16:9 photo frames are nasty - they add black borders to standard 4:3 photos taken by most digital cameras, or you need to crop your 4:3 photos before loading on to the 16:9 photo frame.

Why do manufacturers produce 16:9 frames? Avoid!

Nonsense - Blu-Ray OUTSOLD HD-DVD by between 2:1 and 3:1. That is, CONSUMERS decided they wanted to purchase Blu-Ray 3 times more often than they wanted to purchase HD-DVD.

Sure, some retailers went Blu-Ray exclusive but HD DVD discs were still readily available in both bricks & mortar and online stores. And prior to the Warner announcement the studios were split 50/50, despite the best efforts of the HDA.

Yet given equality on the high street consumers still decided to purchase a higher number of Blu-Ray discs than HD-DVD. It's irrelevant how this situation occurred, at the end of the day it was the consumers who preferred one format over the other.

Bottom line: consumers preffered Blu-Ray, end of story, end of HD-DVD.

> and Pixel Plus 3HD, which btw is anything except 3D.

Err... obviously Pixel Plus 3HD has nothing to do with 3D - why would anyone think it would? Seems like a lame comment - well done.

> Top LCD companies are obviously Sony, Sharp and
> Toshiba, but I would also put Samsung, LG and
> Vizio above Philips in that market.

> Top plasma would Pioneer and Panasonic, but I
> would again put Samsung, LG and Vizio above
> Philips in that market.

Zargon - it's not your fault you are ignorant of the LCD market and are familiar only with the most heavily marketed companies. Philips produce some of the best LCD sets bar none because of their investment in picture quality technology (Pixel Plus HD etc.) but they're not as heavily marketed or have the same cache as Sony et al which is why you are unfamiliar with them (and consequently dismiss them).

Do some research and discover that some of the less well known players in the market actually produce better quality gear, Philips being a case in point.

No Blu-Ray drive? Deal breaker. :(

People don't need HD-DVD - they chose with their wallets and bought Blu-Ray, not HD-DVD.

This phoney format war had to be ended - it's continuation was of no benefit to anyone. Not the studios, not the retailers and definitely not the consumer. The only ones to benefit from this war were Microsoft and for that reason alone I'm glad it's over, but I'm also glad that we now have consensus on a single high def optical format that we can stick with for the next 5-10 years.

Each format has/had their merits, buy having two formats meant forcing retailers to stock two of every film and consumers to buy two players (or a more expensive dual player) because studios were either HD or BD exclusive, which was just insane. Ending this war will benefit the consumer.

F*ck the CE companies and particularly Microsoft in future. I hope we never have another format war again - this one being almost entirely due to Microsoft meddling due to their download agenda - but I'm sure we will. :(

Don't be ridiculous - a 360 with built-in HD-DVD would be absolutely pointless when there is a good chance there will be no more (at best: very little) content released in that format within the next 6-9 months, and games certainly aren't going to be released in HD-DVD format. This war is over, and the retailers will see to that by no longer stocking a dead format.

Microsoft don't want another "Zune moment" (launching another sh1tty Zune immediately after the iPod Touch [or was it iPhone?] announcement) so any thoughts they have of launching a 360 with built-in HD-DVD drive immediately after the death knell has sounded for the format should be swiftly forgotten.

If they do launch a 360 with built-in HD-DVD, I'll laugh my t1ts off! Microsoft need to launch a 360 with built-in Blu-Ray drive - now that could be interesting.

Hey ItsTheOMGShow - with all those Bluetooth features you want from Apple in the future, why not just buy a Nokia N800 and have them now? The N800 does everything the Touch does, and a whole lot more...

The Philips RRP is £3000, so expect to see it in dealerships for between £2500 and £3000.

Sorry James, but you can't blame anyone for not knowing about Three's internet data deals if the Three web site provides inaccurate and misleading information...