My thoughts on the Blu-Ray Vs. HD-DVD War are two basic things, one is that the war needs to end soon or we need more dual format players (They play both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, DVD as well I think). I say we need more of them because the ones right now are really expensive. I can't wait until the war either ends or dual format becomes common because if the war ends then no more worrying about whether or not the type of drive you are going to buy is going to be faded out (because there will only be one to chose from).

I honestly think Blu-Ray is better, and the funny part of it all is that I AM A MICROSOFT FANBOY! HD-DVD I think was either created by Microsoft or is just heavily supported by it. Anyways, Blu-Ray is better mainly because there is more GB per disc than HD-DVD, and that is really about it. The only downsides to it are that its hard layer that protects the indentations on the disc is rather thin and so could be easier to destroy than HD-DVD. I don't see this much of a problem because the layer is harder than acrylic (or so I have read) and also if you take care of your discs then you won't have any worries.

Well Beta was far superior to VHS but that doesn't mean Blu-ray is better than HD-DVD. However, I haven't seen both and I would have to read a number of articles on the "way" they are produced and read by their respective players. Since "blue" is a shorter wavelength than red, I believe that may be one of the major benefits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color

My thoughts on the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray war is as follows:
First and foremost, I don't have any experience with either of these players so I wouldn't be able to comment on the quality of either. However, Sony has almost always faultered when they attempted to gain the majority market using their electronics and electronic devices. One example of that could be the Mini-Disc player, which had already won the battle with the Tech Savvy community because of the smaller player, and larger capacity. When the MP3 player made its way to the market, Mini-Disc attempted to keep its market share but lost out when the capacity of MP3 players increased and the price dropped dramatically. Another point i'd like to make is that Sony is still only using their memory stick for their devices where as many other competing companies are using the standard SD cards for their flash memory. The point here is that most of Sony's attempts to influence the market to obtain the majority market share has not succeeded.
However, you can look at it this way. I believe that Blockbuster video stated that all the new movie releases will be in Blu-Ray DVD format instead of the HD-DVD format. So if you're planning on getting some high def rental videos then the only chance to see the latest flick would be to rent a Blu-Ray DVD. Although now there are a lot more movie rental places so if Blockbuster isn't your choice you can try Rogers, or Movie Gallery, or etc etc for HD-DVD movies.
I think in the end theres going to be a happy medium. I heard that Toshiba was coming out with a dual high def player where it can play HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. So maybe this is just a fictitious war so that people will talk about it and saturate the market with high def movies. Conspiracy Theory anyone?