all I can say about BR is expensive and Bleh (now anyway) The Samsung BR player on the Westinghoude 42" 1080p was really poor...major pixilization....NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME...EITHER OF THEM IMHO
I answered the upconversion issue too while I was there...did a demo of the HD-DVD upconversion against an older (like mine)Pioneer Elite 59i DVD player...NO CONTEST...The Pioneer blew it away...Back on the fence I go! BTW: did not see any difference between upconverted 59i or the newer Elite for that matter....Toshiba was good, but NO MATCH for the Elites for upconversion!
Jeff
I finally did find one at a BB across town. I have no clue if HD DVD will win, but I'd rather lose $500 than $1000 on a format war and still have a good upconvert player.
This also means I won't be building a collection -- just renting.