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Blu-ray is dying…

Wondering if I should buy a new Blu-Ray player and stick it away in case my Sony bites the dust. I have quite a few Blu-Ray discs that I'd like to continue to watch for as long as I can.

Look at the Oppo 205. I was on the fence of collecting that and should have.

I think plain Blu-Ray is OK. There were countless units shipped and once you add the Xbox and PlayStation, there are plenty of lasers available. There is a high level of reliability as well since Blu-Ray pre-dated the streaming era and products were made to last. Basically all the pre-2008 financial calamity.

UHD Blu-Ray is at much higher risk. While we have laserdiscs which still function and those lasers are standard CD layers, I wonder how the popularity of the two formats compares. Laserdiscs according to ChatGPT sold 16.8 million players over its lifespan.

Apple Vision Pro is just 500,000 units

ChatGPT says the Xbox Series X is 12M.

At its peak, DVD sales reached $16.3 billion and were 64% of the U.S. home video market. That was 2005.

At most, Blu-Ray sales reached $2.37 billion in 2013. (CNBC)

UHD Blu-Ray?

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Next to Samsung and Oppo, now LG announced it will stop making Blu-ray players:
Yes, becoming a problem.

What's worse where I am is Disney and all affiliates have stopped selling BD's altogether... so I either have to stream a lower quality without extras, or pay through the nose to but the title from OS. So title like Indiana Jones and Deadpool & Wolverine are simply not available here. Even worse is if the film is shown by a local streaming provider, it's not available on the international platforms like Prime.

As a BD collector, this is most egregious.

I have thousands of DVD/BD/UHD discs and I wish to continue to add to my collection and not be at the behest of streaming services.

My major concern is steaming services tend to list what is popular only... thus old movies are falling by the wayside. In some ways this is a kind of censorship...

I also need BD players that allow region change... originally had a BDP-83, not on my 3rd locally made player which does allow native region change for BD's (as we don't believe in that shite here).

What most don't seem to grasp is streaming services are never up to the same PQ standard as BD's... there is always some further compression. Audio... mixed bag and all over the shop. Plus you don't get extras like deleted scenes, the making of etc.

Modded players are double the price. Smithy is getting angry... :mad:



JSmith
 
Yes, becoming a problem.

What's worse where I am is Disney and all affiliates have stopped selling BD's altogether... so I either have to stream a lower quality without extras, or pay through the nose to but the title from OS. So title like Indiana Jones and Deadpool & Wolverine are simply not available here. Even worse is if the film is shown by a local streaming provider, it's not available on the international platforms like Prime.

As a BD collector, this is most egregious.

I have thousands of DVD/BD/UHD discs and I wish to continue to add to my collection and not be at the behest of streaming services.

My major concern is steaming services tend to list what is popular only... thus old movies are falling by the wayside. In some ways this is a kind of censorship...

I also need BD players that allow region change... originally had a BDP-83, not on my 3rd locally made player which does allow native region change for BD's (as we don't believe in that shite here).

What most don't seem to grasp is streaming services are never up to the same PQ standard as BD's... there is always some further compression. Audio... mixed bag and all over the shop. Plus you don't get extras like deleted scenes, the making of etc.

Modded players are double the price. Smithy is getting angry... :mad:



JSmith
Get MKV maker and put them on hard drives.
 
Get MKV maker and put them on hard drives.
Have been meaning to for some time... but the time it will take to go through thousands of titles is prohibitive.

I'm happy going to my shelf, picking a movie and putting it in the player... as I do with CD's. :)

I'll have to get to it one day for archival purposes.
This is exactly the problem: not the fact that Blu-ray is dying but that there is no adequate replacement. Usually obsolete technologies are replaced with newer technically superior alternatives but in this case the modern alternative, streaming, from the user perspective is superior in just a single aspect (far better usability) but technically is much, much worse.
+100


JSmith
 
What most don't seem to grasp is streaming services are never up to the same PQ standard as BD's... there is always some further compression. Audio... mixed bag and all over the shop. Plus you don't get extras like deleted scenes, the making of etc.
Sadly most people just don't give a damn about TOTL quality today.
While video/audio hard media like the BD and CD are dying, people love to fart around with a third rate medium like the LP. :facepalm:
 
Next to Samsung and Oppo, now LG announced it will stop making Blu-ray players:

The good news is that Sony still offers the excellent UBP- X800M2 for a very reasonable price.
I grabbed one as a backup to my Samsung recently just to keep around.
 
It makes it easier to read for some of us.
Just enlarge for all the sight challenged, but the contrast is annoying....or just delete the non-boldened content perhaps since it is of no particular import ?
 
Sadly most people just don't give a damn about TOTL quality today.
True... however I think most don't even understand that what they are watching is sub-par and not making the most of their display.

There is this massive gap now... some titles are not on streaming and can't be found easily on DVD or BD.


JSmith
 
Think I shall not spend too much time fretting about this because (A) there's nothing I can do about it, and (B) I'm discovering that repairing or replacing optical drives can be surprisingly cheap. Cheap like <10 USD for replacement lasers for a Philips CDM M6-series CD transport as used in my Cambridge Soundworks 740, or $15 for a new transport for Sony UBP-X700/X800 (current-model UHD players!)

My local thrift stores are awash with Blu Ray players, though I have yet to see UHD models. But typically, 90%+ of the movies are regular DVD. And when higher-res movies do appear, the discs are sometimes damaged, else the case may be missing the UHD/B-D content.

True, I could rip UHD and B-D media and store on a NAS, but besides the hassle, resulting data is big, and I'm not keen on upgrading said NAS just for this purpose.

Kaleidescape sounds cool, but ownership-wise, it's not obvious to me how it differs from services like iTunes/TV+, where you can purchase content, but can only play it via approved devices + logging into someone's cloud, if not for the data itself, then for purposes of authentication/authorization.
 
Im beyond tired of upgrading and paying for everything new. First came DVD, and OK with 4K TV bluray was needed to get some out of it. 3D was refreshing for some sci fi stuff. Then 3D is obsolete, and expensive 3D content with it bcs TV´s dont support 3D anymore. Suddenly you need a new TV and player for HDR. Then you need a new reciever, and additional speakers for atmos sound. Industry is squezing the orange to hard here. Now physical media in itself is obsolete. CD players as an example is either dirt cheap low quality, or priced into the sky. No "normal" players around. Same with Bluray in a way. Then camme streaming, and you have to pay 4-5 different subscriptions. NF, amazon, SKY, HBO.. The squezing of common ppl´s wallet never ends, and im f'''''alot tired of it.
 
No new players... also means no new firmware updates to cover various disc authoring methods.

I've already got a number of discs that will play on a newer player, but not an older one.

This will continue to get worse... so best to stick with the companies that are still making and updating BD players.

Think I shall not spend too much time fretting about this because (A) there's nothing I can do about it, and (B) I'm discovering that repairing or replacing optical drives can be surprisingly cheap.
Depends on the brand/model and how old it is. Oppo BDP-83 replacement loaders used to be around $50... now $120 - $150 and difficult to find at all.

I've repaired a few... but in the end, I can get the local Laser player for around $100, so easier to just grab a new/replacement one. Usually it's the blue laser that goes first... which gradually makes the player unusable, but still fine for red laser DVD & CD.


JSmith
 
Besides standalone 4K disc players, there are a lot of gaming consoles that will support playback of 4K Blu-ray discs.
 
Besides standalone 4K disc players, there are a lot of gaming consoles that will support playback of 4K Blu-ray discs.
I stand to be corrected but believe PS 5 does not play Blu-ray. No experience with X-Box or other platforms.
That's why I still have my PS 4 as they do play Blu-ray. Its regular thing for me to have a music night playing Blu-ray live concert performances (E.G. Any of the Eric Clapton Crossroads series). High quality audio with great resolution on screen as a bonus.

From memory Sony went down this road where the PS4 wont play Red book CD's, only Blu-ray.
PS 3 was my CD player for some time.

The desicion to drop these formats might be the cost of licensing these formats or Sony specifically wanting to market the PS 5 as only a game device, not an all round media center?
 
Besides standalone 4K disc players, there are a lot of gaming consoles that will support playback of 4K Blu-ray discs.
Sure is, but they neuter the audio to 48Hz so system sounds can be played.


JSmith
 
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