DVD market seeing unprecedented growth since 1997 debut

November 3, 2003

In this report from Music Industry News we learn that the venerable DVD player has become one of the most successful consumer electronics products ever. According to a study conducted by IDC, this trend will continue. DVD recording will be a primary influence as the average selling price of DVD recorders falls from $ 699 in 2002 to $ 126 in 2007. IDC says playback and recording functionality will quickly become the default feature set of DVD players, just as they have been for VCRs.

According to IDC's market forecast, worldwide
shipments of DVD recorder decks will surpass DVD play-only decks in 2007,
with DVD recorder deck revenues surging ahead of play-only deck revenues
in 2005. As prices fall, DVD recording functionality will also be
integrated into more and more device form factors, including combo DVD
players and home theater in-a-box (HTiB) with DVD. Although the growth
prospects for specific categories will vary, IDC expects worldwide unit
shipments of recorder decks to grow at a 126% compound annual growth rate
during the forecast period.

Other market accelerators through 2006 will include the integration of innovative features sets, such as hard drive-based digital video recording (DVR), DVD-Audio and SACD support, and home networking technology. While the market for high definition (HD) DVD recording devices is also expected to grow modestly both worldwide and in the U.S. during the forecast period, a number of barriers to widespread adoption must be overcome.

"Retail prices are falling rapidly across every DVD player category," Kevorkian added. "To succeed in this environment and insulate revenues, consumer electronics manufacturers must differentiate their products by offering unique features sets and form factors while promoting fair use of content by consumers."

I am happy to see the acceptance of DVD-Audio and SACD support becoming mainstream. These new formats will leverage the technologies out there to give us a better entertainment experience for the money spent on pre-recorded media.

Source: mi2n.com