Over 8 million DVD players or recorders were sold in Australia from January 03 to July 06, which GfK says "easily makes it the biggest selling category in consumer electronics."

GfK also said sales of DVD recorders were in part attributed to the sales of plasma and LCD TVs. "This year from January -July 06, DVD recorders with a hard disk drive now account for 44 percent of sales and this segment of the market is continuing to show growth."

GfK found that comparing January to July 05 versus the same period this year, the growth is 280 percent (based on units) with the total value of the market being $400m.

But the organisation stresses that the availability of Blu Ray players (such as those about to be released by Samsung and Panasonic will be the "very important and upcoming issue for DVD".