Blu-ray vs HD-DVD: what's the situation now?

There's nothing tech-heads like better than a good battle. Picking sides. Getting sweaty and passionate. Ruling out friendships with anyone who sympathises with the opposition. And they don't come much bigger than the current high definition format battle. Since IFA last week the dust has settled, we've picked ourselves up, and we're ready to have a post-match analysis.

The stats are a nightmare - there are enough out there for each format to pick some and make it look like they're winning. For instance, how's this: Blu-ray discs are outselling HD-DVD discs 3:1. But, HD-DVD players are outselling Blu-ray players 3:1. How is this possible? Are the Blu-ray player owners buying a hell of a lot more films? Nope, it's all about the PS3. The discs sales are measured since the launch of the PS3, whilst the Blu-ray player stats don't include the PS3 which is what a lot of people are using to watch the high def content on.

There's also lots of announcements flying about - all the Harry Potter films are going to be available on..... oh yeah, both. As are the Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen films. So, few studios are making the ultimate decision. So where does that leave you?

Well, there's no doubt that you're going to have to invest somewhere - by 2011 it's predicted that 60% of homes will have an HD ready TV, but only 20% will receive HD from their television provider. So, this missing 40% are going to have to get their HD content from somewhere - and it's likely to be players, either standalone, laptops or games consoles.

There's an argument for both (which is obviously causing the issue). Blu-ray has the support of some really big players, such as Samsung, Apple and Dell. It also has a 50GB capacity, so you can fit more data i.e. extras on the disc. However, HD-DVD is cheaper to produce and duplicate and the hardware cheaper. An HD-DVD player for 300 euros (about £210) was launched at IFA (the cheapest Blu-ray player is about £350). Toshiba and Microsoft has also committed to giving away 5 free HD-DVD titles every time a Toshiba HD-DVD or Xbox HD player is bought.

What's the answer? Well, you could buy a dual player, although in the long run it's likely that half of it will become obsolete. You could pick your games console and then build up a disc collection of whatever that works with. You could take your chance and pick a side. Or you could wait. What's it going to be, punk?