By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
March 27, 2001
Hi, my name is Jae. And I’m an addict. My drug of choice isn’t alcohol, sex or speed. It’s DVDs.
Those shiny, pristine CD-like discs are my obsession. Each time I get a new one, it’s like I’m getting a sweet gift. Besides their affordable price, they are a movie buff’s dream. Sure, there’s the prime attraction of the movie. But most discs contain myriad treats, such as the director’s commentary, alternate endings, the option to watch the film with subtitles or listen to it in a foreign language, interviews with the cast and so on.
I am not an egghead. I am a techy geek-in-training.
Truth be told, my addiction is relatively new. A year ago, I didn’t even own a DVD player. I had maybe 20 films on VHS that I cherished.
Today I own more than 300 DVDs, thanks to my enabling family and friends who don’t have to ask me anymore what I want for my birthday or Christmas. I have an online wish list, and I regularly treat myself to a new DVD. And thanks to web sites such as www.dvdsewer.com, consumers may keep track of the release date of DVDs, something few of us seemed to do with new VHS releases.
So I’m hooked. But come on! The ability to watch Keanu Reeves in high-resolution slo-mo aside, “The Matrix” kicks butt on DVD. And tell me it’s not fun to watch all the actors in “The Wonder Boys” speaking in Spanish.
The market for DVD players has evolved way past the techy guy,” says Phil Hannon, manager of Abt Electronics in Morton Grove. “It is very much a part of the mainstream. We’ve carried DVD players since the beginning in 1997 and have watched their popularity just rocket. From last year to this year, we saw a 200 percent increase in growth, and we expect that growth to continue. When you think about it, it took about 15 years for VCRs to go from $1,500 a unit to $100. It took less than two years for DVDs to have that same kind of free fall, from about $400 to $500 two years ago to about $250 today.”
You hear that? I’m not pathetic. I’m part of a trend. And chances are, you’re either with me or you soon will be. Mary Sinclair has given in to the DVD temptation. The 35-year-old accountant has an old turntable, a VHS machine that barely works and a 7-year-old computer. But the Arlington Heights resident has decided to
join the 21st century.
“I’m totally low-tech,” says Sinclair, browsing through selections at a Mount Prospect Circuit City. “But I watch DVDs at my boyfriend’s house all the time and going back to VHS after that is like night and day. You don’t ever want to go back.
“Plus, my friends have been giving me CDs as presents for the past few years because they just assumed that everyone had them. I, of course, didn’t, but now I can finally play them on my DVD player, which is pretty cool. I’m looking forward to getting home and setting it all up.”
Pausing, she adds, “My TV’s actually a little old. Maybe I should consider getting a new one. What do you think?”
She should join my little club.
Which leads to this cautionary warning: Watching a movie on a DVD player reminds you so much of seeing it in the theater that you start noticing the inferiority of your own home entertainment center and begin thinking about a new stereo system and TV to optimize your viewing pleasure.
That’s what happened to the Horwitz family. When their 15-year-old son wanted an upgraded DVD system for his room, his parents figured, why not? They could use the older model in the family room. Come to think of it, maybe it was time to get nicer televisions because the quality of the DVDs was so much nicer than videotapes. So in came a 50-inch, high-resolution plasma television for the family and a 34-inch flat-screen TV for the kid.
We bought all this stuff before the recession hit,” says Sidney Horwitz, 69, of Glencoe. “I’m not a big techy guy. My wife and children know all about the electronic stuff, so when they say we need something I’ll listen. Everything looks and sounds marvelous.”
Sinclair and Horwitz have joined more than 15 million consumers nationwide who have bought DVD players since the machines hit the market in 1997. By comparison, CD players took seven years, and VCRs eight years, to hit 10 million units sold each.
“DVD players are the fastest-growing consumer electronic format,” says Martin Blythe, a spokesman for Paramount Home Entertainment. “The studios are responding by releasing most of their new product on DVD as well as VHS. And we’re always looking at our older films that people want to see on DVD. In April we’re coming out with `Terms of Endearment,’ `Love Story,’ `Ghost’ and a couple of Audrey Hepburn films (“Funny Face” and “Paris When It Sizzles”) that people have been asking to see in this format.” In addition, DreamWorks shipped 3.5 million copies of “Gladiator” and sold more than 2 million copies in DVD, displacing The Matrix” as the top-selling DVD thus far.
“The great thing for consumers still weighing whether to get a DVD player is that the sound is spectacular. When you watch a DVD, you enjoy the theatrical aspect of the film because you’ll often have the ability to watch it in the widescreen format, which is the way the director intended it to be seen.”
“We’re at a point now where DVDs aren’t just for the geeks,” says Netflix’s James Rocchi, also known to the site’s members as Mr. DVD. “People are aware that DVD players aren’t this generation’s beta machines or 8-track players. They’re here to stay.”
DVDs accounted for 3 percent to 5 percent of all rentals in January, 2000, according to the Video Software Dealers Association. By December, disc rentals soared to 10 percent.
One thing VCRs can do that the average DVD player can’t is record.That, too, will change. Writeable DVD players are here, but they’re expensive.
Those prices will drop but not as quickly as the DVD players, says Abt’s Phil Hannon. Panasonic makes one that’s about $2,300. It was $2,900 just a year ago and should be under $2,000 by next year. But for now, most families aren’t interested in purchasing a unit for over $2,300 no matter how good the quality.
What DVDs would you want to watch if you were assigned to live on the International Space Station now orbiting the earth?
The last shuttle mission just delivered two portable DVD players and a specially requested copy of Kevin Costner’s Thirteen Days.
You can win the same DVD player, as well as submit your opinion on which other DVDs should be sent to the astronauts, at www.sonydvdinspace.com.
What films currently unavailable on DVD do film buffs most want to see on that format?
According to Netflix, fans want to see the Star Wars, Godfather and Indiana Jones franchises.
Facts and figures
Ratio of DVD players sold compared with CD players sold since 1997: 3 to 1
Ratio of DVDs sold compared with VCR sales since 1997: 7 to 1
Number of DVD players sold since 1997: 14 million
Average DVD player price in 1997: $491
Average DVD player price in 2000: $222
Total DVD player sales in 1997: 350,000
Total DVD player sales in 2000: 8.5 million
