DVD really opened the general public's eyes to "HOME THEATER", moreso than laserdisc. It didn't just entice people's appetites for better picture, but also for better hardware. This is why there are so many <$500 HTIB sets at the very stores Jay mentioned. People are buying up HD sets, even though they don't have any HD sources - though in many cases, they are dissatisfied with how these new sets make some of their DVDs - and most of their analog TV signals - look.

Now, with (in most cases) the purchase of another unit, they can have an even better picture to go with their already fantastic sound.

It'll sell.

(BTW, it just occured to me: I've not seen much talk about the sound formats that HD-DVD or Blu-Ray will use. Anyone care to clue me in? AC3, PCM, Meridian Lossless packaging?)

[EDIT] I will say this. On my last trip to Fry's, I saw HD-DVD releases, and they looked rather interesting. However, when I went to the DVD player section, there were no HD-DVD players. At best, I saw players that would upconvert to 720P. Has anyone done any research on those? (not that I intend to spend money on a stopgap technology, but I was just curious.)