I decided when I first heard of the battle of the formats that I was going to wait until the dust settles. And even though HD-DVD has thrown in the towel, I'm still not planning on rushing out anytime soon to pick one (blue-ray) up. Here's why:
(1) Right now the medium (Blue-Ray) is still overpriced imo - so are the players. I'd wait at least until the next generation of units come out and/or some hefty prices drop. By that time we should be able to get a glimmer whether this is going to be another S-VHS kind of story (yep - got one of those. Had laser discs too...in fact I miss my Pioneer m-90 mulitplayer that the storm so kindly relieved me of).
If everything starts coming out in blue-ray and regular dvd offerings start looking skimpy, then we'll know what's coming.
(2) Chances are the next generation of equipment will be hi def dvd recorder/players and or "burners" which will come in future generations of computers.
So when I can get a machine at a relatively "reasonable" price that can burn in HD (providing broadcast signaling ever catches up with it - an "HD" download from your cable system isn't really full HD, you know) then maybe I'll get around to shelling out some bucks for one, if I'm not watchin' cable in the "afterlife" by then.
P.S. VHS isn't completely dead (altho I'm told one can't be found in L.A.) We still use 'em to viddy t.v. shows we can't watch.