I think the reason that there is SO much passion about the two formats is the fact that they are both still fragile. If a format takes off like DVD it will be huge. If not, it will be SA-CD and DVD Audio. Two competing formats that came out and sounded better, but had more onerous copy restrictions and were not as portable when compared with the CDs they were trying to replace. Sound familiar?
I've been a big proponent of HD DVD because I chose a side. Others have done the same for the other camp. In a perfect world, Sony would have gotten together with Toshiba and cut a deal, but alas they are going for the hail mary so one or both will lose...... We'll see....