DVD title shipments continue at a record pace as the industry ramps up for the holiday selling season. In the third quarter of 2003, nearly 215 million DVD software units shipped to retail, a 40 percent increase over the same period last year. According to figures compiled by Ernst & Young on behalf of the DEG: Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), the total number of units shipped in North America has reached more than two billion since the DVD format's launch in 1997.