Are Blu-ray & DVD Formats Dead?

[Trell]

I don't remember reading anyone touting their Samsung BD player as being something special or any great value, So I'm guessing they are simply pulling out of a business that was less profitable than their other endeavors.

Oppo is a much greater mystery. Physical media may be dying, but it is not dead and they did have a stellar reputation!

Do most people have connections that can support the bandwidth of a typical BD?
I honestly don't know, but pretty sure I can't get that quality/quantity of signal streaming through my internet provider!

I buy BD now and then, and fairly often that is entire seasons of shows (at least that is the majority of my BD discs), and will continue to do so. Especially when I upgrade to an UHD display.

Watching Netflix on my old 42" plasma usually looks good, but the same show/movie often have obvious compression artefacts when watching on a 27" 1440p monitor (Microsoft Edge supports 1080p resolution playback). The sound is not as good as when playing a BD disc that has a well mastered sound track.

Netflix 1080p is still low bitrate (5-6 Mbit at max, I think) compared to BD disc (max about 42Mbit, with sound track, if I remember correctly) and they still use various compression decided by an algorithm inspecting the content. I've not yet tried UHD as I don't have a UHD display, but my fibre connection can handle many of those with ease. On the other hand, when many people start streaming UHD (in the future) I expect the stream quality to drop.

In a browser watching Netflix you can use ctrl-alt-shift-d to toggle display of playback statistics.

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Even if I had bandwidth to use internet services I still prefer to have my music in CD and movies on blu-ray. I like the feeling of getting the case from shelves, looking at the case arts and inserting the disc in my player. For me it is the overall experience that matters.

 

[MR.MAGOO]

They said vinyl was dead, how does that explain all the used record stores in my area, and companies like Fluance making turntables? Same with DVD / BD IMHO. When I embarked on my journey over 6 years ago of upgrading my AV entertainment system I bought a Samsung Blu-ray player, what a piece of junk (maybe I got a lemon), I'm not losing sleep over Samsucks leaving the game. If streaming is so 'now', well my dear old AT&T dropped today, so much for being able to watch a movie via streaming without interruption. Yea, I know, if I'm watching a classic film on blu-ray and the power drops......

 

[snakeeyes]

They said vinyl was dead, how does that explain all the used record stores in my area, and companies like Fluance making turntables? Same with DVD / BD IMHO. When I embarked on my journey over 6 years ago of upgrading my AV entertainment system I bought a Samsung Blu-ray player, what a piece of junk (maybe I got a lemon), I'm not losing sleep over Samsucks leaving the game. If streaming is so 'now', well my dear old AT&T dropped today, so much for being able to watch a movie via streaming without interruption. Yea, I know, if I'm watching a classic film on blu-ray and the power drops......

I’ve encountered Samsung Blu-ray players at rental cabins and houses and they are the lowest form of Blu-ray player. LOL.

Also DVD sucks compared to Blu-ray. UHD is not as great of diff over Blu-ray but it’s still pretty cool.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

BD will be dead when Sony and Panasonic quit making BD players.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Physical media has been on life-support for some time now. I was once “that” guy that said “I’ll never buy music that’s not on a disc”. Then the convenience of digital downloads hit. Access is king. Moving my music to digital downloads increased my ability to listen to more music by an order of magnitude. Now I can stream playlists a mile long if I want or just random play my music. Now some of you may not see the corollary with movies but what you’re going to see here is the steady increase in the size of TV and with that increase video tiling is going to become big. We are going to literally have a TV cover the entire wall and when the sports game is one but your wife/hubby wants to watch something else you’ll just segment the display choose the sources and your in ear wireless buds will steam only your audio content or it will mix in ambient noise and perhaps other sources at reduced volume. Physicals discs are not going to allow this to happen which is one of the reasons why they’re going to die.

Physical discs will die because we can’t have a wall spasming out multiple programs at once? I pray to god I never have to look at some schizophrenic wall display and use some headphones to enjoy my content. If that’s the future shoot me now plz...

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Makes me wonder, most younger people I know thinks I'm crazy for spending the money I'm spending on audio video gear. Most of the ones I know do have a HD TV with nothing more than a soundbar. They could care less for surround. I see this as a dying hobby eventually.

That’s because most young people are stupid, and have no idea about things. Especially today, all they see is their PHONE and nothing else. I don’t allow music on phone or laptop speakers and rarely BT ones. That is because I feel they need to appreciate things for what they can be, not for how easy(lazy) they can be. I don’t want my kids being the lowest common denominator. Younger(and some older)people also think I’m crazy for spending the time and money to build a decent system. Until they sit in MY seat!!!

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I’ve encountered Samsung Blu-ray players at rental cabins and houses and they are the lowest form of Blu-ray player. LOL.

Also DVD sucks compared to Blu-ray. UHD is not as great of diff over Blu-ray but it’s still pretty cool.

Lol! That’s been my experience with them too.
J. U. N. K.

 

[RedCharles]

Streaming sucks. It's convenient. Sure. But the color sucks. Even Blue Ray vs Streaming. The color gets so compressed. This pisses me off. Discs ARE better.

 

[Sef_Makaro]

Streaming sucks. It's convenient. Sure. But the color sucks. Even Blue Ray vs Streaming. The color gets so compressed. This pisses me off. Discs ARE better.

What’s sad is that the quality you get from streaming is still better than what you get from many cable/satellite services. Especially since transitioning to MPEG-4 from MPEG-2 for linear channels instead of just on demand type content.

 

[Sef_Makaro]

That’s because most young people are stupid, and have no idea about things. Especially today, all they see is their PHONE and nothing else. I don’t allow music on phone or laptop speakers and rarely BT ones. That is because I feel they need to appreciate things for what they can be, not for how easy(lazy) they can be. I don’t want my kids being the lowest common denominator. Younger(and some older)people also think I’m crazy for spending the time and money to build a decent system. Until they sit in MY seat!!!

I couldn’t agree more. I’m from a demographic that seems to be some worst offenders and it drives me crazy. At least I’m starting to get my friends to come around and appreciate the difference.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I couldn’t agree more. I’m from a demographic that seems to be some worst offenders and it drives me crazy. At least I’m starting to get my friends to come around and appreciate the difference.

Fwiw, I was thinking of younger people than you but I guess I’ve seen a variety, and even some older than me. I like what you’re doing, keep up the fight brother!!!

 

[Verdinut]

BD will be dead when Sony and Panasonic quit making BD players.

But as long as the 4K survives, they will continue to make 4K players which will of course handle the eventually dead BD discs and other formats.

 

[Verdinut]

But as long as the 4K survives, they will continue to make 4K players which will of course handle the eventually dead BD discs and other formats.

Let's be optimistic. Ten years ago, would you have thought that the LP would come back? It's the younger generations that got interested in it.

 

[Darenwh]

The question is not when will the physical media disappear, but how soon after that until people realize that there is no way to get a digital copy of a movie for less than full retail price and how long until it becomes a matter of subscribing to every content owners service that you want content from (or paying for individual viewings) just to have the option of watching your favorite movies or series. What is to stop Disney, after they start their own streaming service, from discontinuing physical media and restricting viewing of their premium content (Harry Potter, Marvel comics based movies, Pixar movies, etc...) to people who either pay the full retail for the digital copy or on a pay per view at a price per view that is higher than most would be willing to pay. With the death of physical media comes increases in cost to view content.

 

[snakeeyes]

The question is not when will the physical media disappear, but how soon after that until people realize that there is no way to get a digital copy of a movie for less than full retail price and how long until it becomes a matter of subscribing to every content owners service that you want content from (or paying for individual viewings) just to have the option of watching your favorite movies or series. What is to stop Disney, after they start their own streaming service, from discontinuing physical media and restricting viewing of their premium content (Harry Potter, Marvel comics based movies, Pixar movies, etc...) to people who either pay the full retail for the digital copy or on a pay per view at a price per view that is higher than most would be willing to pay. With the death of physical media comes increases in cost to view content.

Probably about the same time pirating increases. LOL

 

[markw]

As long as kids will want to watch Disney/Pixar/Illumination movies over and over and over, DVD's will live on. Me, I like physical media for the sound. I'll generally go Blu-Ray but, when a movies visuals rate it, II'll spring for a 4k version. Aquaman is next on that list.

 

[davidscott]

As long as kids will want to watch Disney/Pixar/Illumination movies over and over and over, DVD's will live on. Me, I like physical media for the sound. I'll generally go Blu-Ray but, when a movies visuals rate it, II'll spring for a 4k version. Aquaman is next on that list.

I only have 1080 TVs so Blue Ray and DVD are generally what I purchase. (almost always used at a discount). Also plenty of cds for my player. I'm with you though I would hate to up my physical media.

 

[mtrycrafts]

They gonna start putting them on vinyl

Then vinyl will really take off.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Kurt,

I agree with you on the quality of signal streaming which is limited by the equipment of the internet provider.

With regard to Oppo, their decision to close production of BD players in the US might have to do wit DT's political action related to Chinese made products more than any other reason.

So, will it come back after he is gone?