HD-DVD has delayed its introduction to the market until the first part of 2006, with at least one Toshiba player expected to sell for about $1000. This is about what the first DVD players cost, and you know what they cost now, 8 years later.
Studios originally announced a list of almost a 100 HD-DVD movie titles that would be available when players were to go on sale (this was projected to be September 2005, which came and went without anything materializing). These included the likes of: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Bourne Supremacy, Harry Potter (all three), Black Rain (1989, Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia), Million Dollar Baby, The Manchurian Candidate (the new one), The Last Samurai, Blade, etc. As of September 2005, the number of titles to be available at first roll-out has been scaled back.
Blu-Ray Disc has also delayed its expected roll-out date. The final specs on the format are now set to be released early 2006 (with the BD-ROM specifications needed for movie disc production to be done before the end of 2005), with hardware on store shelves sometime during the spring. No titles have been announced yet.
The Blu-ray people say they will announce details of the format's official rollout at the Consumer Electronics Show in January '06.
Studio support had been split about half and half between the two formats, although nothing is exclusive. They will publish in whatever format people are buying. They have continued to push for a single format, even as this seems less and less likely before both formats reach stores. Most seem to have been waiting for some indication of a favorite emerging before committing full support, and as of October 2005, some of those in the HD-DVD camp are drifting toward BD. As of December, the consensus is that there may be no format war at all with recent shifts toward Blu-ray, or that the war is now Blu-ray's to lose.
HD-DVD initially had the advantage of an earlier projected roll-out, but with the delays, that's no longer the case.
Sutter
