I have no idea what colour the laser will be, but as long as it plays (and hopefully records....) HD I'll be happy!
I think consumers feel alienated if their existing collections become 'obsolete', therefore backwards compatability is essential. Whether the 'HD Laser' reads the 'standard DVD' or a second 'standard' Laser is built into the playback mechanism is probably not critical as long you can still play your existing collection. I believe the average man on the street WILL notice the difference. Every HD demo (not HD DVD though!) I've seen has been breathtaking, with standard DVD playback looking very sad in comparision. Whether the average man is able (and willing) to pay the cost of HD playback and display is another matter......
As to replacing your whole collection- well surely that's optional?
I still have many Laserdisc's I have not and probably will not replace with DVD. Of course there are many titles one would want to replace with HD DVD, but at least the choice is yours.
There is no way that in the medium term future that HD DVD will replace 'standard' DVD-- the two will co-exist, with HD DVD sold as a premium product. I certainly welcome anything that pushes the standard of Audio/Video reproduction forward.
Yummy Fur