I am talking about the states only right now sorry if it was thought i ment the world

the best numbers i could find say 42% (2005 numbers) of population of the USA have a highspeed service, though i could not get definition of coverage for highspeed networks (dsl and faster) overall internet usage is at 68.1% (2005 numbers (72% current)) of the population of the USA, this would put majority of users on high speed. though from what i read, there seems to be issues with discovering why it is not higher, as companies hold some of the information as proprietary for business.

http://www.internetworldstats.com/am/us.htm one of the more usefull sites 

its because of the economy, not blu ray itself.

DSL might have a smaller coverage than cable.  The entire verizon network has ceased expansion of DSL due to the FIOS upgrade of their network.  Aside from cable and satellite broadband expansion has almost ceased in the united states.  The only place you will find dsl expansion within the States, are housing developments where a national developer has a contract for dsl installation.  I know in comcast's region they are not expanding service areas for awhile as they are overhauling adelphias network, still.  Expect broadband expansion to continue to slow, as they are having their own preffered medium battle (fiber).  I live in one of the fasted sprawling areas of the country and I can tell you broadband is not as readily available as it seems.

Edit:  I just wanted to add, this is a good hearty debate and we are both obviously understanding the constraints of both "format's", just from different "sides."

agree with the debate part, one of the tings i enjoy on these boards in particular.

I had thought verizons FIOS update was done, i know AT&T scrapped their update plan. AT&T though si who is pushing dsl, they have to legally due to a few bills passed in congress, i dont remember the deadline, but sometime in the next 5 years, anyone who can use AT&T has to be able to get dsl, or an equivelent if AT&T contracts it out. 

comcast and others, areslowing down, but they have issues with that too, here in tennessee, if they slow down they have to pay fines, due to the way loacl laws are written, knology faces this issue in our area, they have filed for several extentions. 

I expect govement intervention if things start really slowing down, normally im against such things, but comunications networks are of vital importance, and we as a country can not wait around for people to dick around.

the IPV6 rollout is also slowing things down, but is nesisary 

It's good to note that last years supporters of HDDVD and the 360 add on are now all for digital downloads.

yeah comcast has an extension here too due to the adelphia buyout from years ago.  A family member worked for comcst for a year and he said you wouldn't believe how bad adelphia's network was maintain/controlled.  In fact one of the major reasons for the broadband use increase in 2005 was adelphia's controleld market being opened up.  In a county nearby, 70% of the county was hardwired by adelphia, however only towns/cities with localized populations of 1000 or more had their flow opened.  Reason behind closed flows was maintenence costs vs profits.  Comcast is opening all these constrained areas up now, but discovering huge issues in the network.

I know a lot of networks are also lobbying for waivers on fines since they are trying to upgrade to fiber.  Locally verizon was successful in the waiver of dsl expnsion, but only if they hardwire the existing dsl network with fiber and all new subdivisions with fiber.  It really is a mess and another fine example of too many medium to choose from.

Didn't AT&T sell part of their planned update areas/contract out to verizon recently?

Dish is stating that all HD VOD channels are 1080p, but perhaps that's incorrect.

You are correct that not all "HD" channels are 1080p.  Then tend to be 1440x1080i, depending on the network feed.

Still, I have a Sony Bravia 40" LCD set and have a difficult time telling any difference between HD-DVD quality and what I see on Dish HD channels that are running "1080", or even "720" for that matter.  The movies and shows that were recorded in an "HD" format look VERY good.

So, I don't imagine Joe TV Watcher is going to go for Blu-ray over HD satellite because Blu-ray looks so-much-better, because to the untrained eye it doesn't look much different at all... both beat the daylights out of standard-res programming.  It's going to come down to how determined Joe TV Watcher is to "own" movies vs. simply watch them a time or two.  I prefer to own my own disks, but that's just me.

I have 31 HD-DVD movies for my 360/HD-DVD-player, but I prefer HD discs over download.  I'm waiting for Blu-ray players and disc to fall in price, but I do find HD programming on DISH to be VERY compelling, video-wise.

The way I look at it is that Blu-ray will still be popular, but only for content people really want to keep. DD will be for most movies and TV shows that will be watched once or twice, which is still a very large part of the market. IMO, Blu-ray will never capture the market like DVD but will probably be like audio cassetes, a stopgap between records and CDs.

no networks broadcast beyond 1080i right now so the only thing Dish can provide in 1080p is vod, and even that is limited.  They do have an edge but considering the cost for their hd packages It may or may not be worth it to you.