Video king is dead! Long live the DVD king!

No regrets. This is how Romanians choose to part with their video cassette recorders (VCR), as for the first time, sales of DVD players are set to be higher than those of VHS equipment this year.
Only three or four years from entering the Romanian market, the DVD player has come to register sales equal to those of VHS machines. All this considering the legal supply of movies and music burnt on DVDs is three times more expensive that its VHS counterpart.
The VHS days are numbered, after all, considering the DVD (Digital Video Disk or Digital Versatile Disk) has come to outrun is elder brother, the VHS in terms of sales.
Whereas about 20,000- 25,000 DVD players were sold in Romania last year, the market is set to go beyond 30,000-35,000 units this year, and be worth more than 7 million euros.
“Year by year the increase in the DVD player sales was of three to one and even four to one, which shows this is an emerging market that has a very significant potential. The VCRs have seen stagnant sales over the last two years, which makes it pretty clear (especially on an unsaturated market like Romania) that we’re talking about a “technology that belongs in the past” if comparing it with the DVD,” Marius Ghenea, Flanco home appliance retail chain general manager feels.
Moreover, the trend will maintain this year, as well.
“Sales of VCRs in 2003 could keep at about the same level, while DVDs could see 50% growth, ” Petronius Secareanu, general manager of Philips Romania’s Consumer Electronics division says.
Altex home appliance retail chain representatives are even more drastic about this: “The sales of VCRs will go down until this kind of equipment completely vanishes, particularly because DVD recorders have started being sold,” Dan Ostahie, Altex general manager says.
The recorder segment will be the scene of the next battle between the DVD and VHS technologies, after the DVD has successfully replaced the VHS on the store shelves on the player segment. VHS recorders have the upper hand at the moment, though.
The price of a DVD recorder, Ghenea feels, is still something not everybody can afford, that is “about 1,000 euros,” 10 times more expensive than a VCR. “People use the VCR for playback purposes and not for recording purposes 90% of the time, ” the Flamingo representative says.
Under the circumstances, one of the VCR competitors could be the DVD player, which costs about the same, instead of the DVD recorder.
“The moment the DVD Recorder price goes down, it will surely replace the VCR. Out of the total video equipment we sell, 80% are based on the DVD technology, while 20% are VCRs,” Nicolae Dumitrescu, Sony Center store chain sales manager says.