The format war is great!

[mdm1699]

Originally Posted by docjan_uk

The format war has led to better quality transfers, a rush to improve functionality and cheaper players/media.

So long as one format wins in a year or so and all the studios put material onto the winner, I don't care if the successor (BD ) becomes as big as DVD.
The only danger is that it turns into a niche format, though I don't think there's too much of a chance of that happening.

I see what you are saying. However, it wasn't the format war that drove down the price of DVD players and increased functionality/features in those players. It was manufacturers competing against each other under one unified format. The presence of HD-DVD prevents this because everyone else is waiting for a winner. Mass adoption in hardware will lead to a decrease in price for software.