ok...im new to the whole hd dvd/blu ray thing. i was wanting some opinions. which do you guys prefer? and why?

There are 14,782 threads --- give or take --- discussing this very topic in the HD Talk area. Maybe run a search or something.

All you need to know is that the picture quality and audio quality are exactly the same. The only question in your mind should be which format has more of the movies that YOU want to own.

What Salty said.