HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS: Study Shows DVD Has Moved Beyond the Living Room into All Aspects of Consumers’ Lives; a Variety of Players Are Available to Fuel This Trend for the Holidays
DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group:
— Consumer Excitement for DVDs Has Expanded beyond New Movies;
Vast Selection Ranges from Classic Films, TV DVD, Children’s
Titles and Music DVD
— Press Releases and Art for Players and DVDs Available at
Industry Website: www.digitalentertainmentinfo.com
DVDs have become a ubiquitous part of consumers’ lifestyles, moving beyond the traditional home theater environment into other rooms, and even outside of the home. According to a recent study conducted by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), approximately three-fourths of DVD households are now watching DVDs in places other than their living room. More than a third of consumers are enjoying DVDs in their dens or home offices, 28 percent watch them in their bedrooms and 10 percent in their kids’ bedrooms. In addition, 16 percent watch DVDs outside of their home, whether in a plane, train or automobile, or outside in their backyard or camping.
DEG, an industry-supported trade association dedicated to advancing DVD, commissioned the study by CENTRIS/ICR. The survey asked 1,000 respondents with at least one DVD player in the home a variety of questions to gauge their usage and enthusiasm for watching DVDs. The study was conducted in October-November 2005.
DVD player manufacturers have met the growing consumer demand and offer a wide variety of DVD players available in time for the holidays, ranging from TVs with integrated DVD players and combination VCR/DVD players to portable players and Home-Theater-in-a-Box systems. A list of DVD player ideas for holiday gifts from a number of top manufacturers follows below.
What consumers are watching on DVD has expanded as well, with a selection of more than 51,000 titles to choose from (according to the DVD Release Report). While they still are excited by recently released hit movies, their interests now include classic films, TV DVDs, music DVDs and children’s titles as top holiday gifts.
According to the DEG study, DVD movies are still a favorite gift, with more than half of consumers reporting they would be excited to receive one for the holidays. This was especially high among 18-34 year olds, with 63 percent of respondents in this age group excited to receive a DVD movie this holiday season.
Consumers also have a strong appetite for classics — two-thirds watch classic movies most often when not watching new theatrical releases. Top classic films have been restored, remastered and repackaged with hours of extra features in time for holiday gift giving, such as “The Sound of Music: 40th Anniversary Special Edition” (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment), “The Harold Lloyd Collection” (New Line Home Entertainment) and John Wayne’s “The High and The Mighty” (Paramount Home Entertainment). Popular cult classics, such as “The Big Lebowski Collector’s Edition” (Universal Studios Home Entertainment), are also hitting shelves for the holidays.
Nearly a third of survey respondents would be excited to receive a TV DVD as a gift for the holidays, and this was particularly strong in the 18-34-year-old age group, with nearly 40 percent wanting to receive a TV series box set as a gift. New releases ranging from “Fame: Season 1″ (MGM Home Entertainment) and “Third Rock From the Sun: Season 1″ (Anchor Bay Home Entertainment) to re-released miniseries such as “From the Earth to the Moon: The Signature Edition” (HBO Video) are currently in stores.
In addition, nearly a third of respondents are excited to receive a music DVD as a holiday gift, with the 35-44 age group the most excited (at 40 percent). Music titles are available across all genres and from a range of top artists, such as “Live 8″ (Capitol Records) and “Traffic, `The Last Great Traffic Jam’” (Sony BMG Music Entertainment), released in time for holiday gift giving.
Children’s titles are also top gift ideas. According to an annual study by Home Media Research, 95 percent of households with kids under the age of 13 have at least one DVD player, while more than three-fourths have additional DVD playback devices. New children’s releases available for the holidays include “Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus” (Lions Gate Entertainment), “Cinderella Platinum Edition” (Buena Vista Home Entertainment) and “Wallace & Gromit In Three Amazing Adventures” (DreamWorks Home Entertainment).
For more information on any of these DVDs, or DVD players noted below, please visit www.digitalentertainmentinfo.com where press releases and art are available.
ABOUT DEG
DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group is a Los Angeles-based, industry-funded nonprofit corporation that advocates and promotes the many benefits associated with DVD while providing updated information regarding the format to both the media and the retail trade. The DEG offers a forum for member companies to engage in ongoing discussions concerning various issues and opportunities, which relate to other new digital technologies that may emerge in the future.
Regular members of the DEG are Anchor Bay Entertainment, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, DreamWorks Home Entertainment, D&M Holdings, DTS, EMI Music, HBO Video, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Image Entertainment, JVC Company of America, Lions Gate Entertainment, MGM Home Entertainment, Microsoft, New Line Home Entertainment, Panasonic Consumer Electronics, Paramount Home Entertainment, Philips Consumer Electronics, Pioneer Electronics (USA), Sony Electronics, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Thomson, Toshiba America Consumer Products, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video.
Associate members are AGI Media, Ascent Media/Blink Digital, Clear-Vu, Deluxe Media Services, Giant Interactive, JVC Disc America, Macrovision, Memory-Tech, Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory, Sonic Solutions, Sonopress, Sony DADC, Technicolor and Universal Operations Group.
Interested consumers can reach the DEG at 310-888-2201, via e-mail at getinfo@digitalentertainmentinfo.com or through its web site at www.digitalentertainmentinfo.com.
DVD GIFT IDEAS Press releases & high resolution art are available for the following DVD players at www.digitalentertainmentinfo.com PRODUCT DESCRIPTION / FEATURES MSRP ————– ——————————————– ———- Denon S-301 The FIRST dedicated connection and control $1,599.00 Home of the Apple iPod using its interface when Entertainment the system is connected to a monitor System Universal DVD player capable of DVD-Audio and SACD playback Ample connectivity options, including HDMI digital video output with scaling (480p/720p/1080i) that provides artifact- free upconversion to HD resolution video. ————– ——————————————– ———- HP Pavilion HP QuickPlay feature lets users enjoy DVDs $749.00 dv1000 Series and/or music in just seconds without Entertainment booting up the system Notebook PC Crisp and clear 14.0-inch high-definition BrightView widescreen display provides a truly cinematic visual experience HP Mobile Remote Control is stored in the PC’s card slot for convenient storage and quick access ————– ——————————————– ———- JVC DR-MV5S DVD & VHS recorder $449.95 One-Touch Expert Dubbing The recorder automatically creates thumbnails, skips any blank spaces and optimizes the recording mode ————– ——————————————– ———- Panasonic DMR- A dual-deck DVD and VHS recorder that $299.95 ES40V features a lightning fast response in start-up Adds a DV input to the feature mix and builds upon the success of its predecessor Named the top VHS/DVD recorder by a leading consumer publication ————– ——————————————– ———- Philips High-resolution 10.2″ LCD display for great $399.00 Electronics viewing PET 1000 Portable DVD MPEG4 playback ensures high-quality Player compressed video Sleek design Up to 3.5-hour playback with rechargeable battery ————– ——————————————– ———- Pioneer Six-channel analog audio output, bass $1,000.00 Electronics management, Dolby Digital, DTS and SRS DV-79AVi TruSurround Can be connected to any of Pioneer’s receivers with i.LINK connections Advanced Digital Direct Pixel Drive supporting full-time 10-bit digital video processing — outputs the highest quality digital signal from HDMI while also improving the analog signal output which utilizes a 108MHz/14-bit video DAC ————– ——————————————– ———- RCA DRC8060N A “base station” for recording favorite $299.00 DVD recorder programs and digital content on DVD+R/+RW discs for playback on almost any DVD deck and also accommodates playback of previously recorded content on DVD-R/DVD-RW discs recorded on other machines Plays music from all CD formats as well as compressed music files using mp3 or WMA formats ————– ——————————————– ———- Sony Featuring Sony’s S-FORCE(R) Pro 2.1 Surround $999.99 Platinum DVD Sound technology which utilizes an all- Dream System digital process with no analog conversion DAV-X1 creating separation between front, center and rear channels Delivers rich surround sound with only two front speakers and a subwoofer Additional features include 1 Disc DVD/CD/SA-CD, HDMI(TM) 720p/1080i video upscale and S-Master(R) Digital Amplifier ————– ——————————————– ———- Toshiba TV/DVD combination unit $3,999.00 37HLX95 Integrated HD Side slot-loading DVD player LCDVD T 37″ Widescreen LCD Display Comes equipped with dual HDMI inputs, allowing a single cable connection ensuring that all signals (video and audio) remain in their pure digital form ————– ——————————————– ———- DVD GIFT IDEAS In addition to top hit movies, consumers are excited about a wide variety of DVDs. Following are some recently released titles available for holiday gift ideas. Press releases & high resolution art are available for these DVDs at www.digitalentertainmentinfo.com CLASSICS “The Harold Lloyd Collection” (New Line Home Entertainment) “The High and The Mighty” (Paramount Home Entertainment) “The Sound of Music: 40th Anniversary Special Edition” (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment) NEW CULT CLASSIC “The Big Lebowski Collector’s Edition” (Universal Studios Home Entertainment) TELEVISION “Fame: Season 1″ (MGM Home Entertainment) “From the Earth to the Moon: The Signature Edition” (HBO Video) “3rd Rock From the Sun: Season 1″ (Anchor Bay Home Entertainment) MUSIC “Live 8″ (Capitol Records) “Traffic, `The Last Great Traffic Jam’” (Sony BMG Music Entertainment) FAMILY “Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus” (Lions Gate Entertainment) “Cinderella Platinum Edition” (Buena Vista Home Entertainment) “Wallace & Gromit In Three Amazing Adventures” (DreamWorks Home Entertainment)