According to Nielson Media Research, in the third quarter of 2006 DVD player household penetration was just able to surpass VCR penetration. In the third quarter of 2006, 81.2% of all U.S. households owned DVD players, compared to 79.2% for VCR player ownership. This is the fist time that DVD players have been able to gain more household ownership than VCR players. When Nielson Media Research first began tracking DVD player penetration back in 1999, the number hovered only at 6.7%. VCR ownership at that time was at a high of 88.6%.

Surprisingly, VCR ownership in the 7 years since 1999 hasn’t really fallen. At 79.2%, people still sometimes turn to their VCRs to record an occasional show or two. With TiVos and DVRs rapidly gaining popularity, the uses of traditional VCRs might fall in the coming years, but for right now some less tech savvy people might try to avoid the confusion by just sticking to their VCR. Unfortunately, the statistics presented by Nielson Media Research failed to clarify whether DVR penetration was taken into account.

The question now arises whether DVD player ownership will rise even further. With HD-DVD and Blu-ray players now causing another format war, these players are now competing for the living room as well. What we might end up seeing happen with DVD players is something similar to what happened with VCR players, however, at the moment only time can tell.