Well, our favorite home entertainment medium continues to astound when the figures are tallied by those who do the tallying (there’s a dirty joke in there somewhere…). We’ve posted some numbers and projections during the year, but with 2000 officially in the books, here’s a look at some figures for this remarkable year:

According to figures announced by the DVD Entertainment Group (DEG) at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) (based on retail and manufacturer inventory levels), hardware players sold through to U.S. consumers have reached more than 14 million units.

During 2000, consumers bought more than 9.8 million DVD-Video players, which is 2.8 times as many as were purchased in 1999. Consumers bought 3.5 million DVD-Video players in December 2000 alone(!!!!)—nearly the same amount purchased for the full year 1999.

DVD still outpaces other home entertainment product introductions. In its fourth year in the marketplace, DVD has outpaced the sales of CD players 3:1 and the VCR 7:1. During the first four years in the market, CD players shipped less than four million units and the VCR shipped slightly more than two million.

Since the introduction of DVD in March 1997, approximately 15 million DVD players have been shipped to retailers, continuing to make DVD the fastest-growing and most rapidly adopted consumer electronics product ever.

And some predictions:

As DVD enters its fifth year, the popular home entertainment platform is expected to continue its explosive growth into the mass market. The DEG predicts that hardware shipments will reach 13 million players this year, bringing the total number of players in the marketplace to more than 27 million by the end of 2001.

There are now more than 125 DVD player models marketed under 45 different consumer electronics brands. DVD-Video players are available at most consumer electronics retailers and have become the focal point of the home theater category.

According to figures compiled by Ernst & Young on behalf of the DEG, 182 million movies and music videos shipped in 2000, a 90 percent growth rate over 1999. In the fourth quarter alone, nearly 80 million DVD movies and music videos were shipped. Since the format’s launch in 1997, software shipments have reached 310 million units.

With all of the major movie studios and music labels supporting the DVD-Video format, there are nearly 8,500 movies and music video titles available. The DVD Entertainment Group predicts that number will top 10,000 titles in 2001.

Impressive stuff…and it means that the existing catalog continues to grow exponentially. I wonder when these numbers will be impressive enough for us to finally obtain the DVD of a certain space opera…?