Hey I0540, I was lucky enough to be in Las Vegas for CES this year and i have seen both BlueRay and HD-DVD drives in PC's. Sony had a Vaio playing a BlueRay Movie, the name of the Movie is on the tip of my tounge but i cant remember it, some Japanese thing. I have seen a difference with some cables compared to others, a £30 cable we well is better than the cheap £5 one, but the £30 is not better or worse than the £120 thx one, so i guess there is a con there to a degree. Getting the right conectivity is the key as scart is not the best connection going.
Remember there will be four types of HD 720I, 720P, 1080I and 1080P, Canon and Sony make a Camcorder that records 1080I.
I dont follow this stuff in depth, just touch on the basics, but i am sure there will always be a work around for copying, i remember when DVD's couldn't be coppied, then they could. Security is tighter on the next Generation, but i doubt its impossible to crack. I am told that Sky HD is copy protected, but i have downloaded a HD version, or what says is HD version of a few discovery channel shows. I cant tell if they are real as a 30 minute show in HD will be three gigs i think.
http://www.blu-raydisc.com
http://www.hddvdprg.com