There are perhaps different ways of looking at it. We all thought that CD will be replaced by DVD-A or SACD, and a few years down the line we're still listening to normal CD's (I'm talking about the majority of people). But the thing is SACD is aimed at the audiophile purist market, and the majority of people jut don't care about good sound.
We live in a time where HT feature pact equipment rules the market. If its a 5.1 ch amp, its got no value anymore, if it doesn't have HDMI its got no value, and HD tv's are pushed in the same way in chain chops etc. that I think it might just take off sooner than we might expect.
I must say however, that a few demo's that I saw on HD seemed if it was digitally enhanced (like photoshop on a photo), and looked somewhat unnatural to me.
I don't think you can really compare CD vs SACD to SD vs HD. With audio, most people can't even tell the difference between MP3 and CD and what's more, they don't really care. I think people are more sensitive to imagery.
My wife couldn't tell you which of our channels are 1080i and which are 576p but left to her own devices she invariably watches the HD channels. A good example of how HD manages to draw you in even if you are not aware of it is the fact that my wife has taken to watching Discovery HD and National Geographic HD, despite having no interest in these channels previously. She even watches an hour show of a sunrise for crying out loud.
As for HD looking unnatural, it's the total opposite, the images are so amazingly detailed, coloured and textured. They look far more realistic than regular SD. It's the display itself that would be the culprit for the unnatural image you noticed. Especially an overcooked LCD.
