Audio Video News

According to figures released last week by the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA), an additional 900,000 DVD-Video players were shipped to retail in the third quarter of 1999, bringing total year-to-date hardware shipments to 2.2 million. The CEMA statistics also reveal that DVD-Video experienced approximately a 225% rate of growth in the third quarter of 1999 vs. the third quarter of 1998, shipping 600,000 more hardware units than shipped in the third quarter of 1998. CEMA estimates that total players shipped in 1999 will exceed 3 million units.

Emiel N. Petrone, chairman of the DVD Video Group, says that "the strong consumer demand for DVD-Video is unabated; DVD-Video continues to grow in leaps and bounds, making it the fastest-growing home-entertainment product in history." The DVD-Video technology has been available to consumers for approximately 2-1/2 years, and CEMA claims that the installed base has already reached 3 million players. The total installed base is expected to reach nearly 4 million by year's end.

More DVD news: According to figures released last week by the DVD Video Group, nearly 55 million DVDs have been shipped to retail thus far in 1999. More than 110 million DVD-Video movies and music-video titles have been shipped to retail since the format launched in spring 1997. The DVD Video Group's Paul Culberg states: "Clearly, DVD-Video is exceeding all our expectations." Disc sales are expected to remain strong throughout the year, as witnessed by the more than 200 new titles being released each month. Currently there are more than 4000 titles available; the DVD Video Group projects that by the end of 1999 there will be nearly 5000 available for rental and sell-through.