With Sony announcing a UK release date of 17 November for its Blu-ray equipped Playstation 3, and Microsoft saying it'll be releasing its HD DVD drive for Xbox 360 at roughly the same time, it looks as though we're on for a full-on format war as widely predicted.

What are your opinions on this? Are we ready, or indeed willing to have another format war? Is high definition video an attractive propostion or is DVD more than good enough?

Having seen a few excellent upscaling DVD players in action recently, I have no real interest in HD DVD.

It was only a couple of years ago since I binned all my VHS tapes for DVD and I'm not prepared to do the same again just yet!

Add-on drives for games consoles have nearly always been a disaster - think Mega CD for one.

I really think Microsoft should have waited a year and put HD DVD in the xbox 360 as standard. They've clearly rushed the release of the console to give it a head start over the PS3.

I think the PS3 will win out in the end as it has a loyal following and by all accounts is by far the superior machine.

As for the Blu-ray v HD-DVD debate, I'm not sure either will make it into our homes as the preferred medium for storing movies. DVD has only truly established itself in the last couple of years and in the not too distant future we'll all be downloading our high def movies from the net anyway.

The hope is that we'll get an high end audio format as a bi product. SACD just wasn't good enough for anyone to make the switch.

Sony will try to stuff blu-ray down peoples throats but the fact is the PS3 will be too expensive. From what I've seen of the Hi Def game content the Ps3 can produce (Assassins Creed, etc at E3)it's obvious the PS3 is about half a generation ahead of the 360 and whatever Nintendo bring out with regards power ... but at what cost? 360 will have been out a year by the time Sony bring their console to market and it will make ALL the difference. M$ just did what Sony did with the PS2.

Anyway to answer the question, any format war previously has been decided by the format the porn industry chooses, and HD-DVD being the cheaper to mass produce at the mo they will probably go for that. Blu-ray is good, don't get me wrong, it's just the market isn't ready for it yet.

Looks as though Microsoft are going to ship the Xbox 360 with an internal HD-DVD drive in the near future. Could be interesting - HD-DVD and Blu-Ray going head to head in the console wars. Surely this is where it'll be won or lost.

Does anyone know if the HD DVD Player will require a HDMI output? Or does it just run off from the 360's HD cables?

Like the Sky HD box the first generation add on may give an output via the current 360 HD cables. Once they build it into the main unit rest assured it will be HDMI, the clock is already ticking for protection on all true HD output formats. Lets hope they get HDCP system right before its stuffs your new plasma screen into a lock out.