I think the current situtation is that talks have broken down, and we'll be getting both formats. Whether we like it or not, and whether the studios like it or not. However, someone has released a universal decoder chip. I don't think we'll see universal players too soon, unless some of the platform agnostic manufacturers (are there any?) decide to get into the act.
I'm actually much less concerned about this than I am about the industry trend and desire for control over how many times we can watch (or how long we can keep) media. Google broadcast flag... although that initiative has failed for the time being, it's an indicator of what the industry wants--to be able to make us pay every time we view something. Sure, you can record TV, but you can only keep that recording for 48 hours. Want longer? OK, that'll be $x.99.
/rant. Maybe I read too much arstechnica.
