Is the jump from DVD-BluRay as big as the one from VHS-DVD? No, it isn't because the biggest gain with the former was the loss of tape degredation etc. However on a HDTV there is a noticable difference between the two. It looks sharper and more detailed whereas a standard DVD player looks a bit blocky in places. The blockyness is overcome when upscaling but the detail isn't added in.

Does Blu-Ray winning the format war mean that prices will now spiral without HDDVD to keep it competitive? No, not in my opinion. DVD is going to be a much tougher rival so prices will have to stay competitive in order to compete. Having all studios using the format means more films being released in the format and more discs being sold should drive down the cost of producing a disc and prices should start to fall.
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Blu-ray being the only format won't mean anything for prices any more than DVD being the only format did. I really don't know why people keep saying that it will.
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I just want to point out that there is a very noticeable difference between a DVD and HD DVD in terms of picture quality, sharpness, and detail. I was originally of the line of thinking that it wasn't that big a deal, but when I first saw a 1080p 24fps film on a true HD TV, my tune changed. All the upscaling in the world isn't going to change the fact that a DVD is encoded at 480p. It does help a little, but there is still a major difference in the 2 resolutions.
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Of course there would need to be that vast difference in quality, otherwise why would companies push their new product on that basis... Although, to be fair, I feel that the only ones who can be blamed for HD-DVD failing is the companies that didn't push HD-DVD properly... ie. NO advertising whatsoever and a rather lame partnership with M$ who we all knew would be in it for themselves.

At least Blu-Ray got advertising, I think that Toshiba gave up on HD-DVD very early on so they could put more support into their BD players...
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I agree. For once they admitted defeat early on as soon as it was obvious that the format had failed, instead of trying to hold on to a failing format, as had been the case so many times in the past. With Blu-Ray now so strong it would have been suicide to continue trying to sell the HD-DVD format.

The only thing that is annoying is that the HD-DVD standards were much higher on the discs compared to Blu-Ray. The audio and video specifications stated HD-DV had to be 1080i and the audio had to be Dolby Digital Plus. With Blu-Ray it only states that is needs to be at least 720 and Dolby Digital, so like early DVDs that didn't have Dolby Digital, we now still need to check the quality of the Blu-Ray discs we are buying, whereas with HD-DVD it would have guaranteed we were getting the best quality with every disc.
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This is true but most BD new realeses are 1080p with some format of lossless sound so the difference with HD DVD and Blue Ray really only applies to early releases. As people become more familiar with all the HD jargon and standards they will begin to demand the best of quality from the now leading format, and quite rightly so. I can only expect this to happen now that there is one clear format to adopt and therefore 50% less confusion!
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True. Also now that disc authors don't have to author discs for two different formats they should be able to concentrate on developing the best results for the single Blu-Ray format now.
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I just hope this 'war' hasnt damaged the hd format as a whole in the eyes of consumers.
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I honestly don't believe that the majority of the public were even aware it was happening, seeing as most people are still adopting to DVDs (with a few exceptions, of course)
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I guess I'll be the voice of dissent (hard to believe huh? ) and say that I actually hope it has damaged the hd format. It would be too sweet to see BluRay fail and something better come along. Of course I know that's not going to happen, but I can dream can't I?
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