So what exactly does this thing do that my $400 laptop doesn't do? It can't be that difficult to encode a movie in h.264.

I was mainly referring to the absolutely sinister DRM schemes found in the BD protocol vs. HD DVD. Practically everything about HD DVD was more consumer friendly, even on the authoring side.

Yeah...because BD is so consumer friendly and cheap right? Just the news please...not your very uneducated opinion.

It's never good for the consumer when companies duke it out over formats...one side always ends up getting screwed. That said, I wish HD DVD had won. I'll simply say that I cannot wait until Blu Ray's DRM comes and bites everyone in the ass. People also don't realize that it's far more expensive for indie movie makers to release flicks on Blu Ray. HD DVD was truly the consumer friendly format and it was punished for it, ultimately. Lastly, Engadget and Gizmodo really went off the deep end in search of attention during this format war. It was 99% smart ass opinions and 1% news. I've lost respect entirely for both publications...you'll never get another digg from me again.

Blu Ray fans seem to have a short memory when it comes to Sony formats...Last I heard, Sony treats their customers like criminals, and with Macrovision's acquisition of BD+, most likely knowing full well that it was supposedly cracked, something fishy is going on. So keep flocking to Sony like sheep :)

I am so tired of Sony pushing useless, superfluous formats on the public; confusing the marketplace with substandard nonsense, and dragging everything else down with it (DVD-A). Recording studios gave Direct Stream Digital the finger and so will I.