Yeah, I think you have the right of it, although I’m not sure about whether anyone will have a “Blu-Ray + traditional DVD player” any time soon- there are quite a few technical problems to overcome.

Both of the technologies have digital rights management- basically, a way for the owner of the copyright to control how you watch their content. Of the two, HD DVD seems to at least recognize that you should have the right to watch the movie you bought on, say, both your computer and the video player under your TV. Blu-Ray would have restrictions that would allow it to work only on one or the other- you’d need two copies if you wanted to watch it on two different devices. Personally, I’m not very fond of either approach- if I pay $20 for a movie, I figure I should be able to watch it however I dang well please. But Blu-Ray bothers me the most…especially since its Sony’s technology, and they are already well known for their disrespect of user’s rights (I.E.: their auto-installing root kit on their audio CDs).

Anyway, I’m not sure that either approach is really a “win” for the consumer. Time will tell….