Hi Ears. Certainly not end of story! I was at CES and saw all of the demos. What you are saying is NOT the true picture of reality. Only a small piece.
Also,the larger consortium of players might easily create problems and already has! HP forced blu-ray to change their standards by threatening to leave-so Sony had to relent on an issue they said they would never change to keep HP in the game. That is but one example. Besides, all of the hardware manufacturers are now COMPETITORS with each other. The losers could VERY EASILY start making hd-dvd players for instance. The BR camp has too many mouths to feed and not everyone is gonna win. I still think pricepoints and title availability will win the day. The only X factor out there is the whole PS3 and XBOX factor. I saw the PS3 demos- they are freaky good, especially in those 5.1 surround moving chair thingees. Wow.