There is no winner in this format war – and even if there was, it will be short lived. As they fight each other out, many seem to forget the underlying technology that makes HD possible on both optical disks is the H.264 video compression. And H.264 isn’t exclusive to either disc; it is actually the opposite as the standard was developed to be as flexible as possible. You’ll see it implemented not only on optical media, but on low and high resolution video files, broadcast, RTP/IP packet networks, and multimedia telephony systems. But the best for last is H.264’s integration into Flash 9 – giving fans of video streaming sites something to be excited about. Look how fast this HD video stream loads under Flash 9.

Downloading and streaming high definition movie files (both .FLV and .MOV) is increasingly becoming both quick and convenient through the combination of the H.264 compression codec, high-speed internet connections (getting faster constantly as Rogers now offers 16mbit down connections, and Verizon offers 20mbit), cheap hard disk storage, and decreasing bandwidth costs – the perfect storm. It resembles the MP3 phenomenon of 2001 that was accelerated by Winamp and Napster.

The Net Generation norms include Speed (we want things NOW), Freedom (when and where WE want them), and Entertainment (keep everything fun will you?). As David pointed out earlier in his post here, we Net Gener’s are not against spending money. We’ve grown up in fruitful times (which may be ending very soon), and have always been able to scrounge up money to spend (credit – could be why things may turn bad now). A lot of us choose to pirate because it’s just that much more convenient and flexible. We can grab the files via Bit-Torrent, watch them when we want on our PCs, burn them into a DVD, resize them for our iPods and mobiles. One file – many screens.Consumer electronics are quickly becoming networked internet appliances – many TVs and set-top boxes already have integrated Ethernet ports. From the other end, computers are showing up in the living in the form of home-theatre PCs. The saturation of internet connected devices with displays is far higher than any HD optical disk player.

Content delivery networks (CDN) are the backbone of delivering this rich media to users on demand and have seen large venture capital funding rounds as large as $97M this year. With this advancement there has been an influx of online movie rental portals with big names such as NetFlix, Amazon, and even Blockbuster entering the space (who has started to close brick and mortar locations). A set-top box called the VUDU has also entered the market, which is a unique combination of traditional consumer electronic device (much like TiVo) which connects to the internet and allows you to download for purchase or rental, DVD or HD quality movies as quickly as it is available in stores.

So this holiday season, don’t fret over HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. Actually, don’t ever make this decision, because I believe that 2008 and beyond belongs to the digital file.