Matsushita Delays DVD-Audio Launch

Matsushita told reporters at the Tokyo Electronics Show, held earlier this month, that the company's U.S. launch of Panasonic- and Technics-branded DVD-Audio players (DVD Report, August 2) has been pushed back to early 2000, citing a lack of software. The players may still show up in Japan by year's end, the company said. Record labels had been expected to release at least a token supply of product in time for the holidays, but several of the majors have recently backed off, rescheduling product for early next year (DVD Report, October 18). Meanwhile, a significant part of the buzz on DVD-Audio now concerns the likelihood that consumers will be disappointed when they learn that not only will current DVD-Video hardware not play back the pure audio portion of a DVD-Audio disc, but also that current receivers with Dolby Digital and/or DTS decoding on-board won't be able to handle a six-channel DVD-Audio signal. (Receivers with multichannel audio inputs will, of course, play a decoded DVD-Audio signal.) In other Matsushita news, the Nikkei news service reports that the company expects worldwide DVD-related sales to double in fiscal 1999, climbing to Yen 200 billion ($1.9 billion). Matsushita said strong demand in North America would drive the gains. Matsushita expects the worldwide market for DVD-Video players to grow to 7 million units, with Matsushita accounting for 3 million of them. Audio and video hardware will account for 30 percent of Matsushita's FY1999 DVD sales, PC drives for another 30 percent, parts and media manufacturing equipment for 20 percent, car navigation systems for 15 percent, and media for 5 percent, the company said. Source: DVD REPORT, Copyright Phillips Publishing, Inc.