Aren't you confusing the steps with the whole stair with your Mpeg exemple ?
Anyway, the facts for me are:
In 1983, they planned to develop what they called the "blue laser". If you think it's linked to the laser discs then ok, why not. But I insist though that George Lucas didn't want to release SW on DVD, waiting for a better format. That's what is strange, and that's why I made the link with the blue ray.
Airbus in France has developped some tactile holographic 4D technologies already that are a revolution for the future and are completely at thousand miles away from your living room and theatres technologies, blue ray or whatever. It's just an exemple for you remember that big companies do what they want, not what you expect, and as specialist as you can be in your area you may probably won't hear about it before years, depending on what they plan to do with that.
... Because all these "big ones" plan things, and it's even more efficient commercialy if you don't know anything about it in the wait.