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Sony ends production of Blu-ray Disc, recordable MiniDisc, and MiniDV media
- layer8 2y agoEnglish translation: https://www-sony-jp.translate.goog/rec-media/info2/20250123.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp https://www-sony-jp.translate.goog/rec-media/info2/20250123....
- Seanambers 2y agoSurely end of an era.
- homefree 2y agoDoes anyone have a solution for reading these to convert to digital? My family has some and if I don't convert them soon I think they'll be lost.
- gambiting 2y agoWhat do you mean? All three of those are already digital, no conversion needed. Or do you mean you just want to copy them to some other storage medium?
- TheRealSteel 2y ago"Digital" has become this weird overloaded term with a second meaning that means "no physical media". You see it mostly in videogames, "bought digitally" means buying it from Steam or another online store as a download, as opposed to a physical disk. Obviously you're right and and literally every commercial* videogame ever released is digital in the sense that it's binary information, and the movies that person was talking about were already digital on Blu Ray. You can kind of justify it as literally correct if you infer the context of "digital" referring to the method of transferral, rather than the method of information storage - I.e when I bought a game disk from a shop, the game was transferred to me physically on a disk, but when I bought one from Steam it was transferred digitally. Doesn't really apply as much for this situation tho. (*I almost said every videogame ever made, but I suppose Tennis For Two and some other experimental games ran on analogue computers)
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- homefree 2y agoI find it a little hard to believe that people were earnestly confused and not just being pedantic. Yes minidv/dv are digital, but they look like tapes and require something that can read them to get them on to a computer.
- hambos22 2y agoI'm currently in the same position regarding 8mm digital8. After researching, I believe the best way to digitize these is to obtain a compatible used camcorder with a DV/Firewire port, then install a DV/Firewire PCI card to stream and record the video to your PC.
- interestica 2y agoYou’re right. But even better than trying to get a compatible PCI card, find an older MacBook Pro that has built in FireWire ports and use something like iMovie to direct rip the DV content. Unfortunately, it has to be done in real-time even though it’s digital data. I haven’t heard anyone use a high speed tape drive for them but it would be theoretically possible. Also, that setup is a pretty good way to digitize Hi8 analog tapes. And I think you can use some of the camcorders as analog to digital converters of an analog video stream (eg, an attached vcr).
- homefree 2y agoYeah that’s a huge pain in the ass, I was hoping there would just be some mini dv to thunderbolt adapter. Oh well, probably won’t bother.
- aplayer 2y agoThere is a way to go from mini dv to thunderbolt. Apple made adapters for Firewire to Thunderbolt 2, and Thunderbolt 2 to 3. These can be chained to do what you want. See this video/channel for more details. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT0oDYbqwwk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT0oDYbqwwk
- ssl-3 2y agoSounds daunting compared to my limited experience: Friend brings over MiniDV camera and a tape, and asks if I can transfer it to a PC. "I don't know, but we can try!" It took longer to rummage through the cabling collection for the right FireWire cable than to get it working, plugged straight into the front of a Q6600 box running Windows Vista or 7, with whatever software Microsoft included by default. Even the tape transport controls worked perfectly from the GUI on the PC.
- haunter 2y ago>convert to digital All 3 are digital. If you want to copy: MakeMKV for BluRays are perfect. For MiniDV you can use any MiniDV camcorder, they have a digital video out (probably FireWire) then import with a video editor on PC. An old Macbook/Pro is the best with the built-in port and iMove.
- homefree 2y agoI was hoping for some simple option to put the minidv in a reader that would let me download its content to a mac. I don't a camera anymore and finding an old mac and camera is what I was trying to avoid.
- homefree 2y agoToo late to edit, but I was specifically thinking of mini dv -> computer. Digital as a shorthand for file on computer.
- tuatoru 2y agodd if=/dev/cd0 of=moviename.iso bs=4M conv=excl,noerror,fsync status=progress Edit: If errors are a problem, try ddrescue instead of dd.
- haunter 2y agoNot sure you are trolling or not
- loganhood 2y agoThis isn't the end of production of all Blu-ray media, right? just consumer-writable Blu-rays?
- ktallett 2y agoThis is a new announcement to the one last year regarding consumer writable Blu rays being discontinued, I would believe this is them halting production of Blu Ray discs.
- layer8 2y agoThe page only says “Blu-ray Disc media” without further qualification. Only MiniDisc is qualified as “recordable” on the page. That being said, there are other Blu-ray Disc manufacturers, and I don’t see the production of Blu-ray discs ending anytime soon. There are new titles being released all the time: https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/releasedates.php https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/releasedates.php
- TylerE 2y agoThe writing is in the wall. The big physical retailers have either already been need physical media sales in store (e.g Best Buy) or have slashed inventory/stocking.
- goosedragons 2y agoDisney straight up stopped releasing discs in Australia. I'm sure that will extend to other regions in the future.
- TheRealSteel 2y agoEternal Disney Vault
- dehrmann 2y agoSomeone else makes blanks, right?
- neilv 2y agoHow long will the media be available from other manufacturers?
- ktallett 2y agoThere is no way of knowing.
- HighChaparral 2y agoI think Sony only have one plant left (in Austria) pressing physical discs. Vantiva (formerly Technicolor) are the biggest players but have just announced they’re unloading their Supply Chain Services division, which includes their disc-pressing plants, to private equity. Blu-Ray (both HD and 4K) is obviously a niche product now but there are numerous boutique labels doing great licensing work. It feels in a healthier place than it did a couple of years ago when the streaming wars were at their height. It’s a bit like a return to the Laserdisc days of the 80s/90s. Most people were happy to rent VHS tapes (read: streaming today) but there were enough connoisseurs, techies and collectors around to keep the premium physical media format of its day alive and kicking.
- griomnib 2y agoThe primary value of Blu-ray to me is on a good home theater system the audio is going to be so much better than a stream. The visual fidelity on a good 4k streamer is hard to tell the difference between Blu-ray (you can, it’s just not glaring), but even the sound on a DVD beats any streamer.
- smitelli 2y agoI never understood why they encode stuff that way. Most streams that I've looked at devote literally 98-99% of the bits to the video, and the audio stream is just scraps. The film's sound department worked really hard on that stuff! It doesn't take much -- 500 kbit/sec can sound amazing if they encode it well.
- archon 2y agoI would guess that the number of people listening to this media on anything higher quality than the built-in speakers on a 65-inch TV is minuscule. They’re optimizing for sound on an iPad, not a full surround sound setup.
- TylerE 2y agoEven iPads, especially new the newer ones, actually have fairly competent speakers. Much better than most tvs.
- crazygringo 2y agoThe thing is, if you watch using AirPods on your iPad with spatial audio, it's actually far better than the vast majority of people's actual surround sound setups. I never cared much about surround sound until the AirPods got spatial audio. Now it's like I can't live without it.
- NewJazz 2y agoThen make it opt in
- griomnib 2y ago
- RIMR 2y agoI tried to embrace BD-Rs for backups, and to some degree they are useful, but ultimately I have given up on them. The 25GB discs are cheap, and have enough space for a considerable backup (depending on your needs). It's also possible to put 4K h264/h265 videos on one and play them on some players, but this isn't very convenient compared to other options. The 50/100/128GB discs are far more expensive per GB, and have an awful failure rate for writing. Write and read speeds leave a lot to be desired. Fast enough to stream video, but that's about it. And consumer writable optical media has a poor lifespan, and will probably become corrupted within a decade. I have moved on to LTO tapes. A single LTO-6 tape is about $10, and holds 100x more than a basic single-layer BD-R. Read and write speeds over 1gbps. Not appropriate for everyday access, but perfect for large long-term backups. If I want to move files from device to device, especially multimedia, I just use a flash drive.
- mkl 2y agoThe tapes are cheap. The drives are not at all cheap, unfortunately.
- TiredOfLife 2y agoFor home use hard drives seem to be about the same price, but much more convenient and take less space.
- haunter 2y agoSaw this yesterday: >The rate of decline in US physical video game software spending accelerated in 2024. >Spending on physical video game software in the US has been cut in more than half since 2021 and is now more than 85% below its 2008 peak. https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3lgj4qutmo22y https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3lgj...
- macNchz 2y agoWith video games at least there are still DRM-free digital purchases (as opposed to film and TV). I haven't bought a physical video game since like 2010 but still buy many games regularly that are DRM free—I don't necessarily buy the most mainstream games, though.
- tonyhart7 2y agoNintendo is holding that share tight right now
- SoftTalker 2y agoAll part of the plan for everyone to have to repurchase all the content they already own. Again.
- crazygringo 2y agoNothing's stopping you from playing the media you already own, so no. Even when studios stop publishing Blu-Rays, I'm pretty sure you're still gonna be able to buy used (and dirt-cheap) Blu-Ray players for a long, long time. I don't think this is part of any larger plan at all, except to discontinue products that consumers have basically stopped buying, which is what any business does.
- mrbungie 2y agoBit/media rot exists, and it is a matter of time until we lose those bits (or however the signals are encoded) to entropy. Considering the fact that many pieces of media in streaming services disappear all the time, I think we're fucked from a preservation point of view.
- crazygringo 2y agoSure, but with bit rot you would have had to buy a new disc anyways. Preservation is a totally different subject. It's an ongoing challenge that is nothing new, and something librarians and archivists have made an entire profession out of. Although these days, preservation is actually astonishingly easy for end users who store media in major clouds like AWS, since the cloud providers take care of eternally ensuring redundancy and re-copying data to new hard drives as soon as old ones fail.
- TylerE 2y agoThe point is you’re not going to eh able to hit a new disc anymore…
- crazygringo 2y ago
- deergomoo 2y agoI fear that the death of physical media releases for movies is not far off now. Ownership issues of streaming or DRM-encumbered digital releases aside, it’s a shame because Blu-rays are typically so much better quality, and as a movie buff there’s no substitute. Triple the bitrate of streaming versions is not uncommon. Anecdotally, on streaming services I find that original content (e.g. Netflix originals) are good, but licensed content is often complete crap—low bitrate, SDR, often limited to 1080p, horrible block artifacts especially in dark scenes. Given the choice between a 4K stream and a 1080p Blu-Ray, I’ll take the Blu-ray in most cases.
- maximus-decimus 2y ago> horrible block artifacts especially in dark scenes I don't know if Netflix just hates me, but I get that on all their stuff. It's to the point I pirated Midnight Club to watch it instead of just using my Netflix account because the show was unwatchable using their service.
- Stratoscope 2y agoJust last month I bought a Blu-ray 4K player and several discs because of the extra features you get on the disc that don't seem to be available on streaming. For example, the disc for Coco, a movie I love dearly, has a feature about the film's Italian heritage among others. ("Film"? Yes. If anyone objects, I will "dial" my phone so we can discuss.)
- Stratoscope 2y agoRegarding the Italian heritage, of course I was referring to another favorite of mine, Luca. D'oh! Coco does have some great extra features about its Mexican heritage.
- deergomoo 2y agoI have started building a UHD Blu-ray collection too now the price of discs has come down a little vs regular Blu-ray. They’re fantastic. I have a new annoyance though: many new movies are offered in Dolby Vision on streaming services, but the UHD BD release is only HDR10. I saw a comment on Reddit from someone involved in the industry who said that the additional work in getting the different metadata in line on discs is often just skipped. On streaming they can just serve different files for all combinations of resolution and HDR offered. It’s annoying because if I’m paying a premium to get the best-of-the-best option, I want it to actually be the best.
- tonymet 2y agoThere are compelling reasons to own physical media: video & audio bitrates are about 10-20x better than online streaming. Many movies are not available on streaming when you'd like to watch them. And in many cases, like with It's a Wonderful Life, streaming services have been butchering classic movies. Why spend hours sorting through Netflix' low quality catalog when you can watch a movie you love whenever you want?
- maximus-decimus 2y ago> Why spend hours sorting through Netflix' low quality catalog when you can watch a movie you love whenever you want? Because I would rather watch something I've never seen before? I've heard a story on Reddit of a guy watching Big Trouble in Little China everyday for years, but usually people wanna watch new stuff. I guess people also rewatch shows like Friends and The Office, but do they really "watch" it or do they just play it as background noise?
- tonymet 2y agoWhy? It’s not necessary to watch new stuff , and the new stuff is mostly terrible . Consider that new doesn’t mean good .
- maximus-decimus 2y agoNew doesn't mean good, but watching something new to you has a plus value. Even if you just like old movies, there are tonnes of great old movies. Don't you want to watch more than one? Experiencing something for the first time just isn't the same.
- tonymet 2y agothat's the mindset that I'm trying to challenge. "new" depends on your perspective while you are enjoying the content. The second and third watch you can appreciate different aspects: scenes that were missed, subtleties in the performance or the writing, set design. Learning how to continue appreciate things that you've already experienced gives you the power over the experience. You don't have to depend on an a constant influx of "new" content. I've seen Interstellar, Matrix, Gladiator, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings 20+ times. They are even more moving now when I watch them because I can see how I've changed and related to the movies in a new way.
- kittikitti 2y agoThe VCR era was peak physical media.
- layer8 2y agoNah, the peak was in the 2000s with DVDs. Then streaming services started, and the HD disc format war and price hikes for HD discs didn’t help.
- snide 2y agoVCR let you record anything. Something on TV you wanted to watch later? Set the timer, it recorded on that channel at that time. A DVD might have been peak consumer, but it didn't have nearly the versatility of VCR. Hell, I could record 6 hours of content on 1 tape!
- layer8 2y agoI guess it depends on how you define peak. With regard to sales of prerecorded media, DVDs were the peak. For TV recording, DVRs were so much better quality-wise and more convenient than VCRs.
- int_19h 2y agoEnshittification already started with DVDs with all the "you can't do that" stuff blocking fast forward etc for parts of the video.
- layer8 2y agoYeah, I was lucky to have DVD players with a mod chip that defeated those restrictions.
- chrisblackwell 2y ago100%. Nothing else like it. Your own controllable media and DVR with full control.
- miunau 2y agoWhat surprises me is that I thought MiniDisc media production ended years ago.
- donatj 2y agoI actually bought an album off Bandcamp on MiniDisc maybe five years ago. I'd assumed it was just new-old-stock media but maybe not?
- SpecialistK 2y agoA MiniDisc community member based in Japan contacted Sony just a few months ago and confirmed that they were still producing one model of blanks (the MDW80T, which is (was?) still sold at retail in Japan and are the blanks used for most Bandcamp MDs (which themselves are usually prepared by a company called BandCDs in the UK) Happy to discuss MD more if people have questions!
- ssl-3 2y agoYou may be able to look at it and tell. Mass-produced MDs were stamped (or molded) just like CDs were. There was nothing new here but stuff like the codec and the packaging -- the media itself had more in common with a CD than it had differences. They were strictly read-only. Meanwhile, recordable MDs were a whole different magneto-optical thing, full of neat tricks. AFAIK, there haven't been any mass-produced MD albums for a rather long time. But there have been some recent albums made on recordable MDs -- slowly, one at a time -- whether new, NOS or recycled or whatever.
- donatj 2y agoDoes this include BDXL media? I bought a drive a number of years ago with intentions on backing up my NAS. Never did because the media was still prohibitively expensive for the amount of data I was looking to back up. I've been waiting for the price to go down.
- int_19h 2y agoA 20Tb HDD is ~$350 right now. That's, what, around 150 BDXLs?
- dehrmann 2y agoThe only options for this sort of backup are tape, HDD, or cloud. Optical media were never really feasible for backups because they were either too small or writers were too expensive. Supposedly AWS Glacier used them at some point, but you need that level of infrastructure to manage them.
- thetoon 2y agoIs this true for the Millenial Disks as well? Would somewhat defeat their purpose...
- backtoyoujim 2y agohttps://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/streaming-movies-and-tv/no-sony-isn-t-ending-blu-ray-disc-production/ar-AA1xPC2y https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/streaming-movies-and...
- ChrisArchitect 2y agoEarlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42806063 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42806063
- DidYaWipe 2y agoI saw an announcement saying this was for RECORDABLE Blu-Rays, not all.