In the ongoing battle between HD-DVD and Blu Ray, good arguments have failed to help sellers and consumers opt for one medium or the other. HD-DVD is cheaper and more durable; Blu Ray can hold more. And it’s blue. Sometimes. Whatever the case, several stories have popped the DIGG and Techmeme surface announcing that large retailers and resellers have been picking Blu Ray over HD-DVD. Your upconverter is still useful for converting 720 DVD resolutions UP to 1080, but your HD-DVD collection just became history.

Netflix is in the midst of a heroic battle with Blockbuster online which should be kicking more butt than it is. They could learn a thing or two from the Blu Ray promoters who are selling a more expensive, more fragile product (the etched foil is closer to the fingers of who ever is handling the disk) and the fight is just about over. Source. Netflix is ALSO pushing hard with MyNETFLIX on the still-dreadful Windows VISTA operating system which promises quite a few hundred thousand new subscribers based on the ease of that system. Source. This method combats combats online challengers like Vudu. You pay to view or pay to download and own. Comcast cable company is doing something similar with HD On Demand.

It’s a damned good time to be a movie lover.

— Bryan Applegate