Digital Decisions:
Who will win the Camcorder format
war?
More than 70% of camcorders sold in
the USA in 2005 recorded footage to
digital tape. However, according to
a new industry report from
Understanding & Solutions
(U&S), digital tape will account for
less than 10% of the US
camcorder market by 2010.
“Over the course of 2006 we’ve seen
a format war develop between Digital
Tape, DVD and Hard Disc Drive (HDD)
camcorders,” says
Simon Bryant,
Business Director of Consumer
Electronics at U&S. “Right now,
digital tape still accounts for 55%
of the US camcorder market, but DVD
is gaining ground, and as early as
Christmas 2007 shipments will
overtake those of digital tape.”
With most of the leading brands
producing DVD camcorders in 2006,
the format has proved itself popular
across the globe. “By 2010, DVD will
have established itself as the
format of choice for mass market
consumers, and will account for half
of all camcorders shipped,” says
Bryant. “This format’s appeal is its
ease of use. You can record direct
to a DVD and then drop the disc
straight into your home player: it
makes for a hassle-free workflow
system. Couple this with the wide
availability of low cost DVD players
and you can see its appeal.”
The third competing format - the HDD
camcorder - is still a niche
product, but has outperformed the
expectations of many, performing
particularly well in the Japanese
market. Though it has a more complex
workflow and archiving process when
compared with DVD, consumers are
becoming familiar with the variety
of HDD-based devices within their
homes. As the migration of HDD from
PCs to MP3 players, set top boxes
and games consoles continues, its
many benefits will become more
widely recognised, making it an
attractive alternative to DVD. By
2008, U&S predicts HDD will be the
second most popular choice amongst
camcorder purchasers in the US, accounting for 33% of all US
shipments.
In addition, the rise of High
Definition Television
will
create further opportunities for the
camcorder market. Fuelled by
consumer demand for flat panel LCD
and plasma TVs, most of which now
come HD-Ready, the hunger for HD
content won’t be far behind. High
Definition DVD players are already
available, in either HD-DVD or Blu-ray
format, and the next 12 months will
see a proliferation of High
Definition consumer electronics
products. As a result, the camcorder
market is forecast to experience a
similar revolution, with High
Definition devices becoming ever
more prevalent. However, initial
demand will be low and will ramp up
slowly, due to the large price
premiums. Longer term, HDD
camcorders, with far greater storage
capacity than DVD camcorders, will
be the preferred choice for
memory-hungry High Definition image
capture.
In addition to traditional
motivations for video capture, there
is an upsurge of consumers who
capture video to inform, meet and
entertain, primarily via the
Internet. The growing global
interest in social networking sites
such as YouTube and MySpace will
squeeze the camcorder market,
applying pressure through hybrid
‘still-cams’, digital cameras and
mobile phones. In particular, the
ever-increasing capacity of flash
memory will make these devices a
serious future competitor to the
camcorder.
Due to issues surrounding quality,
features and functionality, the
short-term impact of convergence on
the camcorder market will be
minimal; however, moving forward,
high-end digital cameras, hybrid
‘still-cams’ and mobile phones will
increasingly steal share of the
video capture market.
<ENDS>
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Further Information
For industry comment, forecasting
and trends, get in touch with
Understanding & Solutions
during office hours by contacting:
Andy C Watson
Head of Marketing & PR
Direct Dial: +44 1582 500169
Email:
andy.watson@uands.com
Web: www.uands.com
