Here are some predictions:

• InfoTech (1995): Worldwide sales of DVD players in 1997 will be 800,000. Worldwide sales of DVD-ROM drives in 1997 will be 1.2 million, with sales of 39 million drives in 2000. 
• Toshiba (1996): 100,000 to 150,000 DVD-Video players will be sold in Japan between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 1996, and 750,000-1 million by Nov. 1, 1997. (Actual count of combined shipments by Matsushita, Pioneer, and Toshiba was 70,000 in Oct-Dec 1996.) Total worldwide DVD hardware market expected to reach 120 million units in the year 2000. Worldwide settop DVD player market will be 2 million units in the first year, with sales of 20 million in the year 2000. 
• Pioneer (1996): 400,000 DVD-Video players in 1996, 11 million by 2000. 100,000 DVD-Audio players in 1996, 4 million by 2000. 
• InfoTech (1996): 820,000 DVD-Video players in first year, 80 million by 2005. 
• CEMA (1997): 400,000 DVD-Video players in U.S. in 1997, 1 million in 1998. 
• Time-Warner (1996): 10 million DVD players in the U.S. by 2002. 
• Paul Kagan (1997): 800,000 DVD players in the U.S. in 1997, 10 million in 2000, and 40 million in 2006 (43% penetration). 5.6 million discs sold in 1997, 172 million discs in 2000, and 623 million in 2006. 
• C-Cube (1996): 1 million players and drives in 1997. 
• BASES: 3 million DVD-Video players sold in first year, 13 million sold in 6th year. 
• Dataquest (1997): over 33 million shipments of DVD players and drives by 2000. 
• Philips (1996): 25 million DVD-ROM drives worldwide by 2000 (10% of projected 250 million optical drives). 
• Pioneer (1996): 500,000 DVD-ROM drives sold in 1997, 54 million sold in 2000. 
• Toshiba (1996): 120 million DVD-ROM drives in 2000 (80% penetration of 100 million PCs). Toshiba says they will no longer make CD-ROM drives in 2000. 
• IDC (1997): 10 million DVD-ROM drives sold in 1997, 70 million sold in 2000 (surpassing CD-ROM), 118 million sold in 2001. Over 13% of all software available on DVD-ROM in 1998. DVD recordable drives more than 90% of combined CD/DVD recordable market in 2001. 
• AMI (1997): installed base of 7 million DVD-ROM drives by 2000. 
• Intel (1997): 70 million DVD-ROM drives by 1999 (sales will surpass CD-ROM drives in 1998). 
• SMD (1997): 100 million DVD-ROM/RAM drives shipped in 2000. 
• Microsoft (Peter Biddle, 1997): 15 million DVD PCs sold in 1998, 50 million DVD PCs sold in 1999. 
• Microsoft (Jim Taylor, 1998): installed base of 35 million DVD PCs in 1999. 
• Forrester Research (1997): U.S. base of 53 million DVD-equipped PCs by 2002. 5.2% of U.S. households (5 million) will have a DVD-V player in 2002; 2% will have a DVD-Audio player. 
• Yankee Group (Jan 1998): 650,000 DVD-Video players by 1998, 3.6 million by 2001. 19 million DVD-PCs by 2001. 
• InfoTech (Jan 1998): 20 million DVD-Video players worldwide in 2002, 58 million by 2005. 99 million DVD-ROM drives worldwide in 2005. No more than 500 DVD-ROM titles available by the end of 1998. About 80,000 DVD-ROM titles available by 2005. 
• Screen Digest (Dec 1998): 125,000 DVD-Video player in European homes in 1998, 485,000 in 1999, 1 million in 2000. 
• IRMA (Apr 2000): 12 million players will ship worldwide in 2000. 
• Baskerville (Apr 2000): Worldwide spending on DVD software will surpass that of VHS by 2003. There will be a worldwide installed based of 625 million DVD players by 2010 (55% of TV households). 
• Jon Peddie (Jun 2000): Almost 20 million DVD players will be sold in the U.S. in 2004. 
• IDC (July 2000): 70 million DVD players and drives will be sold by year's end. 
• Screen Digest (June 2000): European installed base of DVD-Video players (1998) 0.3m; (1999) 1.5m; (2000) 5.4m; (2003) 47.1m. 
• Japanese Electronics and Information Technologies Association (December 2000): 37 million DVD players worldwide by 2001. 
• DVD Entertainment Group (July 2001): Approximately 30 million DVD players sold in the U.S. by the end of 2001. 

349,000 DVD-Video players shipped in the U.S. (About 200,000 sold into homes.) 
900 DVD-Video titles available in the U.S. Over 5 million copies shipped; about 2 million sold.
Over 500,000 DVD-Video players shipped worldwide. 
Around 330,000 DVD-ROM drives shipped worldwide with about 1 million bundled DVD-ROM titles. 
60 DVD-ROM titles (mostly bundled).

1,089,000 DVD-Video players shipped in the U.S. (Installed base of 1,438,000.) 
400 DVD-Video titles in Europe (135 movie and music titles). 
3,000 DVD-Video titles in the U.S. (2000 movie and music titles). 
7.2 million DVD-Video discs purchased. 

4,019,000 DVD-Video players shipped in the U.S. (Installed base of 5,457,000.) 
Over 6,300 DVD-Video titles in the U.S. 
About 26 million DVD-ROM drives worldwide. 
About 75 DVD-ROM titles available in the U.S.

8.5 million DVD-Video players shipped in the U.S. (Installed base of 13,922,000.) 
About 46 million DVD-ROM drives worldwide. 
Over 10,000 DVD-Video titles available in the U.S. 
Belgium: 100 thousand installed base 
France: 1.2 million installed base 
Germany: 1.2 million installed base 
Italy: 360 thousand installed base
Netherlands: 200 thousand installed base 
Spain: 300 thousand installed base 
Sweden: 120 thousand installed base 
Switzerland: 250 thousand installed base 
UK: 1 million installed base 

Matsushita released Panasonic and Technics brand universal DVD-Audio/DVD-Video players available in July 2000 for $700 to $1,200. Pioneer, JVC, Yamaha, and others released DVD-Audio players in fall 2000 and early 2001. By the end of 2000 there were about 50 DVD-Audio titles available. By the end of 2001 there were just under 200 DVD-Audio titles available.

DVD-Audio is a separate format from DVD-Video. DVD-Audio discs can be designed to work in DVD-Video players, but it's possible to make a DVD-Audio disc that won't play at all in a DVD-Video player, since the DVD-Audio specification includes new formats and features, with content stored in a separate "DVD-Audio zone" on the disc (the AUDIO_TS directory) that DVD-Video players never look at. New DVD-Audio players are needed, or new "universal players" that can play both DVD-Video and DVD-Audio discs. Universal players are also called VCAPs (video capable audio players).

Plea to producers: Universal players won't be available for some time, but you can make universal discs today. With a small amount of effort, all DVD-Audio discs can be made to work on all DVD players by including a Dolby Digital version of the audio in the DVD-Video zone.
Plea to DVD-Audio authoring system developers: Make your software do this by default or strongly recommend this option during authoring.

DVD-Audio players (and universal players) work with existing receivers. They output PCM and Dolby Digital, and some will support the optional DTS and DSD formats. However, most current receivers can't decode high definition, multichannel PCM audio, and even if they could it can't be carried on standard digital audio connections. DVD-Audio players with high-end digital-to-analog converters (DACs) can only be hooked up to receivers with channel or channel analog inputs, but some quality is lost if the receiver converts back to digital for processing. Future receivers with improved digital connections such as IEEE 1394 (FireWire) will be needed to use the full digital resolution of DVD-Audio.

DVD audio is copyright protected by an embedded signaling or digital watermark feature. This uses signal processing technology to apply a digital signature and optional encryption keys to the audio in the form of supposedly inaudible noise so that new equipment will recognize copied audio and refuse to play it. Proposals from Aris, Blue Spike, Cognicity, IBM, and Solana were evaluated by major music companies in conjunction with the 4C Entity, comprising IBM, Intel, Matsushita, and Toshiba. Aris and Solana merged to form a new company called Verance, whose Galaxy technology was chosen for DVD-Audio in August 1999. (In November 1999, Verance watermarking was also selected for SDMI.) Verance and 4C claimed that tests on the Verance watermarking method showed it was inaudible, but golden-eared listeners in later tests were able to detect the watermarking noise.

Sony and Philips have developed a competing Super Audio CD format that uses DVD discs. Sony released version 0.9 of the SACD spec in April 1998, the final version appeared in April (?) 1999. SACD technology is available to existing Sony/Philips CD licensees at no additional cost. Most initial SACD releases have been mixed in stereo, not multichannel. SACD was originally supposed to provide "legacy" discs with two layers, one that plays in existing CD players, plus a high density layer for DVD-Audio players, but technical difficulties kept dual format discs from being produced until the end of 2000, and only then in small quantities. Pioneer, which released the first DVD-Audio players in Japan at the end of 1999, included SACD support in their DVD-Audio players. If other manufacturers follow suit, the entire SACD vs. DVD-Audio standards debate could be moot, since DVD-Audio players would play both types of discs.

Sony released an SACD player in Japan in May 1999 at the tear inducing price of $5,000. The player was released in limited quantities in the U.S. at the end of 1999. Philips released a $7,500 player in May 2000. Sony shipped a $750 SACD player in Japan in mid 2000. About 40 SACD titles were available at the end of 1999, from studios such as DMP, Mobile Fidelity Labs, Pioneer, Sony, and Telarc. Over 500 SACD titles were available by the end of 2001.

A drawback related to DVD-Audio and SACD players is that most audio receivers with 6 channels of analog input aren't able to do bass management. Receivers with Dolby Digital and DTS decoders handle bass management internally, but most receivers with channel audio inputs simply pass them through to the amplifier. Until new audio systems with full bass management from channel inputs are developed, any setup that doesn't have full range speakers for all 5 surround channels will not properly reproduce all the bass frequencies. In the interim, you may be able to use an outboard bass management box, such as from Outlaw Audio.

If you are interested in making the most of a DVD-Audio or SACD player, you need a receiver with channel analog audio inputs. You also need 5 full frequency speakers (that is, each speaker should be able to handle sub woofer frequencies) and a sub woofer, unless you have a receiver that can perform bass management on the analog inputs.

For more on DVD-Audio, including lists of titles and player models, visit Digital Audio Guide.

• Burn at a slower speed to get the best results.
• Burn on CDR's not CDR-W's they are cheaper, and once its done and sent to someone else they are not going to add to it anyway.
• Make sure you get CDR's that will support the speed of your burner. Most will, but be careful of clearance sale CDR's, they may not support the faster speeds.
• When setting up to burn the CD, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SELECTED THE BOX TO 'CLOSE' THE CD. Many people burn CD's and do not check this box option then wonder why the CD will not run on someone else's machine. 
• When you have everything done and are ready, burn one cd and save the layout. Then take it to a friends house and try it on their machine or take it to a store and try it on a demo machine. This will tell you if everything worked out ok. If the CD is ok, and you don't need to make any changes, then you can burn as many as you like. 
• Make each CD from the original layout. Your software will allow you to make multiple CD's of the layout in one session. DO NOT JUST MAKE ONE COPY THEN DUPLICATE THAT COPY. If you do the duplicates will degrade from the original and may or may not work properly. 
• Once you have made all the CD's you need, TEST EACH ONE before labeling and mailing. 
• There is an excellent FAQ on CD Burners, read it for more information.