Early adopters are always at risk of further developments by ‘the industry’ and ‘the market.’ Some developments are touted ‘to benefit consumers’ but are almost always in self-interest for all or part of the industry. Sometimes it’s one industry conglomerate competing against another for dominance, as was Betamax versus VHS. We can lament and assign blame all we want, but these kinds of uncertainties will be with us for the foreseeable future.

I wanted to adopt SACD and DVD-A earlier than I did, but didn’t due to the cost. When it became more affordable earlier this year I did buy in, but I am still disappointed in the availability of good material that makes full use of the potential in these formats. SACD and DVD-A source materials are out of the infant stage and muddling about somewhere between toddler and elementary, in my view. If these flop in the consumer market or are replaced by something better, which succeeds in the marketplace, I haven’t lost much.

HDTV, while very nice, I consider in the toddler stage – up and walking, yes, but without sure footing in some respects of both technology in the marketplace and with regard to source material. We’ve seen HDTV demonstrated for years, and some of us have already taken the plunge to see a few hours here and there in the lower to middling HDTV standards, but for me there is still too much yet to be determined, developed and delivered in the HDTV universe to warrant the gamble. It’s close, but for my dollars versus the remaining uncertainties, not quite there yet.