I've got a pretty good reputation on being on top of the latest technology. I'm usually considered a early adopter. I spent $1000 on a DVD player back in the mid nineties (which by the way that Sony 5 Disc player still works). Yet I don't have a iPhone, I don't like ebook readers and here I am about to say why I don't recommend HD discs of either flavor. Perhaps I'm getting older and smarter, perhaps technology sucks more than it used to.

Movie studio fragmentation is the problem with Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. Half the studios are on one format and the other half are on the other format. You need a Blu-ray player to see Spiderman, you need a HD DVD player to see Transformers. Thus, I haven't purchased either and haven't recommended either. The situation is improving and it looks like one format could be a winner.

Up until last week a 60% of the studios made Blu-ray discs, now Warner has announced it is switching to Blu-ray and it looks like Paramount may be making the switch as well. This just leaves Universal and a few small studios to make HD DVD disc.

I still say wait and see until one or the other format is declared dead by the sponsoring forums. Microsoft is a backer of HD DVD, for example, and won't let it die so easily.