Death of Blu-ray is imminent � Samsung no longer introducing new players

You still remember the format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD? Well, you probably remember, or realize, that Sony-backed Blu-ray won that battle.

Thus, ever after early 2008, Blu-ray was the de facto disc format for high-definition video. However, discs never really managed to fight off the beast that is Netflix.

For years we've seen the decline of physical media, and Blu-ray was certainly not an exception. Even though movie studios started supporting 4K Blu-rays in late 2015 and tech companies introduced Ultra HD players in the first half of 2016, it seemed inevitable that Blu-ray would die off soon.

One of the killing blows to Blu-ray was when Sony, the company behind the brand, decided to not support Ultra HD Blu-ray in their newest PS4 Pro gaming console.

Now the demise seems to be closer than ever with Samsung stopping the production of 4K Blu-ray players. In fact, Samsung isn't going to bring any new Blu-ray players to the U.S. market, CNET reports.

We can only expect other companies to follow suit.

Written by: Matti Robinson @ 18 Feb 2019 11:42

Igmutaka

If no blue ray then what, back to DVD that is over 10 times smaller?

18.2.2019 15:06 #1

ivymike

What happened to the Holographic Versatile Discs that were being developed a few years ago???

20.2.2019 00:55 #2

dRD

Originally posted by ivymike: What happened to the Holographic Versatile Discs that were being developed a few years ago??? The mass need for them vanished, as people opted to pay for streaming services rather than buy physical movies anymore.

Sure, physical discs will probably exist also in distant future for backup storage of some sort. And probably Blu-ray or some other physical movie format will also remain, just like LPs do still exist in music business. But they probably will never be "mainstream" again.

Petteri Pyyny (pyyny@twitter)
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20.2.2019 16:58 #3

Mr-Movies

All the kids stream now, they aren't real interested in quality at all it's more about lazy or what is easiest for them. Mid-to-High end audio stores are falling away fast for similar reasons leaning more to car audio gear. Oppo gave up on their UHD players too, for some of us fortunately Cambridge Audio is trying to pickup the Oppo market but they cost twice as much and aren't as feature rich. I still prefer physical media but when they come up with a better means will switch to that, Streaming isn't a replacement for me, just a filler.

20.2.2019 17:07 #4

8686

Sad news for sure. I like my discs so i can backup to my nas for my zappitti jukbox playing on my 3 dune players in my house. What a shame. What about regular blu ray players? Do they plan on making those still? I never jumped to 4k anyway

20.2.2019 22:06 #5

Mr-Movies

You can still find normal Bluray players, as well as 4K players. Sony, LG Panasonic and off brands are out there as well as plenty of Samsung's. Lots of time left before they go instinct. I too use discs as my base to support my audio-video servers, I use Plex as my main server but have Linux and other stuff as well.

20.2.2019 22:30 #6

ivymike

Sounds like there will be a greater emphasis on hard disk based players with internet connectivity.

20.2.2019 22:58 #7

Andrew691

Wonder if the user who went by the name of "hughjars" still visits this site? (think he ended up getting progressively more aggressive in "debates" and was banned) Hows that HD-DVD collection and all those xbox hd-dvd addons that were so inexpensive that they guaranteed the formats success over Sony and Blu-ray?

But yes, physical media is going the way of the Dodo for everything other than as a backup, streaming services and the lack of bandwidth restrictions these days make things easily available and near instantly.
I remember when I would struggle to delete a 100mb download due to how long and hard it might be to find again, nowadays I clear GB's of downloads from my cache folder with no concern.

"This is how it works. Whatever you sink, we build back up. Whomever you sue, ten new pirates are recruited. Wherever you go, we are already ahead of you. You are the past and the forgotten, we are the internet and the future."-Brokep

17.3.2019 19:47 #8

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