The DVD bizbiz's high-def format war inched one step closer Tuesday, when the first wave of Blu-ray movies hit shelves a few days before the first players officially go on sale.
The initial launch appeared to go smoothly — unlike the rival HD DVD launch in mid-April, there were no immediate reports of delays — but its impact is mitigated by the fact that most consumers won't be able to actually play the discs until next week. Also not clear: how big a push electronics stores will give the software until they can set up displays with the pricier players.

Simply by getting all seven slated Blu-ray discs to stores Tuesday, Sony bested the low bar set by the HD DVD format in mid-April, when Warner homevid and Universal homevid got three out of four planned launch titles to most stores on street date. However, the Blu-ray discs still appeared nearly a month later than originally skedded; early last month, Sony delayed its discs when Samsung could not meet its skedded May 23 sale date for the first Blu-ray player…

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