[Widukind]

Here is my deal:
1. I am new to the forum, and I just bought a Samsung BD-P1400. I love it! I am now totally on line, studying the format war, cause I chose sides!

2. My dad, recently retired, is a Geek type guy, former manager of IT at McDonalds Corp for over 25 years. He says, I am an idiot for buying now and chosing sides. He says digital downloads will replace everything, cause DVDs have had a life of like only a decade (he is assuming they will soon be obsolete for the most part).

3. I am an accountant, I am not a tech guy. I bought Blu-Ray for these simple reasons: I watch movies as like a hobby, typically see one a day. I prefer movies to look and sound great, and I have a nice new HDTV and stereo surround sound. I also chose Blu-Ray cause they had my favorite movie, the directors cut for Kingdom of Heaven. They have it on one Blu-Ray disc, whereas on DVD, the movie itself is 2 DVDs and the special features are two more DVDs (Like Lord of the Rings).
4. Now I am all into the format war and I want Blu-Ray to win, and fast. I have four kids, and spent a lot of money over a span of half a decade to get a lot of movies on DVD that were on VHS. I want to chose sides now, simply cause buying a movie for a little less on DVD makes little sense if it is a movie I will watch again and again. Thus, I would rather buy the best now...

Now for my questions:

1. How long can this format war rage on? I see no end in site. I would like to buy only my most favorite movies on Blu-ray, the ones I watch over and over (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Incredibles, the Bourne series). I will not be suckered into spending all kinds of money to replace 200 or so DVDs my four kids, my wife and I own ourselves already.

2. Can both formats survive? Sure, I bet on Blu-Ray to win, I like one Kingdom of Heaven Disc vs. 2 which would be on HD DVD (if it even goes there.) Could this be like -RW and +RW where both formats will continue to exist and be "standard"?

3. This is about business and money, and both sides have a lot of stake, so do their stockholders. Thus, I see neither side giving up, and my favorite store in the world, Best Buy, will not take sides, but will sell both...

4. I forsee a lot my dad says as being right, like IPods losing to smaller and smaller Laptops, and the Laptop becoming our TV, our satellite Dish, (My netflix now), Laptops even becoming our phones. Heck, Toshiba is selling a Laptop that you can plug into your home entertainment system that has HD DVDs, I am assuming Sony has one out too...(not to mention, I watch a lot of movies on my train rides to and from work)

5. Could both sides lose over time?

6. The Best Buy store I go to, now has Blu-Ray discs and HD DVDs the first stands you see in the movies section. They are plugging for people to stop buying DVDs, I can tell. Where can I get good UP TO DATE INFORMATION on the format war, who is winning, and what merchants like Wal Mart are planning on doing?

7. I also see "less educated" consumers deciding this war. Most of my neighbors don't speak english well, and I see them running to Walmart, buying a cheap HD DVD player (which doesn't even play at 1080p, and they have no idea what that even is to begin with. Not to mention, three of my neighbors have their TVs in their garage along with a bar, so they have a completely different mindset than I do... I think those not as well informed buy more stuff nationally than us that spend the time researching products first, and I do think price will be a factor. Since I park my car in my garage, not the front lawn, to me, I want to buy the best...but I see most Americans no longer buying the best...thus, can the uneducated less knowledable make the impact I fear?