Audio Video News

Despite holiday season signs of an economic slowdown, the Consumer Electronics Association is projecting a record year for 2001. CEA figures released at the end of December predict that factory-to-dealer shipments will increase to $95 billion, a significant improvement from the $89.7 billion total this year. Results for both 2000 and 1999 were up approximately $5 billion from the previous years' predictions. For that reason, the CEA may revise its predictions. A revision with predictions for individual product categories should appear during January's Consumer Electronics Show.

Among the companies to propel the growth is Pioneer Electronics, which has increased its 2001 predicted sales of DVD players worldwide from 11 million to 17 million. In 1999, Pioneer sold 7 million DVD players. Phenomenal growth in the category boosted sales by 143% in 2000, and the company is projecting a 53% increase in the coming year, with a target of 26 million units. A substantial part of the increase is expected to come from DVD-RW hardware, which Pioneer executives believe will drop below $1,000 within twelve months. Pioneer's first DVD-RW recorder for the American market will be priced at approximately $2,500, with the product's release dependent on copy-protection engineering not yet completed. DVD-R discs will initially cost $10-$15; DVD-RW discs will run $20-$25, but prices are expected to drop quickly.

By this time in 2001, Pioneer expects to have a DVD recorder on the market in Japan for approximately 100,000 yen, or about US$900 at current exchange rates. In the first quarter of 2001, Pioneer will ship an ATAPI half-height DVR-103 DVD-R recording drive for PCs, for approximately US$1,000. The device will record DVD-R, CD-R and CD-RW ,and will read DVD-ROM and CD-ROM discs. The company predicts industry-wide global sales of DVD-R devices to hit 50 million in 2001 and 70 million the following year.