Planned investments.(market outlook)(Industry Overview)

Computer workstations continue to top the list of items that studios are planning to buy during the second half of 2003 and early 2004, according to a new Visual Effects/Dynamic Media Report from TrendWatch. Seven out of 10 studios plan to make an investment in one or more units, which represents a 10 percent increase in demand from just six months ago. Breaking down purchasing plans by platform, we find that PCs are on course to overtake Macs as the computer or choice. Some 44 percent plan to buy Macintosh systems, an increase of just 3 percent from six months earlier. Conversely, 42 percent now plan to buy PC workstations--predominately with Windows XP Pro operating systems--a gain of 12 percent over the same period.

In other categories, spending for video editing software is expected to rise, albeit gradually from 49 to 51 percent. Investment in production servers may nearly double from 25 to 45 percent. Demand for DVD hardware and software will likely decline, since many studios have already invested in these tools after DVDs became the media of choice for client reels and demos. Desktop compositing system sales are expected to remain steady. And demand for digital video ...