LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The sky might not have fallen on the fast-maturing DVD business in 2005, but the double-digit revenue growth studio home entertainment divisions have enjoyed almost since the format's launch in 1997 did come to a grinding halt. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051230/film_nm/dvd_dc;_ylt=AgXDkNpeowFB_iq4_eSJHFAwFxkF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMT Q4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA--)

Dollar sales may be down but unit sales of 1.5 billion should be surpassed:

http://www.dvdinformation.com/industryData/index.cfm

I saw a DVD player in Walmart for $24 the other day. The margin on this hardware is simply too small now.

I used to work in the business and saw the decline beginning in late 2004. By decline I mean profitability. All the sales in the world don't mean much if your not making more money!

I'm glad to see it because, as I've said before, it will give the studios incentive to price the next gen to sell.

Well Im not sure that they are doing themselves any favors, but BB & FS Here Have been pricing new releases after the first day special price in the $32 to $35 dollar area since early Dec, when previous to then they were running at $25
for new releases. Wallmart still seems to be in the $25/26 range But Iam beginning to wonder if that's going to last much longer. To me it seems that since the studios have come out with some better encryption methods recently
they are starting to Jack up prices. Pretty self defeating because at $35 a copy that's like saying pirate me , Hack Me Please.

My price point for DVD's is $9.99 for something I like up to $14.99 for something really desirable or viewable many times like a concert or system setup DVD. At $25 or $30 they can forget it.

Add to that the crap movies they spit out this year and we can understand why sales are not so good.

I saw a DVD player in Walmart for $24 the other day. The margin on this hardware is simply too small now.People have trouble buying a DVD player for $24 and then paying $35 for a DVD. It makes no sense.

New figures from the Digital Entertainment Group show 2005's DVD sales at $16.3 billion, up 5% from 2004, and DVD rentals at $6.5 billion, up 14%. But the overall home video market fell slightly, to $24.3 billion from 2004's $24.5 billion. (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-01-03-dvd-ces_x.htm)