Next week’s E3 video game conference could prove pivotal for a multibillion dollar high-definition DVD standards war brewing in Hollywood.

A survey of high-volume DVD users by online DVD trading company Peerflix on Wednesday showed that about one in five may buy high-definition DVD players or discs in 2006.

No big surprise. Between the high price of the early units, the format war, the low number of titles, and uncertainty over support for features like Managed Copy – only the dedicated early adopters are going to jump on either side. Personally, I’ll probably buy a PS3 when they come out this fall as my first BD system.

While high-definition DVD titles trickle into stores, the arrival of the first titles in the rival Blu-ray Disc format has been pushed back by a month until June 20.

It makes sense – the discs were going to be out a month before the players. A simultaneous launch is a better idea. I just wish the planned pricing on BD systems was lower to cut into the pricing advantage HD-DVD has. Toshiba basically decided to take the hit to push the retail price down.