With popular titles coming in both video formats, college students intent on satisfying their high-definition needs are trying to be very careful not to choose the wrong side when investing their hard-earned cash in the 21st century version of Betamax.

The battle between Blu-Ray and HD DVD continues to rage as new developments emerge.

“I’d probably wait until one format was going to win over the other,” said Aaron Thiese, junior in finance. “I want to see what’s going on before getting stuck with useless movies.”

Recently, 1,000 students nationwide responded to a Facebook survey with surprising results. 643 students said they would purchase HD DVD; only 357 said they would choose Blu-ray.

Contrary to the results, the movie rentals at Hastings Books Music & Video, 620 Lincoln Way, are almost exclusively in the Blu-ray format.

“Although we have very few people asking for any high-definition over normal DVDs, they’re almost always Blu-ray,” said employee Benjamin Eichhorn, junior in management. “We could be getting residual business off Blockbuster.”

Currently, Blockbuster only provides Blu-ray discs for rental, in addition to the normal DVD format.

Eichhorn said the Xbox 360, which plays HD DVD with an extra attachment, sells much better than the PlayStation 3, which plays the opposing Blu-ray format; but even if Sony’s console fails to gain a strong foothold in the market, when the dust settles, their disc may still be the clear winner.

Whichever format consumers choose to purchase, unless they spend money for both disc players they will be unable to play certain movies.

In response to public demand, stores such as Target are focusing solely on the more expensive Blu-ray discs and players.

Although HD DVD players are around $200 cheaper, the discs have less memory capability.

“I’m still hoping for a player that’ll play both, but they’re going to fight it out,” Eichhorn said. “I know I’m going to be waiting for the clear winner, but I’ll probably end up using Blu-ray because of the higher storage and computer functions that I’d use. The price is certain to come down once it’s more dated.”

Technology Web site www.arstechnica.com recently reported that Blu-ray manufacturers refused to let pornography be released on the discs, effectively casting their fate on the future of HD DVD.

Even the pornography industry has been forced to release films on HD DVD, which may persuade choices.