We found some information about a study and forecast about the DVD situation during
the Holiday season. Although the numbers of the study seem somewhat inaccurate,
it is clearly visible that DVD is romping up for its most successful sales
quarter ever.

The study has been conducted by Cahners In-Stat Group, a high-technology market
research firm, and it shows that shipments of DVD and Divx players will
rise dramatically during the fourth quarter of 1998. The forecast
expects 351,000 DVD players to ship this quarter, with 20% of those
representing the pay-per-view Divx players. This number represents a 160%
increase over the number of players shipped during the fourth quarter
last year. Since almost 300.000 DVD players have been shipped to retailers in the
months of October and November alone, this number still seems to be rather
cautious and the final results will certainly outshine these moderate
predictions.

According to Cahners, the increase in DVD sales is led primarily by falling
prices of players, higher quality audio and video output and the availability
of movie titles. With over 2000 DVD movie titles available, DVD has managed to
build a solid appealing catalog and many local video stores are beginning to
rent discs. While there aren’t remotely as many Divx movies on the shelves,
Circuit City has poured valuable advertising dollars into the market, which
should boost both Divx and DVD sales.