6 ms·
With this news, I have to wonder how much longer bluray will live. Will we continue seeing new bluray releases of movies and TV shows for decades, or are their
by phire 3mo ago
With this news, I have to wonder how much longer bluray will live.
Will we continue seeing new bluray releases of movies and TV shows for decades, or are their days numbered?
The loss of console gaming presumably removes a guaranteed revenue source that was keeping Bluray pressing plants alive.
Sales of DVDs and Bluray have been declining for years [1] [3]. Some people have been excited pushing the news that UHD bluray sales increased in 2025, [2] but that ignores the fact that the total optical sales still dropped.
[1] https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1739948166 https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=...
[2] https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1772040307 https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=...
[3] This article has a more complete graph: https://www.statsignificant.com/p/the-rise-fall-and-slight-rise-of-b06 https://www.statsignificant.com/p/the-rise-fall-and-slight-r...
- dylan604 3mo agoI can't imagine content owners wanting the physical media to continue any longer than they can get away with. The control they have from digital only must make them feel so powerful. At least as long as everyone continues to buy into their DRM systems. I've recently looked into purchasing a dedicated 4K Blu-ray player to start building a disc collection again. I'm assuming there's some pretty decent deals in the used bins now. One by one, I keep canceling my streaming subscriptions. At some point, that physical media will be the only thing left. Makes me feel like a prepper of a different sort
- phire 3mo agoThat's part of what I was thinking. The idea of digital-only must be very attractive for content owners, so I don't think they will put much effort into preventing that outcome.
- 3D30497420 3mo agoI do this. I'll buy used disks and rip them to a personal media server. It works great. A friend actually created an eBay bot which monitors listings of disks he wants and will automatically buys them. The ripping part is a bit annoying and time-consuming though. Ironically, it would probably be easier to buy a disk then download a file rather than ripping.
- organsnyder 3mo agoI've been doing this as well. Occasionally I'll have a disc that fails to rip for some reason (maybe my drive is more sensitive to defects than my player is, or there's some stupid copy protection scheme), and then I'll torrent it. Torrenting is always easier and faster, though it's hard to find special features this way.
- account42 3mo ago> maybe my drive is more sensitive to defects than my player is, or there's some stupid copy protection scheme FYI for UHD disks in particular common ripping software does not include "player" keys (because they are hard to come by and would be blocked by future releases) but only the disc-specific decryption keys. This means that new releases can't be ripped until someone submits a dump of the copy protection data, which can sometimes take a while if you don't do it yourself.
- pimlottc 3mo ago> Ironically, it would probably be easier to buy a disk then download a file rather than ripping. This is basically what mp3.com tried to do: treat the physical (music) disc as a license key that gives you access to a digital copy online. Sadly, the courts did not agree with their interpretation of copyright law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMG_Recordings,_Inc._v._MP3.com,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMG_Recordings,_Inc._v._MP3.co....
- vachina 3mo ago> The control they have from digital only must make them feel so powerful. I hope they continue to feel this way. WEBDL can come faster.
- account42 3mo agoI'd much rather get releases that are NOT bit-starved crap optimized for streaming company profits.
- TFNA 3mo agoWhy not just get everything on the high seas for free, instead of paying for used-bin stuff which is cheap but still costs something? I’m a huge cinephile with a collection on my hard drives of ripped Blu-ray and DVD images, a number running now into the four figures, and I have almost never paid for a physical disc; I own something like 6 that are in a box somewhere.
- dylan604 3mo agoBecause within my job/industry, getting caught pirating would end my career.
- scheeseman486 3mo agoIt's interesting how attitudes towards this are so different across industries. Jeff Gerstmann is a fairly well known and well connected video game journalist and he straight up does streams where he plays emulators using romsets clearly downloaded from the internet.
- dylan604 3mo agoWhen an industry works directly for those rights holders, it's not that interesting of a difference compared to those to do not.
- scheeseman486 3mo agoFor fair amount of time Giant Bomb was owned by CBS and during that time I saw plenty of emulators getting used.
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- jeandrek 3mo agoIn NZ 4K Blu-rays are too expensive, at least by my standard (there's about one store chain, JB Hi-Fi). Never seen a single one at a second hand shop. (Though I guess a used bin is a place for 2nd hand goods at an otherwise first-hand shop? Which we don't really have.)
- ktallett 3mo agoThey won't be releasing new Blu Rays for decades. Outside of collectors, why would they? Unless there is a hidden market for the discs elsewhere it's not worth it
- bakies 3mo agoLibraries :(
- NathanielK 3mo agoMy local library never made the jump to Blu-Ray and still only has DVDs. They have physical copies of video games too though.
- runarberg 3mo agoI don’t know the stats but I would guess more people have DVD players then Blu-Ray, so it makes sense for libraries to rather offer DVDs. DVDs is also one of these things that is good enough. The jump in quality between DVD and Blu-Ray is very unnoticeable (when fully immersed) compared to e.g. between VHS and DVD (or even between vinyl and CD).
- bakies 3mo agoYeah bluray is really only necessary for 4k. And dvd probably beats streaming quality
- account42 3mo agoUhm, no. What are basing this on?
- bigstrat2003 3mo agoThe jump in quality from DVD to Blu-ray is huge, as much as it was from VHS to DVD. Going to 4k from there isn't noticeable, but going to HD in the first place is massive.
- kuerbel 3mo agoCollecting is going strong, though. My husband collects physical media, and media books, including a booklet and a nice cover, sell very well. As are special editions of more mainstream movies. Give people something extra and they will gladly buy it. I'd have expected them to go down that path, sell nice steelbooks, media books with an included art book and so on. Add a blu ray with interviews about the development process and so on. I'd pay good money for that and others would as well. Even if they sell the console only with an external disk drive.
- miiiiiike 3mo agoI saw my first Dolby Vision Blu-ray and immediately started a Blu-Ray collection. The Blu-ray player on the PS5 is fine, but a nice dedicated player from Sony blows it away. I would pay for my favorite albums on Blu-ray too. I wish more artists released their entire discography on a really well produced Blu-ray. NIN would be perfect for this. So many Halos, so many videos, all in release order. A real release of Purest Feeling?
- kuerbel 3mo ago>dedicated player from Sony blows it away If I might give you a heads up here, they are not the best. For a reference player look at Magnetar. My dream setup is a Magnetar UDP 900 MK II and a Leica Cine 1...
- mghackerlady 3mo ago
- Telaneo 3mo agoEven if Sony keeps a token factory or two open to produce blu-rays, I'd imagine we'll see fewer and fewer new releases. Maybe we'll only see them as part of collector's sets that have enough margin to afford a cut of the more limited supply. This feels like the beginning of the death spiral for blu-ray. Sales aren't going to go up enough for it to be worth it keep factories going, much less spin up new ones.
- jonhohle 3mo agoYears ago I did a podcast[0] on physical media and hypothesized UHD would be the last physical movie format (and was shocked that it was even a thing). The next two years are probably going to be a mess as collectors snatch everything up annd inventory gets cleared out. 0 - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cherry-bombs-the-underappreciated-movies-podcast/id1490726384?i=1000515705743 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cherry-bombs-the-under...
- phire 3mo agoUHD bluray isn't really a new physical format. It's the exact same physical format as regular bluray. They didn't change a thing except move some previously optional parts of the bluray spec (like three layer discs, and 33GB per layer) to being compulsory. I don't think we have ever seen something like it before. A new media format that breaks backwards compatibility, yet uses the exact same physical medium as the previous version. Some people did attempt it with HD movies on DVD, but the attempt failed so badly I don't think it even counts. Its very existence was a very strong signal Bluray would be the last optical disc format. And the launch of the PS5 without a new optical confirmed it.
- iwontberude 3mo agoIt has Dolby height sound encoded for x.x.4 systems
- mghackerlady 3mo agoI honestly doubt they'll stop. Sony is a Japanese company, and they seem to still enjoy buying blurays
- Teever 3mo agoBut is there enough of a market for blu-rays of newer western releases in Japan to keep the entire production and distribution chain alive around the rest of the world?
- scheeseman486 3mo agoYeah this is the thing. Everyone seems to be forgetting about economies of scale.
- everdrive 3mo agoI think blu-ray will live for quite a while, but will be a bit like vinyl; there will be a consistent, niche market.
- TheAmazingRace 3mo agoHilariously, DVD production could potentially outlive Blu-Ray discs, since DVDs are still popular enough 30 years later, and surpass the sales of Blu-Ray movies.
- saturn8601 3mo agoThat will last only as long as boomers are still around watching movies.
- jeandrek 3mo agoI'm Gen Z and I buy DVDs (though mostly second hand). You're probably right on the whole, though I've only observed the opposite.
- saturn8601 3mo agoWhy DVD and not Blu-ray? The reason I said boomers buy DVD is because there are still a lot of senior citizens that are not internet savvy that like to rent out movies from their libraries, the dvds are simpler to operate, are more reliable from deep scratches, and a lot of boomers have simple equipment. Most of them don't care about perceived quality. This market is big enough that ironically DVDs may actually outlive Blu-Ray. Its the format that wont die. In fact I bet part of the reason Blu-Ray is being kept alive is due to studios already putting in the work to produce DVDs. I spoke to my local librarian who cited this as the reason they haven't bothered with 4K blueray despite it being 10+ year old technology at this point.
- jeandrek 3mo agoThey're often cheaper and not everything is on Blu-ray. If Blu-ray was going really strong and overtook DVDs, I'd be happy about it. I don't really think DVDs are "simpler to operate" except for the fact that you only need cheaper equipment (though one can imagine someone with ingrained habits believing them to be "complicated").
- Taikonerd 3mo ago> With this news, I have to wonder how much longer bluray will live. I hope that physical media sticks around. DVDs and Blu-rays often include something that digital releases don't: director's commentaries, "making of" featurettes, and other extras. For me, it adds a whole new layer of fun to movies I already like.
- jaggederest 3mo agoI wish companies would release these for promotional purposes on e.g. youtube or equivalent.
- TFNA 3mo agoThe heyday of commentary tracks and extras was long ago, over a decade ago. Except for a few boutique labels like Criterion, distributors found that adding such extra features often wasn’t worth their while in the face of declining physical media sales. So, increasingly one just got the film and little else.
- saturn8601 3mo agoI am very annoyed by this with the recent surprise smash hit of the movie 'Obsession'. This is a new director made popular by his devoted fan base and they just announced the blueray. One director commentary, a tiny 'featurette' and then just the film. I remember back in the heyday of physical media(2010s) directors like Edgar Wright took curation of physical media extremely seriously: Multiple commentaries by not only the director but with the cast, production crew, sound designers etc. Deleted scenes, multiple featurettes and even picture slideshows. I wonder how much the design of Blueray menus is hampered by the tech choices used in the format. DVDs were video files that repeated with tiny overlays that the player would just draw. Bluray seem to be entire Java applications of which most studios develop one generic version and reuse for every release.
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- 3mo ago
- saturn8601 3mo agoThe PC burners/readers are disappearing. We had like ASUS, LG and Pioneer manufacturing. Pioneer had thrown in the towel last year (they were heads above the best in quality). I think ASUS might be gone as well. LG's drives are super hit or miss and I wouldn't be surprised if they give it up eventually. This is probably due to the fact that they relied on Intel SGX security which has been busted wide open and itself been discontinued by Intel so instead of redesigning the security model, just depreciate the entire format on PC. I don't think there is that much of a market left for set top players either. Of all the companies you'd think are committed to the format, it would be Sony right? Well they currently list one model of set top player on their website and it is the same design since at least the pandemic(when I bought my player). The SKu has changed since then but after looking at the differences, the only design update they have done in those ~6 years is upgraded menu software and removing built-in smart or networking features. 8K hasn't taken off as far as I know but eventually it might and right now there is no transition path to that for physical media.
- account42 3mo agoIMO they should just release BDXL drives with open firmware. Then "security" is not their problem. And I don't think 8K will ever take off. 4K is already at the point where much (but not all) of the additional resolution is just noise. Meanwhile 4K pixels are already small enough even for 70"+ TVs at fairly close movie viewing distances so where 8K will provide any advantage at all is exceedingly limited.
- SoftTalker 3mo ago[flagged]
- nalekberov 3mo agoI have been collecting many used CDs and DVDs for some ten years - some of them 15+ years old, some of them are covered in scratches and they still work pretty well. Clearly, you are: a. Spreading lies b. Exaggerating your experience Now, Will they last forever? Of course not, but they are mine!
- silisili 3mo agoI thought after the DVD era surely we'd get something more akin to SD cards or flash drives instead of more discs, really disappointed we ended up with Blu Ray.
- Giefo6ah 3mo agoThis is because blurays, like vinyl records, are efficiently stamped into plastic from metallic masters with negligible faults. You can't do this for electronic storage.
- YurgenJurgensen 3mo agoYou need to stop eating fried chicken and then immediately rubbing your greasy fingers all over your disks. I have ripped over a thousand optical disks, including a lot of second-hand ones with only a handful of read errors coming from demo discs that were over 30 years old.
- IshKebab 3mo agoYeah I wouldn't give it more than 20 years. Obviously they won't suddenly stop; it will just be rarer and rarer for things to be released on bluray until it's only super popular stuff and collectors editions and things like that.