people are identifying Blu-Ray disks as a kind of HD-DVD as well, and the superior HD-DVD at that.
Really? Over at AVS Forum, the general opinion on picture quality is almost entirely in favor of HD-DVD. Better codec and more disc capacity. (The BD spec allows for double-layer discs that will be larger than HD-DVDs, and advanced video codecs, but we haven't seen them yet.) With a lower price (by hundreds of dollars) and better performance, HD-DVD has a much better demonstrated price/performance ratio.