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Second question, has either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD emerged as superior? I'd like one or the other, and I don't want to buy something and have it be obsolete in two years.
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They're identical (Blu-Ray has more capacity, but that hasn't made any difference in actual quality of the movies). The only question is which format has the movies you want.
Here are two good threads where you can see what movies are available and which have the best quality.
Blu-Ray
HD DVD
Also see the
release schedule, color coded by format.
If you have kids, it's a no brainer: Blu Ray has exclusives for Disney and several kids movies (e.g., Ice Age, Open Season). (OTOH, Shrek is HD DVD exclusive, so I guess it's closer than I thought).
Also see the
4th quarter exclusives thread. In the 4th quarter, BR will have 79 exclusives compared to 44 HD DVD exclusives.