DVD has been one of the greatest success and also one of the biggest failures in the recordable media format. Let me explain, yes following on from CD recordable everyone wanted the same format of a disc in their hands so along came DVD recordable and even shortly after the DVD-RW rewritable format. However the industry missed a massive selling opportunity. DVD players were launched - these only played movies, it generated a massive demand for DVDR discs for piracy and blew Hollywood apart - something the movie industry is desperate to solve with the new Bluray and HD DVD formats. But with the launch of the DVD Player consumers were quickly conditioned not to record from their TV, as they had been happily using VHS to do in the past. That was where the trick was missed, had the DVD Player not been launched and instead a DVD Recorder / Player taken its place then today most home users would still be recording and consuming media. Following its 1997 debut, it took the DVD format just a few years to completely take 100% share of the home-video market. Now DVD is nearing its 10th birthday there are two rival next-generation formats Blu-ray and HD DVD media - both are vying to become the successor to DVD and both have very pretty global branding with very recognisable differences in the Bluray dvd case and HD DVD case. The big question is will the industry make the same mistake again, my guess is the probably will. Both will display movies in full high definition resolution (HD), addressing one shortfall of the current DVD format, which is lower standard resolution, however it may take some time for the uptake as the formats do demand a premium price and will do for the foreseeable future, until the price comes down we are looking at these formats being for the enthusiast and not joe public. The video and audio quality of both formats can be truly spectacular when shown on a true HDTV with a quality home theater audio system, surpassing even high-def television itself in fidelity and impact. Which one should you choose? With the current format war, most HDTV owners should think very carefully before buying a Blu-ray or an HD DVD player in the short term, my personal advice wait till 2008 and the prices should come tumbling down as the format war hots up!