Like Election night coverage on the networks, the first precincts are reporting in the HD-DVD/Blu-ray battle – and the numbers are just as meaningful. The sample is to small to call. High-Def Digest reports that Blu-ray has the early lead, but a closer look at the numbers shows sales are minuscule.

According to Sony’s own report, most titles have sold a couple of thousand discs to date, but several have sold only a couple of hundred copies – and these are films you’ve actually heard of. Considering NetFlix and Blockbuster guarantee a few dozen sales of everything ever projected, effectively no one has bought many titles.

It appears my earlier assertion that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 would speed the adoption of these formats is in question. The Nintendo Wii, with no next-generation drive, is leading sales of gaming units by a significant margin.

Until clients have become familiar with the format through first-hand experience, don’t expect them to be clamoring for next-generation authoring services. Maybe Christmas ’07 will get the snowball rolling.