DVD Says, “Video, Be away from Me.”

The DVD is rising as the new powerful by excelling the video which has dominated the domestic image reproducer market as the only powerful until recently.

On the 16th, according the related business circle the DVD market is expected to outstrip that of video at the latest this year since the DVD market is increasing rapidly in the both sides of the market of hardware and software in the recent two or three years.

According to the Electronic Industries Association of Korea the sales volume of DVD reached the level of 87% of that of VCR since the DVD the sale volume of which had been at 229,000 units domestically until 2001 were sold by 520,000 units last year. This year, the expected volume of sale will reach 640,000 units and exceed that of VCR.

It is the opinions of related persons that the sales volume of DVD player had already surpassed that of VCR last year as a turning point if the equipments, which could reproduce the DVD title, such as Sonny PlayStation 2(PS2) and the DVD for PC were included.

The DVD title is fiercely chasing after the video in the software market. According to the EnterWin ranked as the 1st distributor of video, the video market which has once enjoyed 1 trillion Korean Won annually was continued to be diminished to 150 billion Korean Won in 2001 and 130 billion Korean Won last year as times went by.

In contrast, the market of DVD title which continued to grow rapidly a few times every year reached the level of 106 billion Korean Won last year in terms of the magnitude of market and is threatening that of video. Ms Lee Hyun-jeong, Chief of the Cinebank, an agent to promote the direct distributor of foreign films, said, “The DVD title corresponds to four times of video in terms of new film this year.“ and added, “The DVD title is expected to excel the video this year if the current trend is continued.“

Mr. Kim Jong-rae, CEO of the PAPA DVD, a seller of DVD title, said, “The DVD title has a high potentiality of growth since it is not for ‘the rent’ but for ‘the collection’ in contrast to the video.“ and added, “People in the thirties are the main class of consumption.“

Jong sik Kong kong@donga.com