It's very true that HDMI can't take all of the blame for the format war (or even any significant portion of it, as there are a number of very large corporations that have worked very hard - and continue to work hard - to earn that blame). Independent of either format, though, HDMI's revisions to their standard have been a source of consumer confusion since before either format announced launch dates. The issues relating to the new HD formats (mainly the issue of multichannel PCM output vs. bitstream output of the new audio formats) are among the more hotly debated ones and can probably be blamed for many companies like Outlaw being cautious about introducing HDMI into their line-ups, but some of HDMI's other problems are unrelated to the format war. I think it's legitimate for folks to be unhappy with non-locking connectors that are prone to slipping loose, HDCP included without some sort of system in place to assure consistent compatibility between manufacturers, capabilities added by revision that should have been included from the beginning to justify HDMI's existence (multichannel PCM being right at the top of that list), and allowing a mix of implementations without any clear identification (such as the HDMI inputs offered by many receivers that don't allow any audio).