Digital Drives Convergence of Still and Video Cameras, New Lyra Study Reveals.

Business/Technology Editors

NEWTONVILLE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 2000

"By 2004, virtually every digital still camera will have the capability to capture short video clips," states Ed Lee, director of Lyra's Digital Photography Advisory Service. This projection is part of comprehensive forecasts in a new 120-page report, Consumer Video Camera Market: The Digital Impact, published by Lyra Research, Inc., a leading research provider in imaging markets.

The report reveals that, unlike analog film cameras, digital cameras can incorporate the ability to capture both video and still images. Multifunction cameras (MFCs) are those that can perform more than one function, including capturing video, taking still images, recording audio, and even connecting to the Internet. About one-fourth of the digital still cameras already on the market today can capture short video clips, typically 10 to 30 seconds long, Lee commented. As soon as next year, Lee said, more than half of the estimated 11.4 million cameras sold worldwide will incorporate video clip recording capability.

For digital video to grow, however, the report warns that the industry's manufacturers will have to coalesce around standard file storage formats and connection capabilities. Without the adoption of such universal standards, the various digital video vendors will be creating products that will not be able to communicate with other products, triggering ease-of-use and incompatibility problems that end users may already fear concerning digital video products. The report's research found that it appears that MPEG4 is the video file format that will carry digital video into the near future of the Internet and e-commerce. Nevertheless, the recent release of JPEG 2000, with its much improved compression algorithms and functionality, will put pressure on the MPEG standards team to compete with the advanced capabilities of streaming JPEG video implementations.

Making use of extensive primary and secondary research, Lyra analysts developed an exclusive forecast, available only in this report. The forecast was developed using the focused methodologies and databases proven by Lyra in its Digital Photography Advisory Service and is segmented into four regional world markets--the United States, Europe, Japan, and the rest of the world (ROW).

Complete information on the Consumer Video Camera Market: The Digital Impact report, including a complete table of contents, can be found on Lyra's Web site, www.lyra.com.

Lyra Research, Inc. is recognized worldwide as the leading provider of publications, market information, conferences, and custom research services focused on the imaging industry. Lyra now provides imaging industry market research, publications, advisory services, and consulting services to more than 2,000 clients in more than 40 countries worldwide. More imaging professionals rely on publications, market information, and research services from Lyra than any other source.