Just idle curiosity - are blu-ray players and DVD’s becoming more common or is it a fading trend? Our current player is plain vanilla DVD’s only and I’m wondering if it’s worth upgrading.
Thanks!
A bit of googling turns up articles like Samsung to Cease Selling Blu-ray Players in the US (from last year; presumably they have now done so).
So it looks like they’re becoming less common. I’m not sure whether the market will level off or completely disappear, as more and more people give up physical media for streaming. As long as people have DVD/Blu-ray collections, and new discs are available for sale or rental, there will be some market for the players.
well blu ray is better but i read a thing where blu ray might be the last home optical media player that anyone will bother to make because of the all-digital revolution like the same reason you have to request a DVD/BluRay player in the computer because almost no one releases pc software (in this case games)on disc anymore
they hit their peak consumption years ago but there’s still enough money in it to release movies because not everyone has good enough bandwidth for video yet in about 10 years? I doubt anyone under 30 will know what a cd/DVD/Blu-ray disc is
Now maybe you’ll see lesser-known brands ( or in some cases straight out unbranded)sell them for cheap … i it will be like how the VCR was sold for 10/20 bucks in end cap bins at the grocery store for 10 years after the big makers quit …
This is pretty much what I suspected.
We have a Samsung Blu-Ray player. It’s about 7 or 8 years old now, and while it still works just fine, I don’t think we’ve even used it in the last three or four years. We stream most of our entertainment, and of the Blu-Ray discs we do own, I have ripped them all and converted them to MP4 files for streaming over our home network. I haven’t used a DVD or Blu-Ray disc in ages.
It’s amazing how media formats have changed in my lifetime. It was records and then cassettes then CDs and then streaming for audio, and video cassettes then DVDs then Blu-Ray then streaming for video. I still tend to buy CDs for my music, especially when I want a whole album, but I rip them to lossless files (FLAC) and then just store the discs.
actually i haven’t looked this up but supposedly the top 3 selling Blu-ray players are game consoles
and the ps4 is the best selling Blu-ray player of all time followed by the ps3 and x box one
But rumor also has it that the new console generation that’s starting later this year might be the last one to use any type of disc or cartridges (although Nintendo will be the last to adopt this about 5 years after everyone else just cause there Nintendo )
Less common, but unfortunately so. I guess I could blame the millenials (“OK, Boomers!”), but I won’t. They are the last refuge of commentaries, featurettes, artwork, and deleted scenes.
Now, if I could only revive full-size stereo speakers…
DVD sales are down 86% from 2008, if that means anything. Blu Rays are down about 20% from their peak in 2013, but their peak was a small fraction of the DVD peak in sales.
FWIW, its rare for me personally to buy a new DVD. I usually get my movies via streaming, and if I do want to buy a DVD I either get it at the library or buy it used at a pawn shop or amazon. I probably buy new DVDs less than 5 times a year.
This is true, but there was a step in between CDs and streaming.
There was a period for several years where you’d rip your CDs, then store them on an MP3 player.
Nowadays, thats not necessary as you can stream all your music via your phone. But I remember having 2GB MP3 players and storing dozens of albums on them. People would swap hard drives or just rip their own collections to build up a music collection. You had to pick and choose which albums you wanted with the earlier MP3 players as their storage wasn’t that big.
I personally think the next big innovation is when AI is advanced enough that we have media generated for each individual. The entire plot, characters, etc will be generated on a whim based on your preferences and moods. I think it’ll just isolate us further since we won’t be able to discuss common media as much. But it’ll probably be 15+ years before that is mainstream.
The Blu-ray player I bought also does streaming, but I use a firestick for that, so it’s rarely used. The wife uses the plain old player to watch movies we have on disk sometimes, but not very often. The other day we had to turn it on when the internet went down, but that was probably the first time it’s been used this year. I think we even have 1 or 2 working VCRs and a DVD player downstairs with a console TV.
I think blu Ray will continue as a niche market for videophiles and classic film buffs. I still buy them. But, anything I buy needs to be in a category of a film I’ll want to see multiple times.
Streaming is fine, except there’s never a guarantee you’ll be able to stream what you want. And the streaming services are maddeningly moving to original content. Sometimes I want to watch a movie, not binge watch 10 episodes of something.
Same. Amazon sent me an email last year saying that they no longer supported my Sony Blu-Ray player for streaming and sent me a coupon for a free Firestick. I haven’t played a disc in over a year. I’m surprised to read that they are dying though.
We still watch a lot of movies on DVD. Not ones that we own, though; we rent them through Red Box*. You get movies that have just left the theater, unedited and uninterrupted. Unfortunately, there are usually no “extras” like commentary and special features, and there is no chance to get a movie older than a few months. Still, it keeps our DVD player working. Never did buy a Blu-Ray player.
- in case they don’t have them by you, these are big red vending machines outside supermarkets and 7-Eleven stores containing DVDs of recent movies, and games. You can walk up and browse them like a candy vending machine, or you can reserve movies through their app.
Your ideas on technology are pollyannaish to an absurd degree.
Um, 4K UHD players anyone? I think they still call ‘em Blu-ray but 4K is the new hotness.
Definitely not dead in the audiophile/home theater crowd. Streaming is never quite there, but it’s getting closer, in terms of quality.
My wife bought our first blu ray player a couple years ago and it’s still in the box (along with the “new” tv), though I’m not sure this is a really a comment about blu ray players. As far as blu ray players go, well I/we have never really used one. I guess I (40ish man) never had the interest/budget to switch from DVD, which is used seldom enough as it is. Couldn’t tell you the last non-streaming thing I’ve watched. On the other hand, my best friend ( a mid-20s woman) regularly buys used DVDs.
Yeah, and the thirty trailers you have to get past to get to the main menu. Watching discs seems to be a greater investment in your time and patience than streaming.
FWIW, I’ve rarely found a Blu-Ray (or a DVD before that) in which you couldn’t skip the trailers (if a disc even has them) by just hitting the “top menu” button.
I have encountered discs that somehow prevented you from doing that. However, the skip-ahead button almost always works.
A quick scan of the “New and Noteworthy” section of movies on iTunes shows all 32 releases (except Spartacus) with at least some extras. Some titles have a lot more than others. About half include full-length commentaries.
Your ignorance is only matched by your arrogance. Whats your point.
AI is already writing articles and potentially novels, generating porn, making videos from a still picture.
In a few decades the technology will be much more advanced.