DVD SET TO OUST VHS WITHIN FIVE YEARS

DVD will replace VHS videocassettes as the home entertainment standard within the next five years, according to a new report by US market research firm Strategy Analytics.
The report predicts that shipments of DVD players will rise by 300 per cent this year with US, European, Japanese retailers and rental outfits standing to benefit from a 220 per cent hike in DVD-related revenues.
The survey reveals that sales of DVD hardware will reach 46 million units this year, including 21 million in the United States and 17 million in Europe.
The report concludes that DVD will become one of the most pervasive consumer technologies of this decade. But the chief beneficiaries will be software developers and content owners, who will see rapidly rising revenues as consumers build DVD collections.
Manufacturers, by contrast, already face the dilemma of rising volumes but falling prices and thin margins.
By the end of this year, 14 per cent of US and 5 per cent of European homes will own at least one DVD player. These figures will be boosted by home ownership of DVD-equipped PC’s.