So it's Betamax vs VHS all over again, last time price rather than quality was the deciding factor, this time it won't even be film fans who decide.

No, this time it'll be gamers, Sony's decicion to package a Blu-ray player as standard in the PS3 and the fact that the XBox 360 can play HD Dvd (though with a little extra cost to the customer) will be pivotal to this battle of the giants.

I don't believe it'll affect the specialist world cinema end of the market for a long time but it'll be interesting to watch companies like Criterion in the near future and see what decision (if any) they make.

Climates would certainly benefit from a release on these higher standards but can you honestly see it happening?

Not for a long time, the market is too small and the expense too prohibative.

The plus point of both systems is that while being incompatible with each other, they're both compatible with the standard single/ dual layer dvd discs.

Should be interesting to see how it goes but at the moment, Blu-ray looks like the odds on favourite.

Cheers Trev.