With the invention of HD DVD and Blu Ray discs also comes the fall of prices on regular DVDs, or maybe only partially the cause. Regular DVDs have been out for a long time now, and prices have come down a lot since then. When drop shipments of hundreds of thousands of dvds come out for $1-$2 apiece, and even places like wal-mart selling select dvds for $1 apiece, it can some times be hard to shell out $30 for an HD DVD or Blu Ray disc.
Places like amazon, half.com, and ebay have definately had their impact on the very competitive dvd market.
Let's not forget the prices of Selectivision CED Video Discs, some times $100 or more per movie, and even laserdisc, some of which were as high as $200 ($220 for phantom menace) or more (average was probably $25-$50.)
Before there was dvd, there were VHS movies, which could usually be found used for cheap at flea markets. Now days, they can be had anywhere from .50 cents to $2, almost any movie you would want.
But now, we're in the digital age. When you look upon store shelves, there aren't any large sections dedicated to VHS. Large stores may carry the newest and most popular movies for a limited time only.
Let's just say you have an HD DVD player or Blu Ray player and $100 to spend, but the movies aren't as affordable as normal DVDs. So, what now? Do you buy appx 3x HD DVD or Blu Ray Movies, or do you buy 10x or more regular dvds? Do you write off hd dvd or bd thinking it may not ever make it, or do you stop buying regular dvds because they're becoming obsolete? Is HD worth it to you?
It's just what I would do as a customer.
I would only get the very best movie I deem worthy of purchase on an HD DVD (its libary is growing) and, if desirable, the rest of the leftover money on standard discs. If HDTVs are doing well then why wouldn't HD DVDs also do well? They are a proven format with very good support, and they look better anyway. (Blu-ray is still in its early stages and as of now, it is struggling to win an audience.)
That's what I would do.
HD and Blu-Ray... honestly, I don't even care. The systems at this point are too expensive for me, and with nearly their entire selection (actually, pretty sure it IS the entire selection) being released on a format I already own, I have no need to update.
I probably will eventually, just think of what's possible with the sheer amount of data space on each disc... an entire TV series on two discs? Multiple movies on a single disc? The Blu-Ray has more space on it I know, and is capable of 9 hours straight of video, that's most of an anime series right there (taking into account an hour for each episode and a 13-episode run, and even THEN it might be able to get the whole thing on there!), while the HD I haven't heard specs like that for... yet.
For what's capable on those formats, I'm looking forward to the future, but for now... my DVD player works just fine, and it has the selection I like.
At vc1 (another version of mpeg-4) compression, you could get a full standard definition movie on less than 2 gigs at great quality. With older broadcast tv series and cartoon series, they'd probably do good even with less. You could probably get between 10 and 20 tv shows on each HD DVD - maybe even more than that - It all depends on quality.