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Movies are one of my passions. I will not confess how many times I've seen Star Wars, nor will I admit how many versions of that film I own across multiple media types. However, if I'm to get excited about buying a slick new 1080p HDTV and a next-gen high-definition movie player to go with it, I want the player that can show me the broadest array of movies. And right now, when I pit Blu-ray Disc against HD DVD, Blu-ray has the edge.

As of late February, Blu-ray and HD DVD were just one disc apart in total titles available in the United States (167 for Blu-ray and 168 for HD DVD). However, as with most any numbers game, the quantity of titles does not tell the whole story: Blu-ray's title count includes releases from a greater range of studios than does HD DVD's.

Content Is King, but Who Is King of the World?

If content is the key to winning the format competition, Blu-ray is in the lead.

Buena Vista (Disney), Lionsgate Entertainment, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, and Warner Brothers are all releasing titles on Blu-ray Disc. Of those, all but Paramount and Warner are currently exclusive to Blu-ray.

HD DVD, by contrast, counts only four studios: Paramount, Universal Pictures, Warner, and Weinstein Company. Universal is the sole major Hollywood studio to back HD DVD; Weinstein is the fledging studio of former Miramax Pictures head Harvey Weinstein (in addition to new releases, Weinstein is offering some catalog titles, including Kevin J. Smith's Clerks).

Few moviegoers may know the studios behind the films they enjoy at the multiplex. But if the high-def player you buy accepts only one format, you'll be limited to that format's available titles (the exception to this rule is LG's BH100, the first player to handle both Blu-ray and HD DVD movies, but not all of HD DVD's extras). Pick HD DVD, and you'll get King Kong, Lost in Translation, Midnight Run, and Serenity, for example; all are Universal titles and therefore HD DVD only. Pick Blu-ray, and you'll enjoy Cars, Casino Royale, Eragon, and the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

If Warner Brothers gets its way, though, you won't have to choose which disc to buy. Earlier this year the company introduced its Total HD Disc, a disc that can hold a Blu-ray movie on one side and an HD DVD movie on the other. But Warner remains the only studio backing the technology so far, and the company won't be bringing the discs to market until later this year.

Eventually--depending upon how the struggle plays out as consumers adopt one format or the other--one camp's proponents will have to reconsider their position should the other side gain enough momentum. If such a change does occur, it could tip the balance completely. For example, if Universal were to join Paramount and Warner in offering titles in both formats, the HD DVD format would be in peril. If multiple studios currently and staunchly in Blu-ray's corner were to swing to the other side, Blu-ray's prospects would dim, and the format battle would drag out considerably. And either scenario is possible: None of the studios are in exclusive arrangements with one format over the other.

Ultimately, the studios will go where their sales are. And in this respect, too, Blu-ray is showing signs of inching ahead.

By the Numbers: Next-Gen Disc Sales

The first inkling of how the formats measure up at the cash register came in the form of Home Media Magazine's report of Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data, which showed that Blu-ray has sold 100 units to every 98.71 units of HD DVD since the inception of both formats. And in early February the site High-Def Digest also reported from VideoScan, which tracks the point-of-sale data from all video-distribution channels (brick-and-mortar and online); the results showed that in the first two weeks of January, Blu-ray discs outsold HD DVD by more than a 2:1 margin. (In that time period, 25 new Blu-ray titles shipped in January, compared with 11 titles on HD DVD.)

Much more recently, trade publication Video Business cited industry sources in putting Blu-ray's margin at 2:1 for February too. According to Video Business, estimates show around 250,000 Blu-ray movies sold during February, compared with about 125,000 HD DVD movies. Total disc sales stand at 650,000 for HD DVD and 675,000 for Blu-ray.

The sales numbers even extend to one of the top-selling titles for both formats, Warner's The Departed. The Oscar-winning Scorsese film sold over 20,000 units on Blu-ray and 13,000 on HD DVD, according to Video Business's sources.

I'm wary of drawing conclusions based on these figures--numbers can be parsed in so many ways to tell different stories. But it's a telling trend that I'll be keeping a close eye on. The buying pattern appears to jibe with Sony's recent study, which shows that 90 percent of current PlayStation 3 owners have watched a Blu-ray movie, and that 80 percent of them plan to purchase a Blu-ray movie.