well, that ups the ante in the Blu-Ray / HD-DVD wars, doesn't it?

Well they added a 3rd layer, defeating Toshibas stance on the whole CHEAPER than blu-ray. And its still 5GB less than blu-ray. WHY THE #@!$ CANT COMPANIES JUST AGREE ON A GODDAMN STANDARD?

The regular DVD format isnt standardized yet.

I was a blue ray guy until this came out. Think about it, its easy to make a player backwards compatible, but making the media itself backwards compatible is a real benefit to consumers. Now you can have a hybrid DVD that you can enjoy on your old player until you upgrade to the HD player. You don't have to go out and buy a bunch of new movies AGAIN. A lot of people buy 16:9 aspect ratio DVDs in anticipation of the HDTV they will get someday.

With that format you don't have to stand in the store and debate what to get. Think about your mom who had a Betamax then had to switch to VHS and now has only had a DVD player for a few years. She doesn't want to bring the movie back to the store because she didn't see the "HD" logo. There are a lot of customers out there who just want to stick the disk in the machine and have it work.

if you are tech savvy enuf to buy DVDs and use them, you must know everything there is to know about DVDs, otherwise you wouldnt buy one...

If you did, yer a fucking idiot and should be shot;.

There areno Blu Ray things in the US yet, if there are they are useless to anyone but yerself and thusly yer point is moot. Wait until the DVD becomes a standard and stfu.