Took me awhile to find this thread among the cluster. Thread title isn't helping things.
As for my opinion, I think the problem with Blu-Ray/HD-DVD wasn't that we needed one single victor, it was that everyone cynically knows and Murphy's Law says that once you get behind one of these formats, the guys in charge will get bored, dump their commitments, and move on to the next big thing, leaving you hanging. The Blu-Ray/HD-DVD fight simply exasperated that problem, because the likely next big thing (whichever one that turned out to be) is standing right next to it. Warner just proved this fickle nature.
I was just starting to think that the ideal situation would be for as many groups as possible to take Warner's stance and support both sides, since turning one down side is tantamount to abandoning customers and ignoring free money, despite low userbases, until the people are confident enough to seriously take the plunge into HD. At which point the victor would be decided by the people, with no real loser, and enthusiasts picking both sides for the few inevitable holdout studios. That probably isn't going to happen anymore. Enjoy your victory Blu-Ray fans.
As for me personally, I just bought an HD DVD player for $99 with seven free movies that was delivered two days ago, because I figured at that price I couldn't go wrong. And my 720p set most likely will never see the supposed quality difference of Blu-Ray, so HD was right for me. And the top five movies I was now thinking about going out and purchasing were Harry Potter #1-5, published by Warner. Now I'm reconsidering, because I know I won't be able to get #6&7 to go with them. And I'm not gonna run out and buy them on Blu-Ray, because it'll be a few years until the price comes down that much. And by that point, the next big thing will obviously be that much closer. Thanks Warner, for proving that you're not reliable, nor is anyone else in this ugly fight. I'm not happy that you won't be getting my business for some time to come, but I already have Harry Potter #1-5 on DVD, and my shiny new HD-DVD player upconverts, so I'll survive.