Like I probably most people, I will not get excited until the format war is settled. I certainly will not invest in a player in either format until that happens. I hope that everyone else has the same idea. If so, there is a "slight" chance that the competing companies will come to their senses.

being the first to market, as Toshiba was, will not be the deciding factor, nor (I think) will Sony win just because of BlueRay technology being in their next Play Station. The deciding factor will be program content and whichever system has the most titles available. Right now Sony has the edge in that department. Because of their parent company's tie to Toshiba, Universal Pictures is the only studio to have said they are going exclusively with Toshiba's system. Columbia, Fox and Disney are exclusively Blue-Ray and the other major studios say they'll release titles in both formats. Even before the next Play Station arrives later in the year, I think Sony's BlueRay will be the leader.

I saw a Toshiba HD DVD demo yesterday, and it was quite impressive. What are the chances of players that can handle both formats? The salesperson said that LG was going to do just that, but we all know how knowledgeable and trustworthy big box salespeople can be.