How long until DVDs disappear from Blockbuster?

I still remember when DVDs first started hitting the market. I would go into my local Blockbuster store and there would be racks and racks of VHS movie rentals and in the corner, a small rack of DVD movie rentals. Most people in the store were still renting VHS tapes but every once in a while, a new technology adopter would pull a movie from the DVD rack.

Over time, of course, the VHS racks slowly disappeared only to get replaced by brand new racks of DVDs. Some VHS tapes, mostly kids movies, survived but for the most part, Blockbuster became a DVD rental store and you were out of luck if your primary movie source was still a VCR.

So why the trip down memory lane? Because the last time I walked into a Blockbuster store I noticed a small rack of high definition Blu-ray DVDs in the corner of the store and I couldn't help but get that "here we go again" feeling.

Despite the critics saying that Blu-ray arrived too late and that the future of movies lies in Internet downloads, I wonder how long it will take before the racks of racks of DVDs in Blockbuster are replaced by Blu-ray DVDs. How long will it be before Blockbuster is a Blu-ray DVD rental store leaving the standard DVD folks out in the cold? Or will the critics prevail with consumers preferring to download high definition movies straight to their television rather than upgrading to a new Blu-ray DVD player? Time will tell.