DVD Here to Stay

Interesting dynamics will be driving the U.S. DVD recorder market over the next couple of years. The March 1, 2007, FCC mandate is propelling greater DVD recorder acceptance because the expense of integrating digital tuners into other products could be cost-prohibitive. The result will be the probable extinction of the analog VCR, and its replacement with DVD optical recording products. Market researcher In-Stat predicts the worldwide DVD recorder market will grow from about 20 million units in 2006 to about 38 million units in 2008. A major portion of that growth will depend on product pricing, of course, but more importantly on improving ease-of-use features and consumers’ understanding of the benefits of DVD optical media and recording devices against a backdrop of increasing digital content. Today, the explosive growth of digital content continues to pervade our daily lives. To store and manage the growing quantity of personal content, there are three primary storage media used in CE devices: hard-disk drive technology, flash memory and DVD optical media, each of which has its own unique pros and cons in different applications. While all three storage media will continue to co-exist in the consumer electronics marketplace, DVD optical media is the unchallenged winner for permanent storage of personal content. Why? Hard-disk drive technology is the clear leader in capacity and is easy to rewrite, but it’s overkill in many popular CE devices. Flash memory offers rewrite capabilities and is highly-portable, but can be higher-cost for a given capacity. Both hard-disk drive and flash memory technologies are good solutions for temporary storage where rewriting is an important feature. DVD optical media, on the other hand, is the ideal solution for the permanent archiving and storage of digital content. DVD has the right balance of capacity (4.7GB to 9.4GB), low blank-media cost, portability, and a huge installed base of DVD players, rendering it the best medium for general-purpose storage of valued personal content. Technology has evolved since the days of early photography, but people still keep permanent physical copies of pictures of family, friends, and memorable events. That strong desire to keep a physical “library” hasn’t changed; most people prefer the physical form-factor, rather than keeping their precious memories on a server or less-permanent storage device. DVD discs offer that physical reassurance. Couple that desire with the increasing amount of content. Today, there is an abundance of content, originating from different sources: digital camcorders and cameras, old home movies and photos, the Internet, broadcast video, etc. A DVD recorder can permanently record more than two hours of video on one layer of the disc. With that level of capacity, consumers are well armed to store content from virtually any source. But when it comes to the devices that record and archive content, there’s still a lot of room for improvement, particularly in the areas of simplicity, ease-of-use, and automation. For instance, in a recent wire story, Reuters News Syndicate reported that the average U.S. consumer struggles for 20 minutes to get a product to work before giving up, and that complexity causes 50 percent of consumer product returns. PCs and some complicated DVD recorders today offer editing and play-listing features for the more technically-inclined consumer. But quickly and easily getting content into a format that consumers are already familiar with has typically been out of reach. Some silicon providers are taking a step in the right direction by enabling ease-of-use features through highly integrated processors that also reduce product costs. But that’s not enough to truly ignite the U.S. DVD recorder market. There’s considerably more that can be done. Silicon providers and manufacturers need to continue to drive ease-of-use features. Retailers and manufacturers need to promote the benefits of the DVD recorder product category, rather than reducing retail price points. A coordinated point-of-sale promotion combining DVD recorders with digital camcorders is an option. Retailers and manufacturers would benefit from increased revenues through cross-sales, while families would get an easy way to archive and enjoy their camcorder memories. Obviously, product pricing affects adoption rates. But if the U.S. is going to be a stronger innovator and leader in digital consumer electronics, we, as an industry, must promote the ease-of-use and value propositions of consumer electronics. Doing so will help drive the market as a whole, not to mention categories like DVD recorders, with benefits for everyone: retailers, manufacturers, technology suppliers and ultimately, the namesake of these products, consumers.