Who’s afraid of a format war? Not Blu-ray. Apparently they are outselling their competition almost 2-1 so far for 2007.

Home Media Research said (via Reuters) that the high-def format has sold about 2.6 million discs since from January 1 through September 30.

In case you aren’t following: Blu-ray is Sony’s next big thing, while the Toshiba-spawned HD DVD format has been backed by Microsoft from the get-go.

Just don’t go buying Blu-ray their congratulatory bouquet just yet. All of this news comes hot on the heels of yesterday’s report that “Transformers” is set to become the biggest selling high-def disc of all time—on HD DVD. Also, CE Pro says that Paramount and DreamWorks both recently signed a deal that would give HD DVD exclusive releases for the next 18 months.

However, the PlayStation 3 also has a Blu-ray player, which may have given the format a boost in demographics that otherwise might not have plunked down cash to buy one of the pricier players.

Expect holiday sales to heat up the format war, with various dual players coming soon, as well as Sony’s announcement that they’d drop the price of the existing PS3, as well as release a $399 model.

Rachel Cericola - Contributing Writer

Over the past 15 years, Rachel Cericola has covered entertainment, web and technology trends. Check her out at www.rachelcericola.com.