Sorry to post again, but this is important:
The new copy protection scheme in both Blu Ray and HD-DVD will force players to down sample the signal to
960x540!
This is fucking nuts. The vast majority of HDTV in the US do not have HDMI. Hell, a lot of sets being sold now don't support HDMI. So, you dropped $5000 on a HDTV two years ago, you dropped $1000 on a Blu Ray player, and you dropped $40 on a movie, only to find out that all your money has been flushed down the crapper and your signal is slightly better than DVD and less quality than OTA HDTV!
This is why neither next gen DVD system is going to take off. The early adopters that have already invested in HDTV sets may or may not have HDMI (note: DVI and FW don't count). People will come over, notice that the new Blu Ray/HD-DVD look like shite, nobody is going to buy one.
This is game over.