Good call. Congrats. But I called the result if not the date years ago. In all the "wars" I've suffered through, largest capacity has always won. Thirty three vs. 45 rpm for classical recordings on 12 inch vinyl, cassette vs. 8-track, VHS vs. Beta. Always the one with the highest capacity wins. It wins frequently when it's technically inferior, often when that capacity is not used in commercial trade. Why? You tell me. But I like the promise of a 50 GB data disk better than a 30 GB disk.

Two things are required for a format to become the market choice. First, it must function, but that is rather obvious. Second, it must reach a consumer price that will guarantee widespread use. So far, Blu-Ray has not met that constraint nor shown that it can, even with the volume of PS3, and unless it does so fairly soon, it will limit most people to broadcast and cable for HD content. In addition, many people would not find a PS3 as a reasonable addition to their decor nor would they welcome the concept of having a gaming system of any kind. I suspect that with the next version of pocket or thumb disks, people will be able to go to the video store and download a video onto such devices or SFF hard drives. In addition, in upscale internet markets, download will not only be possible, but probably dominant. People will just not accept a device that costs as much or more than their whole computer, nor will that allow penetration into the broader market. I believe this to be a Pyrrhic victory that will end up burning down Sony and others to the extent that they expend funds on the technology. Blu-Ray is not technically superior to anything. In fact, it is an inferior and high-priced piece of junk. Taiwanese companies had red laser units that would far exceed Blu-Ray capacity close to a decade ago. As easily rewritable media such as flash disks and SFF external hard drives come down in price, any removable media disk system must be inexpensive, fast, and convenient to be viable, and Blu-Ray is none of the above. In addition, there is little room for the lucrative licensing fees that you mention unless Sony wishes to own the newest version of Firewire. I think that I and the vast majority will sit out on this little round of dead end technology.

I'm fairly relieved to hear that THIS battle is over. I've read many places that transportable media (DVD as well as Blu-Ray) is an archaic method of distributing media and that up-scaled DVD is nearly as good. I completely disagree with both of those sentiments.

First off, answering the notion that up-scaled DVD is nearly as good, I have on many occasions been able to spot true HD content with upscaled content. It is obvious with motion and facial detail. I’ve watched many sporting events where not all the cameras were HD-capable. It is clear which views are from the non-HD cameras. Once one discovers the taste for HD, one only wants HD. I am saying this as someone watching HD in 720p. I know it gets better at 1080p, but I’ll have to wait on that financially.

In regard to transportable media, it is just more convenient than download-able media for most purposes. Granted, having a 20 Mbps fiber-optic connection from SureWest makes downloading content fairly quick, but what if I lived in a rural area? My parents live in an area where the fastest possible speed of an Internet connection is from WildBlue (satellite). While it is definitely better than an old-fashion telephone modem, it pales in comparison to an entry-level DSL connection and it costs much more. In addition, due to a “Fair Access Policy,” caps would be placed on downloading high-definition movies. Possibly services like XStreamHD may service people that live outside of cities, but I don’t see them competing closely with Blu-Ray.

Before purchasing any high-definition media player, I did some research. I came to the same conclusions of HD-DVD being “evolutionary” and Blu-Ray being “revolutionary.” At a layer-by-layer analysis, Blu-Ray just has more capacity. More capacity allows for more content and less compression. Many early reports exclaimed that HD-DVD had a better menuing system or a better algorithm for storing video content. I figured that for the most part, that is all just software and easily modifiable. My first inclination was therefore to side with Blu-Ray. I have not always been impressed by Sony’s innovations and many of their proprietary formats (Memory Sticks, MD discs, etc...) but I felt that they had something important with this new format. I’m not poor, but I don’t want to spend a lot of money on entertainment. I found that the PlayStation 3 (60 GB version as it was on an unofficial clearance) was my best bet for buying into a format. I figured that if Blu-Ray didn’t win, at least I’d have a nice gaming system that has many cool features, such as allowing for me to install Linux on it. I am not much of a gamer, but I’ll play from time to time.

I have since started a small Blu-Ray collection, with about 15 titles and growing. I also subscribed to NetFlix for the purpose of watching Blu-Ray movies. So far, my only complaint is that many movies I wished to watch were from either Universal or Paramount, who did not release their movies on Blu-Ray. As I have been sitting back and seeing events unfold they way they have, I feel that the purchase of my PlayStation could not have been at a better time. I am now hoping to hear Universal and Paramount announce the release of many of their titles to be available in Blu-Ray.

Do any of the download sites let you keep the movie permanently? I looked on the Apple site and their rentals delete after 24 hours of first watching them, or after 30 days even if you never watch them. I like being able to own some movies or TV show collections. I certainly don't want to pay for each viewing. So I'll still be buying DVD's for some time.

I would agree that this may be a hollow victory for Sony. Optical (or physical) media, in general, are on the way out. Hello Apple & Netflix - they are the future of HD movies.