year. It's pretty obvious why they all scarred crapless. Just look at the blockbuster list for this year and it will be clear to you.What do we have to be scared of? Blu-ray software is outselling HD DVD software. Blu-ray players are outselling HD DVD players. More than 70% of Hollywood is or will be Blu-ray exclusive. The first stage of grief...it ain't just a river in Egypt.
Just keep it real and wait to see if any other studio jumps ship, if they don't you will be safe. The announcement will come by end of this week. \

My advice.And poor advice, at that. Even if no other studio says anything this week, there's no guarantee that will last the next week, or even the next month. The pressure is on and building, and in the face of it, HD DVD studios stop announcing discs at the most important time of the year.

I've got a $500 HD-DVD player and 40 HD-DVD titles.

If I were you, I'd return it.

Since your investment in the discs is low, you may want to return it and get the standard Hi Definition player(Blu-ray) to be supported in the future.

I would get rid of my HD DVD player but I own too many discs to trash it at the moment.
Luckily, I own both so I win either way. :)

Ridiculous advice. Go return a $99 HD player you can use for years with a bunch of titles and more coming, but go buy a $400-$500 Blu-Ray player because Warner switched.

Truly amazing.

thnx bozter...that really made me want to keep it. So far its great and batman begins is by far one of the greatest looking movies i have ever seen. Ive hooked it up everywhere just to see. Plus SD upconversion looks really good. To the guy who said its like dinner your correct, there have been instances where watching a movie, popcorn, and then diner afterwards came close to the same amount of money. One last question is kind of hypothetical...if hd-dvd loses, will toshiba have at least a combo with blu-ray in the future? Because most modern dvd players have playback for SACD, VCD etc...

Originally I bought an XA2 for upconversion on my 400+ SD discs and some new HD material that I don't already have. Moving forward, I am going to buy as many HDDVDs as I can and build a decent library. I will only be buying used WB discs as I don't agree with how they went about their change in stance re: 1 postion pre Christmas and a new position post Christmas...a little too much milking going on there, smacks of fraud actually. No BD until they get the bugs worked out of thier hardware.

thnx bozter...that really made me want to keep it. So far its great and batman begins is by far one of the greatest looking movies i have ever seen. Ive hooked it up everywhere just to see. Plus SD upconversion looks really good. To the guy who said its like dinner your correct, there have been instances where watching a movie, popcorn, and then diner afterwards came close to the same amount of money. One last question is kind of hypothetical...if hd-dvd loses, will toshiba have at least a combo with blu-ray in the future? Because most modern dvd players have playback for SACD, VCD etc...

It's very likely Toshiba would continue to support the format (IF it failed) just like Sony supported every one of their many failed formats for a number of years. I'm sure Toshiba will offer drives that playback HD-DVDs (in some form) for many years to come.

For $99, I would say keep it. It might be a while before all current HD DVD titles are available on BD. Of course the decision might depend on how much disposable income you have. I have both high def formats and don't regret buying into HD DVD. I've enjoyed it and will continue to do so for some time.

First of all Madness. you will not get some of the movies you have on Blu-Ray. Don't listen to the blu zealots. You got a great DVD player that plays HD DVD movies they can't get. It's simple as that. They won't even have Batman Begins despite Warner or Matrix as there are technical difficulties with authoring these for Blu-Ray. They might come in this year or not. Not to mention that you will be getting quite a few releases from Warner until Q3 2008. There's no worries. By June 2008, things can happen where they actually might reconsider. Tricky thing this checkbook philosophy, it goes both ways and can be quite unexpected.

My advice, wait to see what the official HD DVD Group announcement will be and don't run to sell things 2 days after one studio switched. Most of them are telling you that becaue they are afraid that it's not over, so they are doing everything they can to lie to people that HD DVD has nothing. 40% of movies is still a lot that Blu-ray owners won't see. You need HD DVD player anyway you look at and you got an incredible deal, something that any Blu-Ray customer wont' be able to get for $300+.

Paying $400 for PS3 or having HD player for $99 that still plays a bunch of great titles and much more to come this year should be a no brainer for you, don't forget there's almost 400 titles and more coming for HD DVD, it's not like every poof dissapeared with Warner. It's pretty obvious why they all scared crapless. Just look at the blockbuster list for this year and it will be clear to you. Not to mention movies you already have like Bourne, Transfomers and many more.

Just keep it real and wait to see if any other studio jumps ship, if they don't you will be safe. The announcement will come by end of this week. \

My advice.


I think thats poor advice because he can always pick up an HD DVD player for cheap along with $2 HDDVD titles when Toshiba officially calls it quits. At $2, 100 will get you 50 movies! Its not like HDDVD is going anywhere soon except the clearance bin.

$2 HD DVD titles? You just pull that number out of your a$$ or what? If we're speculating wildly here, then I think I'll suggest HD DVD players and discs are destined one day to become collectors' items! :p

Insiders and Warner themselves just said this isn't the case.
What do we have to be scared of? Blu-ray software is outselling HD DVD software. Blu-ray players are outselling HD DVD players. More than 70% of Hollywood is or will be Blu-ray exclusive. The first stage of grief...it ain't just a river in Egypt.
And poor advice, at that. Even if no other studio says anything this week, there's no guarantee that will last the next week, or even the next month. The pressure is on and building, and in the face of it, HD DVD studios stop announcing discs at the most important time of the year.

You have a huge disconnect with reality my friend.

First of all it's not 70% or more, it's 60% with Warner. Reality check. 2007 box office market share means nothing. Overall catalog numbers do. And it's 60:40 for Blu. A HUGE number that still belongs to HD DVD.

For someone to recommend people to buy $400 and miss out on 40% of catalog titles but to throw away a $99 player that can is down right completely misleading and ridiculous. For $99 he'll be watching HD DVD movies you'll still won't see on Blu-Ray and this year has HUGE hits. If you are comforting yourself that this is not the case, dream on.

I can just as easily say, don't by any means by a $400 Blu-Ray player as objective it has zero chance to replace DVD and you'll end up downloading movies and having a dust collecting Blu-Ray player you paid $400 for.

$99 over $400 even if he can watch only 100 movies he can't get anywhere else is a great purchase.

Listen, you are spewing fear and complete disinformation. Stop it. Fear that some how Blu-Ray lead at this moment might wither is overwhelming from Blu-Ray fans. I know what bothers you underneath. What if Toshiba gets Universal and Paramount with Dreamworks to stick around, what if they manage to turn one of the Blu_Ray studios by June to be neutral, what if the $99 playera are everywhere now as a swift answer to Warner.

That all aches you people I know that. It's not over and you all know it, but you so badly WISH it is you come out and spread FUD.

It ain't over until all titles from red are available on Blu. There it is. As of right now that is not the case.

I think thats poor advice because he can always pick up an HD DVD player for cheap along with $2 HDDVD titles when Toshiba officially calls it quits. At $2, 100 will get you 50 movies! Its not like HDDVD is going anywhere soon except the clearance bin.

This guy is high on Blu-Dust.

1. Sony sold over 1M PS3's during the holiday - they're not going to 'lose' the console generation and have already stated they'll be breaking even on the hardware soon.


Haha, have you seen the joke that is the Sony PS3 games library? Have you seen the inferior online service that is the PS Network? Sony *HAS* lost this console generation, however Blu-Ray will live on.

PS3 = Great Media Center, Inferior Gaming Platform.

Most successful gaming studios develop with the 360 as the lead SKU, and this is because the tools, support, online networking and cost of developing on the 360 is better in every way then the PS3. Hence games usually run better, come out sooner and play better on the 360, then their PS3 ports.

It's very likely Toshiba would continue to support the format (IF it failed) just like Sony supported every one of their many failed formats for a number of years. I'm sure Toshiba will offer drives that playback HD-DVDs (in some form) for many years to come.

Not only that man, there are HUGE amount of notebooks and other HD DVD drives. This thing is not over and Blu fans are scared shitless that it might still shake them. Cheap prices and still a solid catalog is a bitch! It can bite back easy.

$2 HD DVD titles? You just pull that number out of your a$$ or what? If we're speculating wildly here, then I think I'll suggest HD DVD players and discs are destined one day to become collectors' items! :p

I remember in the 80s after the videogame crash of '84, Kmart was marking down Atari games to $4.99, MSRP being $50. Unless its a combo, an HDDVD disc is useless to 99% of the public. I'm going to buy 100 titles when the clearance begins. This is pretty much the only good thing about HDDVD at this point.

Return it and wait it out a month.
At that point you can either buy into Blu or Red(which will be even cheaper than $99).

Return it and wait it out a month.
At that point you can either buy into Blu or Red(which will be even cheaper than $99).

No they won't, ESPECIALLY Blu-Ray players. :o

Haha, have you seen the joke that is the Sony PS3 games library? Have you seen the inferior online service that is the PS Network? Sony *HAS* lost this console generation, however Blu-Ray will live on.

PS3 = Great Media Center, Inferior Gaming Platform.

Most successful gaming studios develop with the 360 as the lead SKU, and this is because the tools, support, online networking and cost of developing on the 360 is better in every way then the PS3. Hence games usually run better, come out sooner and play better on the 360, then their PS3 ports.

Without large capacity discs, Xbox 360 games will start reaching a ceiling on DVD9. The PS3 with at least 25Gb will offer more potential in the end. And with their BluRay victory, Sony's fortunes seem to have turned around. Microsoft did nothing but provide Toshiba empty promises with an overpriced, underadvertised Add-on that they never really supported. Plus, XBLive is a rip-off at $10 a month.

Just keep it. We're only talking about $99. It will probably be a couple of years until your HD DVD movies finally come out on Blu-Ray. When that happens, carefully box your HD DVD player up, and put it away someplace. 30 years from now it will maybe be worth something, or at the very least it will be a hell of a conversation piece.

I say keep it. Even if all studios left jumped ship tomorrow you would be in a great position to get HD DVDs for dirt cheap. They will play for years to come. Think of all the money you would save compared to the BD mongers who will have to pay full retail for such titles when they eventually get released.

If you returned and went blu now you would be less than half way towards getting a 1.0 player. But i guess thats not such a bad thing. The BDA essentially looks as this as the main spec with 1.1 being "bonus view" and 2.0 being for the uber special. Remember with blu-ray you have to pay extra for features that are inate to all HD DVD players.

lol. Its up to you though.

At $99 keep it their are more then enough HD-DVD exclusives. If/when HD-DVD quits it will be some time before all the movies go blu. Why not enjoy Hd-DVD until then. Plus unless the BD version is better their is no point in getting rid of the HD-DVD. Its not like the disc will blow up or something.

I've got both formats and plan on buying both as long as I can.

Without large capacity discs, Xbox 360 games will start reaching a ceiling on DVD9. The PS3 with at least 25Gb will offer more potential in the end. And with their BluRay victory, Sony's fortunes seem to have turned around. Microsoft did nothing but provide Toshiba empty promises with an overpriced, underadvertised Add-on that they never really supported. Plus, XBLive is a rip-off at $10 a month.

First, Xbox Live is $50 a year, which is less than half of what you said per month. Secondly.. if you are talking about future proofing a console, maybe you should read about PS3's memory bottle-necking issues. Already a problem for developers. Third.. No game has yet to show why Blu-Ray is needed. None.... infact, the 360 has much richer and deeper gaming experiences available. When it gets to a point where larger disc space is needed (and you can't be bothered with a 2-disc game), your console of choice's hardware specs will be obsolete.

Fourth, this is pretty off-topic. :p

First, Xbox Live is $50 a year, which is less than half of what you said per month. Secondly.. if you are talking about future proofing a console, maybe you should read about PS3's memory bottle-necking issues. Already a problem for developers. Third.. No game has yet to show why Blu-Ray is needed. None.... infact, the 360 has much richer and deeper gaming experiences available. When it gets to a point where larger disc space is needed (and you can't be bothered with a 2-disc game), your console of choice's hardware specs will be obsolete.

Fourth, this is pretty off-topic. :p

If heard Rock Star prefers the space on BD for GTA4. As for the XBL price, I was charge $10 each month, at least thats what the credit card receipt says.:confused:

Seriously, if you can return it, do it. You have the minimum invested in HD DVD. Don't get so attached to it now.

Without large capacity discs, Xbox 360 games will start reaching a ceiling on DVD9. The PS3 with at least 25Gb will offer more potential in the end. And with their BluRay victory, Sony's fortunes seem to have turned around. Microsoft did nothing but provide Toshiba empty promises with an overpriced, underadvertised Add-on that they never really supported. Plus, XBLive is a rip-off at $10 a month.

What planet are you living on? Xbox Live is $50 a YEAR. That's 13 cents a day or $4 a month. You really are a troll aren't you?

Seriously, if you can return it, do it. You have the minimum invested in HD DVD. Don't get so attached to it now.

It's only $99... You can spend more than that on a lesser DVD player.

hidef4life... xbl costs less than $4 if you average it out over 13 months. Plus it loads better than the PSN and starting soon, ABC, Disney and MGM movies and shows will be in HD over XBL. And by the time the lack of storage for dvd-9 shows, this gen will be over. 2 discs of compressed data is the same as 1 disc of uncompressed. And so far 1 dvd-9 has beaten the pants off of any blu-ray game (gears of war vs. uncharted, although close GoW still has it beat).

The average user spends far more money on media than hardware.

Even paying $100-$200 more for a Blu-Ray player won't matter in the long run when you build your library of movies.

I would return your HD-D3 and get a Blu-Ray player.

1. Sony sold over 1M PS3's during the holiday - they're not going to 'lose' the console generation and have already stated they'll be breaking even on the hardware soon.
FUD much...

And was outsold by the Wii, the 360 AND THE PS2.

Return it and buy a PS3.

Honestly you won't regret it. It's the best HDM player money can buy, and it's futureproof.

hahaha, what is this, sears? futureproof is not in the A/V dictionary.

I had just bought an hd-d3 (rebadged a3) standalone on boxing day for $99 canadian thinking that it was the perfect price to adopt into the format wars only to have warner say this now. Im well aware i have a 30 day return period and right now im waiting for more news from paramount/universal/toshiba regarding HD-DVD but what are your thoughts about what i should do?

Just 3 days before warner made the announcement i bought batman begins/superman returns for $30 and theyre opened so i cant return. I got 300 and bourne identity free but havent sent in for the other 5 free. the total with shipping and taxes was $120 which could like halfway pay towards a BR standalone but what are your guys thoughts? Keep the $99 player for the remaining universal/paramount titles, wait for a firesale, or go and return it. I know its nowhere near what others have spent but its still money nonetheless.

Stop complaining and keep them. You got it cheap. Doubt that you'll be able to afford a PS3 with your 99 dollar credit.

If it upconverts well, then keep it. Otherwise, run and get your money back.

the hd-a3x and its variants are not 'great' players. I'm sorry thats just blind love by the hd-dvd fan boys.

there good but not great. any player that takes 45sec's to turn on to even open its tray is not 'great'

When I had my a2, and later a3 players. I could turn on my ps3 and load a move in the time it took me to even open that stupid tray for the a2 or a3.

And if avs is all of a sudden feeling a bit more blu... about time welcome to the rest of the world.

AVS is/was so red, they dont even know what the blu color is any more, the sight of it hurts their eyes.

you dont have alot of movies, its not alot of money your out. But if you feel your going to get a blu-ray player anyway, and can wait, why not? its not like the a3 players are going to get more expensive, expect cleanarnce prices soon.

Keep it , HD DVD may be gone in a year or so but 99 isnt much and you still going to enjoy alot of exclusive from Universal and paramont for sometime.

Beware OP.. this site is getting overrun by PS3 fanboys from gaming sites. You're gonna get a biased view.
It is overrun by irrational fanboys of both colors.

It's a lot harder to see your own side's fanaticism, than to see the other side’s. When I started, I favored HD DVD because of Blu-Ray's DRM. I felt this place was overwhelmed by Blu-fanboys. It wasn’t until I warmed up to Blu-Ray and became neutral, that I realized the red-fanboys were just as bad. Now that I’ve accepted HD DVD’s loss, it’s the red-fanboys that appear most fanatic now.

I had just bought an hd-d3 (rebadged a3) standalone on boxing day for $99 canadian thinking that it was the perfect price to adopt into the format wars only to have warner say this now. Im well aware i have a 30 day return period and right now im waiting for more news from paramount/universal/toshiba regarding HD-DVD but what are your thoughts about what i should do?

Just 3 days before warner made the announcement i bought batman begins/superman returns for $30 and theyre opened so i cant return. I got 300 and bourne identity free but havent sent in for the other 5 free. the total with shipping and taxes was $120 which could like halfway pay towards a BR standalone but what are your guys thoughts? Keep the $99 player for the remaining universal/paramount titles, wait for a firesale, or go and return it. I know its nowhere near what others have spent but its still money nonetheless.

Ebay is your friend!

It is overrun by irrational fanboys of both colors.
I'd agree.

It really boils down to one thing - how much is $99 to you? Is that a fair chunk of change? Not insulting, we all have priorities & differing hobbies = for some $99 is a lot for "stupid movies" (while they spend 10 grand on another hobby).

You paid about as much as an average upconverting player - bonus is plays some HD movies. You can keep it, enjoy some movies, and when the time is right pick up a BD player.

OR

Return it & get a PS3..............because "dude it so rulz, it p@wns all"

If you can use a high quality upconverting player than keep it - otherwise return it.

And by the way , I still think hddvd is better, but it no longer matters.

You have a huge disconnect with reality my friend.

First of all it's not 70% or more, it's 60% with Warner. Reality check. 2007 box office market share means nothing. Overall catalog numbers do. And it's 60:40 for Blu. A HUGE number that still belongs to HD DVD.

For someone to recommend people to buy $400 and miss out on 40% of catalog titles but to throw away a $99 player that can is down right completely misleading and ridiculous. For $99 he'll be watching HD DVD movies you'll still won't see on Blu-Ray and this year has HUGE hits. If you are comforting yourself that this is not the case, dream on.

I can just as easily say, don't by any means by a $400 Blu-Ray player as objective it has zero chance to replace DVD and you'll end up downloading movies and having a dust collecting Blu-Ray player you paid $400 for.

$99 over $400 even if he can watch only 100 movies he can't get anywhere else is a great purchase.

Listen, you are spewing fear and complete disinformation. Stop it. Fear that some how Blu-Ray lead at this moment might wither is overwhelming from Blu-Ray fans. I know what bothers you underneath. What if Toshiba gets Universal and Paramount with Dreamworks to stick around, what if they manage to turn one of the Blu_Ray studios by June to be neutral, what if the $99 playera are everywhere now as a swift answer to Warner.

That all aches you people I know that. It's not over and you all know it, but you so badly WISH it is you come out and spread FUD.

It ain't over until all titles from red are available on Blu. There it is. As of right now that is not the case.

This guy is high on Blu-Dust.

This guy (Bozster) is high on red dust though so it evens out. There's so many what ifs in his statement I lost count. Here's a few FACTS:

70% of future movie CONTENT (not sales but content) is available on Blu-Ray with the warner move.

Link: http://biz.yahoo.com/paidcontent/080108/1_318434_id.html?.v=1
With the inclusion of WB in that group, Blu-ray can claim roughly 70 percent of Hollywood studios' output goes from its current 49 percent share to roughly 70 percent.

60-65% percent of SALES were blu-Ray. 62% Since inception almost 65% YTD

Link: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom010608/index.php
WE: BD-61% HDD-39% YTD: BD-64% HDD-36% Since Inception: BD-62% HDD-38%
Source: Nielson

How does 60:40 in FAVOR of Blu belong to HD-DVD? Your numbers are all screwed up and flat wrong.

Finally you mention downloads. Do you have bandwidth I don't? Last time I checked it takes an awful long time to download high-quality HD video over even a 10mpbs download connection. It'll take YEARS for bandwidth to be available for downloads to be as fast as our instant gratification society demands and what should we do in the interim for our HD-Content we wish to own?

You sir are clearly the one spreading fear and disinformation. None of your post is based on facts. Your What-ifs are seriously reaching and quite frankly ridiculous. This gentleman can do what he likes but he did get a hell of a deal even if it becomes an upconvert player. His decision now should hinge on things like 'How many HDMI connections does he have?'. If he only has 2 having BOTH a blu-ray and an HD-DVD player probably won't make sense down the line since his cable box likely takes up one and a player the other. In that case I'd say return...but if you have extra HDMI ports to spare keep it if you like; just realize that once you do buy the blu-ray player you likely won't need the HD-DVD player anymore if you are only using it for upconverting DVDs as Blu-Ray players can also do this and some kick ass at it (assuming you don't buy any additional HD-DVDs of course). I wouldn't recommend buying too many HD-DVDs as whatever is only available on HD-DVD today will likely be on blu-ray in a year or so (Batman Begins this summer when Dark Knight is in theaters as a speculative example).

I've cited sources and not personally attacked anyone. I've put no What-Ifs in my post. I hope you make the choice thats right for you and not listen to the FUD being spread around right now by BOTH sides