The current count is 351 Blu-Ray, 327 HD-DVD. However, this includes 30 or so Paramount releases that are no longer made, which might make HD-DVD the winner if you offer currently manufactured titles. Neither format wins in a runaway; at best its a wash.
HD DVD and Blu-ray releases on October 23rd, 2007
If you're big into foreign films, I can see why you hate region encoding, however most of us don't care, and it will not affect market share.
It's unfortunate that you couldn't find "Hot Fuzz" in your neighborhood. It's in rental stores in my neighborhood,
Maybe that's the way they do things in New York, but we're just out of the stone age down here in the sticks. I'm lucky enough to be able to spell my name. Your testimony aside, HD-DVD is AWOL in all of the rental chains in my area.
Regardless of your dislike for Sony, Blu-Ray as a format has potential even outside the movie market. Its a low cost storage alternative, and Blu-Ray burners are becoming more available in desktops and laptops. Outside of playing studio releases, HD-DVD currently has little use. Blu-Ray is better positioned to be the heir to CDs and DVDs.
Spoke too soon. It looks like Toshiba is coming out with a slimline HD-DVD burner. At least they're following Sony's lead on that.
The "sticks" - in the People's Republic of Austin? LOL - that explains it! Blu is the choice of libs (most of the Blubots I see on the forums are rabidly liberal), while HD DVD is the choice of true red-blooded Americans. :-) How's THAT for a marketing paradigm? :-)
One thing I share with many of the effete intellectual libs :-) is a love for foreign films - so yeah, the absence of region coding is important to me. I want to watch what I want, when I want, without Sony or any other manufacturer making it impossible for me to see certain movies. Region-free DVD players have been widely, though unofficially, available for years; that HD DVD decided not to hobble their media is a feather in its cap.