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Non-Tech : Image Entertainment (DISK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Fraser who wrote (158)	7/21/1998 1:17:00 PM
From: William T. Katz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 379

I'm probably going to take profits and back-off because of the hypesters and stock movement. I don't really trust people who always claim to know about pending news releases and I think some people have blindly bought in based on this type of hype instead of concentrating on the bigger issue. So I'm going to wait out this week and really hope there isn't a news item so we can flush the momentum and hypesters out and reset. Yahoo! also has the problem that one account can use any number of pseudonyms so much of they hype could result from one pump&dumper. Long-term, I remain bullish on DISK. I think they have a good gameplan and I think it fits in well with e-tailers' strategies. They will get hurt by LD sales but I think towards the end of this year that will get turned around with DVD/DTS and direct internet LD sales. Here is my argument: Traditional retailers carry relatively large inventories. E-tailing (e.g. Amazon.com) is growing rapidly. E-tailers attempt to minimize inventory and focus on web-based front-ends that define the customer experience. E-tailers contract with distributors in an effort to shift the burden of inventory back to the distributors. DISK is a distributor. DISK is a distributor in the rapidly growing market of DVD as well as niche items like laserdiscs and DTS CDs/DVDs. DISK will launch a fully automated warehouse near a major airport. The above are all facts. Here is the speculation: DISK is in a good position to capitalize on emergine e-tailers since these e-tailers will have more need for distributors than traditional retailers. The fact that DISK is fully automating their warehouse allows faster and lower cost servicing. So I plan on accumulating at hopefully lower prices or at least until some of the hype evaporates and we can get back down to evaluating an interesting back-end play for internet e-tailers.

To: Jim Fraser who wrote (158)	8/2/1998 6:19:00 PM
From: William T. Katz	Respond to of 379

Worldwide DVD-VIDEO, DVD-ROM Sales are Accelerating (June 15 - Old but still pertinent.) Benefiting from a rapidly expanding catalog of movie titles and falling hardware prices, DVD-Video player sales are on pace to increase over 140% to 1.2 million units worldwide in 1998 and DVD-ROM drive sales should exceed 6.5 million units, according to InfoTech's new DVD Assessment, Third Edition. InfoTech projects that worldwide DVD-Video titles in print will exceed 3,000 by year-end 1998, up from 732 in 1997. OEM prices for a complete DVD-ROM solution are trending towards $100, suggesting that DVD-ROM drives will be available on many mid-priced PC models by year-end. By late 1999, DVD-ROM will begin to replace CD-ROM drives in sub-$1,000 systems as well. InfoTech forecasts a worldwide installed base of almost 70 million DVD-ROM drives by 2000. PC industry demand will create economies of scale for shared components, helping move DVD-Video players towards mass-market pricing by 2000. As prices drop, DVD-ROM is also expected to migrate to the TV set-top in 1999, in the form of DVD-ROM equipped video game consoles and Internet appliances, with sales of 5.5 million units projected for 2000. DVD Assessment, Third Edition is the definitive study of the worldwide DVD industry. It examines digital video and audio, desktop computers, and interactive TV set-top devices, including video games-with comprehensive sales data by region through year-end 1997, and forecasts through 2005. DVD Assessment, Third Edition ($1295 US). infotechresearch.com

To: Jim Fraser who wrote (158)	8/3/1998 5:12:00 PM
From: William T. Katz	Respond to of 379

Matsushita Electric Revving Up DVD Business TOKYO (Nikkei)-Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. has more than tripled production capacity at its digital video disc (DVD) subsidiary in California to 2 million discs a month. It will also raise domestic monthly output of DVD players to 100,000 units by the end of fiscal 1998, up from the 400,000 or so players produced the entire previous year, company sources said. The move is in response to growing demand for DVDs in overseas markets, particularly the U.S. Matsushita is also set to start DVD production in China this year. It hopes the moves will boost DVD-related sales to 40 billion yen in fiscal 1998, up from the 15 billion yen it earned in the previous fiscal year, the sources said. At its California plant, Matsushita has increased DVD production lines from two to eight, investing 200 million yen. The new lines, to be fully operational in September, will turn out products for sale in the local market as well as for export to Europe and Asia. In addition, Matsushita's optical disk division produces 600,000 DVDs a month at a plant in Osaka. The world market for DVD players is expected to reach 3 million units in fiscal 1998, of which Matsushita expects to take a 40% share. (The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Monday morning edition)