Saying good-bye to your VCR. Bloomberg Bootcamp, a report on today's technology. The days of the box that sits on top of your TV flashing the 12 o'clock hour may be numbered. The first assault came from digital hard drive recorders from Tivo and RePlay. The next attack will come from DVD recorders. Panasonic's Tony Jasinowski says consumers will soon be able to purchase DVD RAM recorders that will allow them to use the digital technology in the same way they use videotape today...

"DVD RAM is a re-writable optical disc. In addition, this drive will also have the function of DVD-R, which is a write once disc. So it's basically a combination drive or two drives in one. In addition to that product, which will be made available to the consumers, we will also have computer versions of these drives so that you can attach it to your conventional PC at home or at the office."

The discs you record on DVD-R can be watched on most players on the market. Panasonic expects it's stand alone DVDBurner will sell for about a thousand dollars. Models for PCs should come in at about 600. The blank disks are much more expensive than CD-Rs and videotape too. But...

"I remember when we first came out with the first VCR, it was a thousand dollars. So a similar thing will happen... as the demand increases for these kinds of products, and I see strong demand in both the consumer side as well as the computer side, so these products will migrate in both the computer platforms as well as the consumer platforms and will become more affordable."

There is still a battle over standards in the industry... like the old VHS-Betamax battle... but it may not be long before you'll be hitting that rewind button for the last time. Bloomberg Bootcamp, I'm Fred Fishkin.