There's some good news and then there's some bad news for video manufacturers so far this year. According to figures released last week by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), DVD sales were up 55% last month over those from January 2000, with sales of 570,000 units. The trade organization says that sales of DVD players seem poised for another year of record growth in 2001, as the "fastest selling consumer electronics product of all time".

In addition, the CEA reports that sales of TV/VCR combinations were also up in January. Increasing by two percent, sales of TV/VCR combinations totaled just under 220,000 units. Despite these gains, however, total manufacturer-to-dealer sales of video products fell by 9% during the month, to a total of more than three million units, due to decreases in the other video categories.

According to the CEA's Todd Thibodeaux, "retailers purchased abnormally heavily during the months leading into the 2000 holiday season. And with lower than expected sales during that period, they are likely to have excess inventory during the first quarter of 2001. Though we could see sluggish sales for the next couple of months, any slowdown will hopefully be short-lived. Retailers posted better than expected gains in January."