Month in and month out I receive letters from readers about pricing on Blu-ray, and noting that the public won’t buy in until Blu-ray is cheaper. What the public at large will or won’t buy into isn’t quite the same thing as what Home Theater readers will buy and for how much. For you, as a Home Theater reader, how cheap is cheap enough? Cheaper than an iPhone or an iPod? Walking through Costco the other day I saw every day pricing on players that was well below $299, and I’m sure we’ll see cheaper prices around the holidays. But realistically, is Blu-ray cheap enough to make it down your chimney this year? Was there ever a case to make that Blu-ray was genuinely “expensive” to begin with?

Before I get into the 21st century I want you to travel with me. Back in time. In the early 1980’s the first stereo VCR my family bought was $800. More than a decade later, the first DVD players started at $799. Although the first Samsung BD player was priced at $999 (if memory serves) the PlayStation 3 came out within months with a model at $499, and in addition to newer PS3s as low as $399, standalone players below $399 have been readily available for some time now and fully featured players with outstanding performance are now available for $299 and even below.

When I look around and see the proliferation of electronics gadgets that sell in the millions, there are many in the same price category Blu-ray occupies. The iPhone now starts at $199, with a $299 model. The iPod Touch has models selling for $229, $299 and $399. The iPod Classic sells for $249. Can people really not afford Blu-ray, or have they been taught that optical disc players are a ridiculously cheap commodity by the absurd pricing of current DVD players?

Fully featured BD players like the Panasonic DMP-BD35 are now at $299 and falling. I can’t adequately convey the sea change in picture and sound quality one can expect from this relatively modest purchase. We have readers who spend more on exotic cables, power conditioners, and other silver bullets that will never do so much for their systems as one of these players and Blu-rays from Netflix if you don’t feel like buying. Not even close.

So, is this enough in this economy? Is Blu-ray coming to your home theater soon?

I've enumerated the reasons the decision was made to remove the ratings in the first place, and plenty of good arguments were presented on both sides. My hope was that readers wouldn't miss the ratings after we'd implemented the wrinkles of including useful "pro and con" highlights at each review's opening and offering our Top Picks across all product categories so readers would know how each product compares and competes in the larger market. We didn't make the decision to cut the ratings rashly, and wanted to make sure these new elements had some time to take hold with the readers before reversing this decision.

But, as time went by even though many readers and respondents to my Blog posting on the subject were in agreement with our adios to the ratings, the majority of feedback we received over these months has remained constant in favor of bringing them back. So, as I promised in my first editorial, Home Theater was and is the readers' magazine. And we very much hope that you agree that this new strategy works its hardest for you, the reader.

Our new rating system is very straightforward: ratings of 1-5 stars with half stars in three to five pertinent areas. This is effectively a ten point scale, and we feel it requires the least explanation in being so visually oriented. Someone picking up the magazine for the first time will see and understand this system immediately, whether he or she has read any of our From the Test Bench boilerplate or not.

Nearly all products will be rated in the four following areas- Performance, Features, Ergonomics, and Value. Speakers will not be rated on Ergonomics since users don't interact with them once they're set up the same way they do other components. But speakers and HTiBs will also include a rating for Build Quality since that's so critical and based so heavily on the aesthetic appeal of the speakers. Build quality used to be rated for all components reviewed, but with electronics and most other products that aren't speakers we felt this rating was based on inherently superficial findings (we can't take everything apart and do a reliable qualitative parts inventory!).

Unlike the previous system, we are not averaging out the ratings to an overall score. This has many inherent issues. Even if we use some sort of calculation to weight the overall rating toward performance (as the previous system did), the fact is that several factors are still speaking louder than performance in the overall rating. We believe this is contributed to some of the artificially high overall ratings in the previous system. We believe that there's more strength in seeing each rating and letting the reader gauge what's most important to him/herself is the best approach. Tell me if you agree or disagree.

We also need you to know that each rating is specific to the product category and the price range of the component under review. Our reviews are broken down by Entry Level, Midrange and High End price points. While we all like the idea of an absolute scale for performance, how do you account for rating the performance of a $350 AV receiver on the same scale as ones that cost $5k? This isn't a perfect solution, but we're hard pressed to think of one better for an absolute scale that wouldn't involve, for example, putting some kind of cap on performance ratings for entry level products (at least). I'm not going to say I told anyone so, but really, these are the compromises that must be made in rating review products if the ratings are to be rational and useful. Again, if you've got better ideas, this Blog is intended to solicit them. I'd like to hear from you on this.

To recap, starting with January, every issue of Home Theater will feature reviews that open with a meaningful capsule of information At a Glance, a Top Pick logo if the product has made the cut, and a streamlined ratings system. In addition, to place the components reviewed in each issue in perspective with the other current products we've reviewed, all of our Top Picks in all categories are in the back of every issue. We are aiming to arm you with all the knowledge you need to get the best gear your money can buy. Let us know if this system succeeds.

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Last Friday Senior Editor Tom Norton and I were treated to an up close look at Panasonic's new DMP-BD50 Blu-ray Disc player at Panasonic's Hollywood Lab facility. And I'm thrilled to report, at long last, that there's a standalone player that can be recommended without any significant functional caveats.

Now obviously we haven't yet put this player through its paces in our own test systems yet, but it appears to be all that the DMP-BD30 was and more. And most importantly, unlike every other standalone BD player out there it overs all of the major bases well enough that it can be recommended for just about anyone with any system.

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I was strolling through Costco the other day, looking to buy 55 gallons of something I don't need but can't resist at the price, when I saw this flier attached to all the store's HDTVs (forgive on the photo quality- I was shopping and had to use my iPhone's camera).

Mark this day down. I don't know what the cost in pennies is for this flier to get slapped on every HDTV in existence, but I do know it's value: freaking priceless! (I must really like this because I haven't even gone agape at the $950 price tag on this 42" 1080p VIZIO flat panel!)

This answers about 7,000 emails I've received during my time in this biz, succinctly and with perfect clarity.

Not to be a total ingrate, but why has it taken this many years into this HDTV transition to execute something so perfectly helpful? I know I hadn't suggested it, but then it's not my job to peddle HDTVs and make people happy with their purchases either.

Still, hooray! This simple idea, perfectly executed, is exactly the kind of thing we need more of in this HD era. Throw in a reference to a Blu-ray player being one of these HD sources and this thing really takes off!

But now that the format war is solved, the real work begins: getting consumers at large to embrace HD on a disc in a market crowded with more ways than ever before to obtain and consume media. While flat panel HDTVs are flying off the shelves, it's not even clear how much of the general public knows high-def sources are required for them to actually see a high-definition image.

While year one indicators for the HD formats showed a pace that was actually ahead of where DVD was in its first year, that pace slackened dramatically in year two. Software sales are shockingly low in absolute numbers, and if you take away the PS3 the hardware numbers aren't big shakes either. Even relatively modest forecasts for player penetration and dollar figures for 2007 were re-jiggered ever downward by both camps.

Blu-ray manufacturers and studios are betting that confusion over the format war has been holding people back, and now the path is clear for Blu-ray to make an impact.

But just what threshold will indicate success? And how fast will any degree of success become apparent? I ask the first question simply because that is something that will need to be re-defined. I don't believe that any physical medium will ever be as ubiquitous as the DVD was. Between Video-On-Demand from cable and satellite providers and downloads and other network applications (from PS3 to Vudu to Xbox Live) there is simply too much competition. Just how much success can Blu-ray really look forward to compared to its predecessor?

DVD had huge advantages in following the clunky, low quality VHS tape and coming before these other applications. And since a huge selling point of BD players is being backward compatible with DVD, average consumers can and probably will be far choosier about the catalog titles they replace with BD versions than they were replacing their VHS tapes with DVDs.

And can whatever broad success BD is bound to have happen fast enough to prevent inferior but more convenient download models from taking greater hold? Take a look at Sony's own PlayStation 2- a larger library of games and cheaper prices had that seemingly dated console outselling the PS3 often in 2007. PS3 has time on its side while developers come up with new games and prices drop, perhaps even years, as PS2's sustained success shows. BD might not have the same luxury in time.

And as I've frequently commented, Blu-ray can do more to clean up its hardware specs and improve the end user experience. The speed and relability of playback must get a lot smoother if mass adoption is to be driven by positive word of mouth and user satisfaction. Hopefully a raft of of faster, less expensive players will carry Blu-ray to big success this holiday season.

Late last week I had a chance to speak directly with Ken Graffeo, who has a high ranking position with Universal Home Entertainment and is co-president the HD DVD Promotional group. Ken and the group wished to clear the air on the running rumor mills and talk about Universal and HD DVD's plans in the post-Warner decision world.

We covered a lot of ground in this conversation, but first and foremost Ken wanted to make clear that it's far too early to start making decisions about Universal dropping HD DVD support or even adding Blu-ray support. Toshiba is stepping up with an aggressive marketing campaign with even lower player prices, and there are some HD DVD exclusive high profile new release titles coming up in this first quarter, including Universal's own American Gangster and Paramount's Beowulf.

Graffeo essentially said that Universal currently "has no plans for dual-format" and as long as Toshiba is not only selling players but spending money aggressively to market them, Universal is taking a wait and see approach before deciding it's really curtains for HD DVD.

Further, according to Graffeo, the message from retailers at CES was business as usual so far as supporting both HD DVD and Blu-ray are concerned.

Graffeo said there is no time line for a Universal decision, and at least at this point doesn't regard June 1st, the date after which Warner will no longer be supporting HD DVD, as an imposed deadline.

Graffeo repeated that HD DVD and Universal will go where the consumers are. These next several weeks will be interesting to watch. While there was certainly a dearth of new release HD DVD titles in the time surrounding Warner's big decision, I was floored by the apparent, immediate impact in software sales the week after Warner's announcement, which tilted to 85% for Blu-ray against just 15% for HD DVD. Additionally, while we've not seen any major announcements from the Best Buys or Wal-Marts of the world, Video Business has reported that some retailers are pushing Blu-ray front and center and pushing HD DVD aside.

It will be also interesting to see if Toshiba can maintain or increase the momentum it gained in the fourth quarter of 2007 with hardware sales. And even if it does, will it matter if none of the other Blu-ray studios defect or Warner doesn't re-think its current stance? Will retailer support remain past the sales on existing inventory? Will consumers buy even $150 players to play high-def movies from two studios?

These questions will be answered in the coming weeks or perhaps months as the sales figures come out. But in the meantime, HD DVD doesn't yet believe that this format war is settled.

Since Warner dropped its bomb on the format war on January 4th, the clock has been ticking on Universal and Paramount, the remaining HD DVD exclusive studios. When are they going to give up the ghost and go Blu?

Reports flew fast and furious over the next week that Paramount had an "out clause" in its contract with HD DVD, and that Universal's own pact with HD DVD was at a close, not to be renewed again. But what have we actually heard from either studio? Some pretty stock statements that they are still "currently" supporting HD DVD. Read: at this moment, right here and now, etc. , etc. No new title announcements, nothing significant that could possibly constitute a significant vote of confidence for the embattled format let alone a boost.

Toshiba recently announced a "new marketing strategy," which seems eerily similar to the old one but with even deeper discounts. The entry-level HD-A3 is now $149, the 1080p step-up HD-A30 $199 and the top of the line HD-A35 just $299. Is this about fighting back and gaining market share, or is it about dumping remaining inventory? And by not making their obvious plans public, Universal and Paramount considering broader consumer market interests or being good partners to Toshiba?

The perception here and elsewhere is that the war is over, and all that is left is for these two studios to make it official. Even the potential for an unforeseen shift seems all the more unforeseable at this point. Regardless of the deals in place, it appears that there's less incentive than ever for any of the Blu-ray studios to defect. HD DVD is clearly at its weakest, and there is a clarity in the format war we haven't seen since its inception. Even if the players are cheap, does even $150 seem like a good investment to watch high-def movies from just two studios? It's hard to imagine a significant upturn in market share on player hardware turing the tides with the software support being what it is.

I've written as much as anyone about all the things HD DVD did right. It delivered everything it said it would and much more. I'd have had no gripes qualitiatively or otherwise if HD DVD had come out on top and landed the kill shot. It offered the best interactivity, and the most stable platform- first-gen players can all play the latest and greatest features on today's discs. Blu-ray is still fumbling along trying to find the best marketing slang to ease its messy hardware compatibility issues with BD interactivity.

HD DVD also set the bar for HD picture quality high right out of the gate, forcing Blu-ray to clean up its act early on when it released sub-par titles. And it did all of that at prices that we couldn't afford to ignore, which in turn drove down Blu-ray's prices faster than they'd have come down left to their own devices prices. Hd DVD fought the good fight and fought it extraordinarily well for longer than anyone thought possible.

And all of that still wasn't quite enough. The market has spoken, and it's time for Universal and Paramount to make it official and put an end to this chapter so we can move forward and establish HD on a disc as a viable consumer medium. Quick, before Apple or someone else makes inferior downloads stick!