Blueray/HDDvd was out before the majority of people stopped using their vhs collections.

Do you have a citation on this? Personally I was DVD only until I got an Xbox One, which could play Blurays.

And we got DVDs because my brother marketed getting a PS2 to my family as a DVD player and a Video Game system, as one of those alone cost the same as a PS2 at the time.

And we gave up VHS tapes long before, as space is at a premium for us. Worse quality, worse features, more work to rewatch something, bigger format, etc.