DVD all the rage at consumer electronics show
By Joe Wilcox
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
January 7, 2000, 3:50 a.m. PT
DVD picked up a new moniker at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las
Vegas: "Medium of the Millennium."
DVD player sales rose 371 percent in 1999, and the Consumer Electronics Association
(CEA) predicts another 6.5 million units-- generating $1.5 billion in revenue--will be sold this
year.
Many of the new DVD devices herald the convergence of computing and home
entertainment, reading DVD, CD, CD-ROM and CD-RW formats and adopting the IEEE
1394 connectivity standard.
Although the CEA touts DVD as the fastest-growing consumer new media format in
history, it started out 1999 more modestly.
The CEA originally projected 1.6 million DVD players would be sold last year. Two revised
estimates later put the number closer to 4 million, and the final tally could be greater.
DVD's biggest boost is coming from movie studios releasing more titles on DVD. "But it's
kind of a chicken and egg thing, figuring which comes first, consumers buying enough
DVD players to get more movies released or more movies increasing sales of players,"
said Ann Saybolt, a director with the CEA.
Industry trade organization the Entertainment Group estimates studios shipped 50 million
DVD movies and music videos during the fourth quarter, generating $2 billion in revenue.
The projection for this year is 200 million DVDs, bringing in about half the revenue of VHS
movies and music videos. Currently 5,000 titles are available on DVD, with the number
expected to swell to 8,500 this year, according to the Entertainment Group.
With all the huff, it is not surprising the number of new DVD products on display at CES.
But privately, several manufacturers said they were delaying until summer some of the
most exciting products because of a piracy program that can crack the encryption
safeguarding DVDs.
In a setback last week, a judge rejected a DVD industry group's request to block the
distribution of the piracy program. Another hearing is scheduled for next week.
Until the situation is resolved or a new encryption method is developed, some companies
are holding up new DVD products.
Many of new DVD products are incorporating some existing computer technologies for
broadening the entertainment experience beyond just video and watching movies.
Sony is one of the companies betting that consumers will crave combination computing
and entertainment centers. The company has been putting IEEE 1394, commonly known
as FireWire and what Sony refers to as i.Link, on PCs and notebooks and now consumer
electronics.
While USB remains entrenched on PCs and supporting peripherals, FireWire is outgrowing
its computing roots, finding a place in consumer electronics devices, such as DVD
players.
"One of the promises of [FireWire] is to have multiple products hooked up just like your PC
network," said Dan Nicholson, Sony's marketing manager for digital imaging. Unlike USB,
FireWire allows devices, such as printers and DVD players, to be shared among PCs and
other devices without the difficulties typical of setting up computer networks.
Sony envisions a boom in consumer electronic FireWire networks, connecting together
PCs, DVD recorders, digital video cameras, printers, MP3 players, and more.
For those attending this year's show, new DVD products were in abundance. Some of
those on display included:
Kenwood and Zayante showed off a prototype DVD player, CD player and minidisk
recorder with FireWire connectivity.
Panasonic's DVD video recorder, the VDR-10000, promises up to four hours of television
programming stored on a disk playable in most DVD-ROM equipped PCs. The VDR-1000
utilizes DVD-RAM, one of two rewritable DVD formats used by computers for storing data
and video.
The VDR-10000, which conforms to the recently introduced 4.7-GB DVD-RAM standard, is
one for first devices to bring the DVD rewritable technology to consumers. Panasonic
would not release pricing for the DVD recorder, which is expected to ship in the summer.
Zenith unveiled a DVD player with five-disc changer that reads DVD, CD, CD-R and CD-RW
formats. Other features include a 4x-16x movable Zoom and Dolby Digital support.
EchoStar Communications introduced DISH DVD, a combination satellite television
receiver and DVD player, available this summer. The unit, which will sell for $399, features
a four-device remote control and Dolby Digital sound. When connected to EchoStar¹s Dish
500 satellite receiver it can get signals from two satellites.
Sony unveiled the SVR-2000, a device capable of recording nine hours of DVD-video quality
programming. The SVR-2000, which will be available in the spring for about $500, uses a
30-GB hard drive to store programming and is equipped with i.Link for home networking or
transferring data to another device. |
