Update: See an interview with Philips representative John Morog at the Electronic House Expo. Morog discusses the BDP9000:

http://tinyurl.com/sse2x

***Edit to my previous post***
Now that I think of it, the 360 add-on does support the DTS and DTS-EX soundtracks, as I just watched CARS in SD on the THX-EX soundtrack. It does NOT yet support it for HD-DVD, so I suspect this is a licence issue, not a hardware issue. And for the record, the add-on does practically nothing, just sends the stream to the 360, the 360 itself does all the processing and output.

This has turned into a debate of “potential”, not practicallity. While the Blu-Ray has the potential for higher storage, in practicallity it serves little purpose at this point. Does that make BD “Forward Thinking”? Not really, because of the method by which BD facilitates this storage on the same size disc (via narrower beam on the substrate closer to the surface) it means the disc is inherantly more vulnerable to damage/data loss. If BD was forward thinking, why do (most) BD movies come encoded in the MPEG-2 format vs. the VC-1 and newer codecs that are in use? I have yet to hear any arguement for Blu-Ray that touts anything other than its potential storage capacity. As for the Xbox add-on, which I have, the DDS downmix is a perfect example of giving the user an option (The option to have MOST of the potential NOW, at a reasonable price). Part of the expense in the “fuller featured” drives is licensing the decoders for other codecs. If MS decides to support it, and the built-in Sound device can support it, it can be added later via updates. HDMI? Do the research, bandwidth potential is greater via componant cables, so 1080p’s hold back is only HDCP handshaking. Xbox360 does not have HDMI because it has no digital head on the video output, not because MS doesn’t like us. I challenge anyone to bring a BD machine to my house, connect it to my Yamaha 2600 and my Sony 60: SXRD XBR1 and show me a sound and picture dicernably better than what my 360 HD is offering me for $200.

If all that you want is cheap HD video, then by all means, buy Toshiba or Microsoft, but I also want new games that are designed for HD.  Microsoft’s add-on is for watching movies only at this point.  For those guys claiming that HD DVD is superior to Blue-ray, they just don’t know what they are talking about.  When you really understand the underlying technologies and capabilities, Blue-ray is more forward thinking and future-proof than HD DVD, in terms of storage capacity, interactive technology, connectivity to the Internet, etc…  For my computer or TV recorder, I want a disc that can store 200Gb instead of 90Gb, currently, Blue-ray 50Gb vs. 25Gb HD DVD.
HDMI is not only about delivering 1080p video, instead of 1080i, it also carries the digital audio above 5 channels.  Professional reviewers of the technology have found that the older component video outputs, or conversion cables to HDMI yield mixed results, depending on your TV.
As for price, I can still spend $1000, but buy a PS3 and Toshiba XA-2, both with HDMI, and have the best of both worlds.  This market is not only about different formats, it addresses people who have different needs, wants and goals, as well as different wallets.  We are still much too early in this technology, to see how the various media producers are going to exploit it.  Choose what is best for You…

Who cares about 1080p!  Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray use a 1080p/24 encoding.  This can be converted to 1080p/60 or 1080i/60 without loosing any info.  Any decent TV can de-interlace 1080i and produce the same quality image.  Read http://www.projectorcentral.com/retailing_HD-DVD_Blu-ray.htm for more into.

The Toshiba A2 will be fine for me at $450.  I have an HDMI capable receiver, so see no advantages to go to Blu-Ray or the XA2.

Both technology are pretty much equivalent.  The big advantage of HD-DVD is price!  Why pay more?