Cytocycle,
I will cede you the point about which format was better and when. As I said before, I have no horse in the race. My main points were and still are:
1. Now that Sony has won, they will do some algebra on the price to volume balance for selling licenses for machines and many more disks to many more people, and figure out how to maximize their earnings. This I think will lead to costs of BD machines of equal performance and improved usability falling from where they are now.
2. Toshiba will be one of the manufacturers selling lower cost BD machines in the not to distant future because they are in the video equipment manufacturing business and retailers will want to sell BD players.
3. There is an incredible level of redundancy of high level digital converters from DVD players to processors to TVs, making it a somewhat complex task to test all possible combinations in search of audio and video Nirvana. In some cases it is very difficult to tell a difference, driving people like us to distraction buying and moving wires around. I can see why some manufacturers are starting to sell digital-out-only transports for video.
4. I really do think Onkyo is saying "Ouch!".