With the dust settling on the hi-def format war, let's take a moment to study how the winner came to be, and where it's going. Written by Francis Vale - For the past couple of years, the recent Hi Def DVD wars looked, on the surface at least, like a tired replay of the original DVD format bake off. But there was much more to this Blockbuster story, as we shall see in a bit. Setting the Stage On one Hi Def DVD side stood Sony and Blu-ray and its new format’s supporters, including Philips, Apple, Disney, Warner Brothers, among other heavy hitters. But, making Blu-ray discs requires an expensive new manufacturing process, driving costs up. Enter the HD DVD crowd, lead by Toshiba, whose numbers included the likes of NEC, Paramount, Intel and Microsoft, along with a slew of others. The HD DVD group loudly touted the ability to make its new discs using a simpler manufacturing process, very similar to making current DVD’s, and keeping costs down. The competing Blu-ray and HD DVD formats quickly became a major food fight, with the hapless consumer getting a big wet pie in the kisser. Sony quickly attacked, saying a major...