Ars Technica reports that ownership of the DVD player has FINALLY surpassed ownership of VCR players for the first time.

During the third quarter of 2006, 81.2 percent of all US households reported owning at least one DVD player compared to 79.2 percent for VCRs. That figure marks a 6 percent increase in DVD player ownership from the same period in 2005, while VCRs ownership fell. It’s a far cry from 1999, when Nielsen first began tracking DVD ownership. At the end of the 90s, only 6.7 percent of households owned a DVD player, compared with 88.6 percent owning VCRs.

Now, a little history…the DVD version 1 standard was ratified in 1996. It took until 2003 for DVD rentals to surpass VHS rentals. And now 10 years after the DVD was first created, it’s players have finally gained a slight margin of ownership over the VCR. 10 years!

Now consider this…the format transition from VHS to DVD is uncannily similar to the format transition from SD DVD to High Definition DVD. Both represent a major format change, requiring new equipment. Both are regarded as a marginal perceived quality improvement over the “old” technology. Both are costly for early adopters, and require the re-purchase of movie libraries.

The major difference this time around? There are not one, but TWO competing HD disc formats that consumers are forced to choose from. So how long will this format shift take? Are we looking at another 10 years? Longer? Or maybe never? Because another 10 years is plenty of time for even the archaic studios to get the kinks worked out of digital downloads. Good luck, HD-DVD and BluRay. You’re going to need it.