Editors' note: Toshiba has officially announced that it will stop producing HD DVD products, bringing an end to the format war. This guide will be updated to reflect Toshiba's announcement shortly, but in the meantime buyers should steer clear of the now-defunct HD DVD format.

DVD is, by some measurements, the greatest success in consumer electronics history. Following its 1997 debut, it took the format just a few years to completely conquer the home-video market previously ruled by VHS tapes. Before DVD even reached its 10th birthday, however, the electronics industry and the Hollywood studios began putting it out to pasture. Two rival next-generation formats--Blu-ray and HD DVD--are now vying to become the successor to DVD's throne. Both display movies in full high-definition resolution, addressing one shortfall of the current DVD format, which is only standard-def. The video and audio quality of both formats can be truly spectacular when shown on an HDTV with a quality home theater audio system, surpassing even high-def television itself in fidelity and impact.

The bad news? To get that improved fidelity, you have to decide between either a Blu-ray player or an HD DVD player, and you won't be able to play certain studios' movies on either one. For example, if you're a sci-fi fan and want to watch The Fifth Element (Sony Pictures), you'll need a Blu-ray player, but if you want to watch Serenity (Universal) you'll need an HD DVD player. Yes, combo players that can handle both formats are available, but they currently cost more than actually purchasing two players, one for each format!

In the next few pages, we'll take a look at both formats, examine how they compare to one another, and highlight the advantages--and disadvantages--they offer compared to the current generation of DVD. And if you're looking for a prediction on the format war, we're finally ready to offer it: unless something completely unexpected happens, we expect Blu-ray to ultimately win the format war. But before we explain why, let's take a look at what both formats have to offer.