Remember the battle of Beta vs. VHS? A similar struggle looms next year with the introduction of two new digital formats based on the compact disc.
Media research firm Paul Kagan Associates estimates Digital Video Discs could represent a $6 billion-a-year business by the year 2000. One million DVD players will be sold next year, the firm says, for at least $500 each.
DVDs also may help the video-store industry stave off competition from next-generation cable systems and mini-satellite dishes, said Gary Ross, chairman of the Video Software Dealers Association, in an address at the group’s annual convention recently in Dallas.
Philips NV and Sony Corp., which introduced the CD in 1982, brought out the DVD in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Later that month, Toshiba Corp. and Time Warner Inc. announced their version of the DVD, along with the support of some leading global consumer- electronics companies and Hollywood studios.
Having more than four hours of storage space in each format could prove useful for added features. For example, a DVD could have both family and unedited versions of a movie. Or it could carry different language versions, or subtitled and dubbed versions. Executives at the show said the discs could be priced at $20 to $30.