DVD SALES GROWTH EBBS HIGH-DEFINITION FORMAT WARS ESCALATING.Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer Led by family titles, including top-selling ``The Incredibles,'' and the popularity of television shows on DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. , consumer spending Consumer demand or consumption is also known as personal consumption expenditure. It is the largest part of aggregate demand or effective demand at the macroeconomic level. on renting and buying DVD titles grew by 8 percent in 2005 to $22.8 billion, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. figures released Thursday by the Digital Entertainment Group. But the figures, announced at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. , indicated the first slowdown since the debut of DVD in 1997. Each year since then, the format had enjoyed double-digit growth. ``Most $25 billion industries would give their right arm for 8 percent growth, but in recent years we've been spoiled,'' said DEG Vice President Peter Staddon. ``This is still a very respectable year for the market and shows the underlying strength of home entertainment in the American culture.'' Overall, DVD retail sales were up by 5 percent to $16.3 billion, while $6.5 billion was spent renting DVDs, a 14 percent rise over 2004. The remainder of spending came from VHS (Video Home System) A half-inch, analog videocassette recorder (VCR) format introduced by JVC in 1976 to compete with Sony's Betamax, introduced a year earlier. sales and rentals, as the format continued to march toward extinction. In addition to ``The Incredibles,'' the top five selling DVDs were ``Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith,'' ``Madagascar,'' ``Shark Tale'' and ``The Polar Express.'' Big selling TV titles on DVD, in no particular order, included ``Lost - The Complete First Season'' and individual seasons of ``Friends,'' ``The Simpsons'' and ``Seinfeld.'' Warner Home Video Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video (for Warner Communications, Inc.). It was re-named Warner Home Video in 1980. - which had popular films ``Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' and ``Batman Begins,'' TV titles and a large library of classic films - was the first-place studio for the fifth consecutive year, adding to its first-place domestic box office performance in 2006. ``We faced a year in which spending on home entertainment was flattening, but we were able to grow our business by offering a diverse variety of films, television programming and direct-to-video product that really connected with consumers,'' said Warner Home Video President Ron Sanders. DEG also announced that DVD players are now in more than 82 million U.S. homes, with an estimated 37 million DVD players sold to consumers in 2005. Fifty percent of DVD owners now have more than one player. Since the launch of DVD eight years ago, more than 164 million players have been sold, including set-top and portable DVD players A handheld device with a built-in DVD drive and flip-over lid that contains a screen, typically 6" to 10" in size. It may support rear seat passenger viewing, in which case the unit is hung upside down from the back of the front seat head rest, and a switch flips screen content 180 , Home-Theater-in-a-Box systems and TV/DVD and DVD/VCR combination players. This week's Consumer Electronics Show has been the site of escalation in the long-brewing war between high-definition DVD See high-def DVD formats and HD DVD. formats. Blu-ray disc A Blu-ray Disc (also called BD) is a high-density optical disc format for the storage of digital information, including high-definition video. Overview The name Blu-ray Disc is derived from the blue-violet laser used to read and write this type of disc. players, whose backers include Sony, are not due to reach market at least until summer. Blu-ray has plenty of content providers with such distributors as Disney, Sony, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Lionsgate and Warner. On Thursday, Warner Home Video announced that it will release 15 movies in the Blu-ray format in conjunction with the expected summer release of Blu-ray hardware. Warner's expected titles include summer hits ``Batman Begins'' and ``Dukes of Hazzard,'' while Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment division announced it will be releasing 10 titles in the format, including ``The Brothers Grimm'' and ``The Great Raid.'' But nearly all the same distributors, along with Universal, New Line and HBO Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) A form of oxygen therapy in which the patient breathes oxygen in a pressurized chamber. Mentioned in: Ozone Therapy , said this week that nearly 200 titles will be available by year's end in the HD-DVD HD-DVD High Definition Digital Versatile Disk format. DEG's Staddon, also executive vice president of Fox Home Video, declined to specifically comment on the format wars. ``What I can say is that I think high definition will revitalize and re-energize the home entertainment market still further,'' Staddon said. ``The time is right for the introduction of high definition into the home entertainment market.'' Greg Hernandez, (818) 713-3758 greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo, chart Photo: (color) DVD & VHS Chart: Consumer Home Video Spending SOURCE: Digital Entertainment Group Daily News |
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