PC or standalone, does anybody know when they're coming out and how much they'll cost?

Useless IMO, think about all the protections and restrictions they have to come with...

It may be worth reading through the news on the main page as there has been quite lot of news about potential launch dates for both Blu-ray and HD DVD.

Toshiba has recently delayed their launch of HD DVD players. While they don't have a confirmed launch date, Warner brothers expects to start shipping HD DVD movies on April 18th, so chances are that the launch will be around this time, particularly since Warner brothers have been one of the first major studios to announce HD DVD movies. Toshiba will have two players - an entry level one at US$499 and a more advanced player at US$799. See this news article for some further info. So far, no other manufacturers have any HD DVD drives ready for launch and LG has only recently announced that they will begin making HD DVD players.

The Blu-ray format has been delayed several times already due to AACS copy protection support issues. Sony expects to begin shipping movies on Blu-ray from May 23, which is also the predicated time for the launch of Blu-ray disc players. Unfortunately, Blu-ray players will start off very expensive with the cheapest models starting at around $1,000!

So far, there is little clear news going about the launch of Blu-ray or HD DVD PC drives. However, pricing has already been announced for TDK's Blu-ray media, which is expected to be €15, €20, €35 and €45 for 25GB BD-R, 25GB BD-RE, 50GB BD-R and 50GB BD-RE media respectively. TDK's media is expected to hit the shops in April, so there is a good chance that we can expect to see Blu-ray writers becoming available around then. HD DVD writers and media is also expected to launch around April, particularly since Toshiba has announced a laptop with an internal HD DVD drive, which is predicted to launch around April. So far, I haven't come across any confirmed retail pricing for PC Blu-ray or HD DVD drives or HD DVD media.

I suppose your talking about movies. You think they won't crack the protection? Anyway they will still have a big use in storing data.

AACS is still not finalized and you speak about cracking it...........

Blu-Ray writers available April? What you smokin? Correct me if I'm wrong but Blu-Ray players won't be ready till fall/winter, and recorders I would think even later than that. Now I know hd-dvd players are coming out April but as you said there's no clear info on when the recorders will come out, and I think we'll have to wait longer than April for those hd-dvd recorders as the players always come out first and you have to wait for the recorders.

Well I know hd-dvd players protection is finalized, their players are coming out in a couple of weeks. Now Blu-Ray AACS is not finalized but I'm not really interested in Blu-Ray since they're taking so long. Still you don't think it'll be cracked when it is done?

AACS is NOT finalized. Early HD DVD and Blu Ray players will use an interim version of AACS. It looks like one of the things sacrificied using the interim versions of AACS is no managed copy for either platform on initial releases.

There won't be copying of any kind without an internet connection and "product activation".

I read about that in an article but they discounted it saying it would be impossible to require an internet connection cause you would alienate the masses. Really how could you ask people to connect to the internet with a standalone, it would be ridiculous. Maybe with pc drives but it's still ridiculous.

Believe it. the content itself will require this if you try to record. this is the reason for HDMI. You can play the title all you want, but only copy it with permission.
Obviously, with a simple player this is not an issue, unless you try to output the content to a recorder via HDMI. Even recording off-air content will in theory require the same permission if the provider says so.
So it is entorely possible that a recorder will not really be able to record anything at all, at least in HD.

...and only be able to copy it if the copyright holder has allowed that definitely!

Even if a company had a plan to release a drive that can write to both HD DVD and Blu-ray, it would not release such an important information in public before first presenting at COMDEX or Computex or Cebit.

I'm sure every major DVD writer manufacturer that has own technologies and licenses is preparing exactly for such a product. And that's also what I hear (and read) always when asking such questions.