Audio Video News

The next generation disc format probably can't happen soon enough for Hollywood. Worldwide movie sales on DVD are likely to be reaching their peak, according to a recent report by In-Stat. Online rentals, computer downloads, video-on-demand services and even HDTV were cited as factors.

While not completely at a plateau, DVD sales growth has been slowing from double-digit growth to forecasts of single-digit growth next year. And it's not a secret that the flood of TV shows both new and old has been buoying current DVD sales, while blockbuster movies such as The Incredibles have been sales disappointments. The TV shows typically come in multi-disc sets that are much more expensive than standard movie releases.

DVRs and video-on-demand services are making serious strides at displacing both DVD sales and rentals. The Starz Entertainment Group claims its research of Comcast customers correlates growth in its Starz on Demand VOD service with decreases in sales and rentals of DVDs. More than half of the customers it polled claimed to rent and buy fewer DVDs due to the availability if the on-demand service, even those who described themselves as "medium to light" users of the on-demand model.

Online rentals and on-demand services are not only hurting DVD sales, but also taking business away from brick and mortar video rental stores. In addition to the Netflix phenomena here, the UK saw online DVD rentals grow by an eye-catching 235%. According to the TNS AudioVisual Trak one out of every five DVDs rented in the UK is now rented online.

You can't pick up the newspaper these days without reading about new video services available to play on iPods. While shorter duration content is reigning so far, we're probably only more hard drive capacity or a more efficient compression algorithm away from feature film downloads making their appearance on portables.

In the audio world it's becoming more and more apparent that music servers are vying to replace traditional media as we know it. Hollywood is counting on the next-generation, high-definition optical disc format to revive sagging sales. But as cable and satellite companies expand their on-demand HD offerings with and DVRs capable of time-shifting HD movie presentations, it's enough to make me wonder if we'll ever again see another disc format that's as a ubiquitous and as big of a cash cow as the DVD. And DVD is pretty slick and polished too- the next gen format won't have the advantage of replacing a medium as clunky as the VHS tape.