Good luck with the "plays perfectly in all existing DVD players" part. At any rate, there is no talk of a new disk format. This is a new player that supposedly does a better job of upconverting SD-DVDs than existing upconverting players do. That's all.
I watched the SD-DVD of Rocky Balboa upconverted by my PS3 and it looked fantastic -- not quite like a BD, but close. I watched the SD-DVD of The Man Who Would Be King upconverted by my PS3 and it looked like garbage (freakin' great movie, though). If this new tech can somehow make crappy...
I have yet to watch any OTA HD content that rivals the quality of a BD or HD-DVD disc. It always suffers to some extent from compression and delivery artifacts. 1080p may not be a huge improvement over 720p for the average person on most sets, but it certainly isn't a "gimmick."
It's still hard to compare a couple of dozen BD titles with a couple of hundred SD-DVD titles (the Walmart shelf selection). But I think this week's $15 sale is a good sign.
You are in a teeny, tiny, infinitessimal minority. (OK, an "elite few." ;) ) At any rate, why would you "have to" rebuy your collection if you buy a BD deck that upconverts SD-DVDs, but not if you buy a deck that only upconverts SD-DVDs? If there aren't enough movies in the world that you...
I wish them much luck in managing 100% compatibility, but I'm not holding my breath. Ever try to play a DualDisc in a PC drive? I would be very surprised if they managed to come up with an entirely new disc layer that doesn't cause any problems in existing players.
If they can pull THAT off then I am ALL FOR IT!!! As for Joe Sixpack, he can't tell the difference between a $75 upconverting DVD player and Blu-Ray on his TV, so I don't know what a more expensive upconverting deck is going to do for him.
If this new technology upconverts SD-DVDs in a NOTICEABLY better way than my PS3 and my HD-A2 do today, I WILL EAT MY OWN BUTT. Ridiculous. But seriously. . .the best SD-DVDs already look very close to HD-quality when upconverted (and I am using a 65" display). There isn't enough room...