Samsung Quits 4K Player Production.

[Sal1950]

First Oppo and now Samsung is backing out of the BluRay player market. Maybe indirectly connected to their stubborn refusal to support the Dolby Vision HDR format due to their involment with the opposing HDR 10+ development? Hard to say but IMO the writing is on the wall if you don't get on the Dolby Vision bandwagon, you may deeply handicap your market position in the HDR fight. The Forbes article misses the whole story making it sound like its 4K players only, but it is all players in the world wide market.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnar...-quits-4k-blu-ray-player-market/#4be2a7f11577

 

[amirm]

Making a disc player is a huge headache with tons of compatibility testing and support. Formats like Blu-ray are a mess with Java engine and such. And profits are hard to find if there is anything at all. On the other hand, Samsung is one of the patent holders so they get paid from anyone who makes a player. Why not just collect the checks?

And this is true too:

Streaming is getting so strong and DVD has so much staying power that option in the middle will continue to get squeezed.

 

[maxxevv]

Because DVD is "good enough", and easy to live with at lower costs. Somewhat analogous to 256 kbps MP3 for audio.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I blame some of it on the price. DVD is cheap. Bluray has gotten reasonably close in 2k form. Does it really now cost more to make a 2k bluray than DVD? I bet most of the DVD's are being played in bluray players. Then you have 4K bluray costing what double triple? Does it really cost more to make or that much more? I know they think it is worth it, but successful formats are not only better, but get close to cost parity with what they replace.

 

[Ron Texas]

1080p is so good that I can't imagine what 4k is like. When you can see the pores on actors faces, how much more detail do you need?

 

[stunta]

1080p is so good that I can't imagine what 4k is like. When you can see the pores on actors faces, how much more detail do you need?

I agree but people who are not into hifi can tell us the same thing - these stock ear buds that came with my phone are so good and I can hear all the music. What more do we really need?

Streaming has become so ubiquitous that physical media is not that hot anymore. I do see Red Box kiosks in quite a few places near where I live and from my minimal observation, its a last minute Friday night thing where families come pick up a DVD (probably the movie was not available for streaming), some popcorn and go watch a movie together.

Personally, I like blu-ray because of the lossless audio codecs. Audio quality with streaming media is kinda dodgy.

 

[Sal1950]

I agree but people who are not into hifi can tell us the same thing - these stock ear buds that came with my phone are so good and I can hear all the music. What more do we really need?

Exactly. And as the average size screen in homes grow, so does the value of higher resolution.
We probably are hitting the top need at 4K, but like audio, if the marketers see a sales value in bigger numbers, they'll keep pushing the limits.
As streaming stands now, it's quality isn't near up to that available from even plain bluray disc. Video and audio data both being highly compressed and in most cases missing anything over 5.1 of discreet channels.
Personally I fear the loss of the local Redbox due to streamers. The cost of a top shelf movie experience will then soar with disc purchasing being the only avenue left.

 

[Rod]

Will miss 1080p blue rays if they ever go away because of streaming. I still use netflex for home blue ray delivery. Tried streaming and even satellite tv on a older Pioneer Kuro projector. I can clearly see the artifacts on a 135 inch screen from lower quality sources. The then theirs the audio on streaming.

 

[JJB70]

I think regular HD blu ray is the sweet spot, it offers a very noticeable improvement over DVD and doesn't cost much more. 4K is great if you have a huge screen but for the sort of 43 - 55" screens that still seem to be the norm I am not sure that 4k adds much. The manufacturers are very good at developing material that is drop dead stunning for show room display purposes but the reality is that with most movie discs the difference between 1080 HD and 4K Uhd is negligible on most screens. That said I think that there is a similar dynamic to audio in that some 4K transfers are extremely well done and look terrific on a 43" screen but probably more because of the effort invested in their production than the format.