This New York Post article reports that analysts are already giving the next-gen disk war win over to Blu-Ray thanks to sales of Blu-Ray movies now outpacing HD-DVD movies by three to one. The sales increases are in part due to the Playstation 3's included Blu-Ray disk player which has helped to boost the interest in Blu-Ray movies. Here is a snip:

Not so fast, says Ken Graffeo of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, the only major studio exclusively supporting the embattled HD DVD format, which was developed by Toshiba. (Warner Home Video and Paramount Home Video are producing titles in both formats for now.) Graffeo blames the recent surge for Blu-ray on the paucity of new titles on HD DVD - about half the number of titles released by Blu-ray since the beginning of the year - and argues Blu-ray sales are actually much lower than you would expect, given the huge number of PS3s out there. "You can't determine a trend over a couple of months," says Graffeo, who notes that total sales for both formats are roughly equal since their introductions last year.

But some experts are ready to play taps for the HD DVD format - and are saying it's safe to buy Blu-ray players without fear they'll end up being sold as relics on eBay. Alison Casey, who analyzes consumer trends for London-based Understanding & Solutions, predicts that retailers will pull the plug on HD DVD sometime next year. "They never wanted two formats. It confuses consumers and creates problems with them with returns," Casey told The Post. "They're looking to go to a single format as soon as possible." In Casey's view, the many studios providing movies on Blu-ray, along with its inclusion in the PS3 (listing for $500, about the same as the cheapest HD DVD player) gives it an insurmountable advantage over HD DVD. (An attachment to play HD DVD discs is available as a $200 add-on for Xbox.) And she says Sony's advantage will increase if the electronics giant makes good on its promise to drop prices for Blu-ray players - currently about $800 - to $600 this summer and below $300 by the end of the year.