It's nice to get a number that is "official" though I don't know how official ATC's report really is. 25% penetration in the U.S. market sounds about right from industry sources I've seen. 1/2 that not actually using it doesn't really surprise me. A lot of people are buying flat LCDs and Plasmas for the size of the picture afforded in such a compact housing. That is certainly what my parents did. They wanted to put their TV over the fireplace and there is no way that is happening with a CRT or Projection TV. I suspect at some point they will hook up HD but haven't as of yet and they don't seem all that motivated to do so.
With that said, it's really a telling bit of data for the near-term future of HD formats -- both blu-ray and HD-DVD. Until that penetration reaches something more like 50% of households IN USE, I can't see the battle moving forward much.
At first I discounted all the people saying HD DVD and Blu-Ray will both go the way of SACD and HD Audio as something else comes along, but it is entirely possible that another format will arrive that is better than both and is affordable before or as HD sets are the norm rather than the exception.
I hate trolls.
Systems I currently own: 360, PS3, Wii, DS Lite (2)
Systems I've owned: PS2, PS1, Dreamcast, Saturn, 3DO, Genesis, Gamecube, N64, SNES, NES, GBA, GB, C64, Amiga, Atari 2600 and 5200, Sega Game Gear, Vectrex, Intellivision, Pong. Yes, Pong.
