News LG stops making Blu-ray players, marking the end of an era — limited units remain while inventory lasts

[JamesJones44]

True, most of my movie watching is from the streaming services. However, you can't always find special cuts on them and they virtually never come with any extras. When I watch stuff from disc, I love to see stuff like alternate endings and deleted scenes. Sometimes, those can even reveal more about the plot or answer some questions you might've had. I almost never watch any other extras.

Even beyond that, some movies still can't be bought on streaming. For example "The Basketball Diaries" can't be bought on streaming anywhere in the US (or at least not anywhere I've ever been able to find). It can still be bought on disc though. These movies are few and far between and often "cult" style movies, but it's still an issue for those who want to watch these movies but don't have a disc player.

 

[vern72]

I wonder what percentage of PS5 disc vs. digital consoles Sony was able to sell. Still hoping PS6 has a disc version for sale.

 

[gmk2311]

I suppose I am bucking the trend.
We recently had to have a hard copy I'd Deadpool and Wolverine. Figured let's go UHD for this one to.male maximum use of our new 8K Samsung 85" and finally entered the market. Had some gift certs from Bbuy so got the Sony - UBP-X700. It's a wonderful little box.
We've now purchased a few more classics like Spiderman no way home and Maverick. 🤩 Looking forward for more.

 

[gmk2311]

This is probably the last generation of consoles with optical disc drives being built in and maybe offered if the market will take it this time, which I think it might give the ratio of digital vs physical game acquisition these days.

Physical Game Sales Are Down Substantially, According to New Report

A new report finds that sales of physical video games such as discs and cartridges are down substantially compared to digital sales.

gamerant.com

Disc or bust! I'm going down with the ship! We're doing about 50/50.

Re-Reading the article its only talking about "players" as opposed to the actual "drives" which is what we in the PC space care about.

That said its hard to think they will keep "drive" production running for a long time if they are ditching "players". Assuming LG even considers the two things different.

With Sony clearly gearing up to end drive support on the PlayStation and Microsoft likely to do the same or exit the console market entirely. That means there will be no giant customers for just drives left.

That must be why you can't find a PS5 disk drive and why they're going for retail+++ on eBay this Christmas. They're obviously dying.
No one obviously cares about them if they're only willing to pay a scalper $200 for one.

 

[gmk2311]

I wonder what percentage of PS5 disc vs. digital consoles Sony was able to sell. Still hoping PS6 has a disc version for sale.

We skipped PS5 covid debacle altogether. But If PS6 doesn't have it, I won't be buying one.

 

[KangarooFactory]

So does that leave Pioneer as the last bastion of Blu-Ray Drive makers?

No, there's still Panasonic and Sony. Off the top of my head.

 

[gmk2311]

Re-Reading the article its only talking about "players" as opposed to the actual "drives" which is what we in the PC space care about.

That said its hard to think they will keep "drive" production running for a long time if they are ditching "players". Assuming LG even considers the two things different.

With Sony clearly gearing up to end drive support on the PlayStation and Microsoft likely to do the same or exit the console market entirely. That means there will be no giant customers for just drives left.

In the PC space, there is certain to be demand for disc read/write capability. It's a cheap easy way to archive data, especially with today's capacities. The Cloud is a joke, unless you don't care about privacy, just ask some celebrities or go have a look at their nude photos which were "secure" on the cloud.

 

[newtechldtech]

I think that next Gen Consoles will use Flash disks instead of optical disk for games .. by 2027 Flash cards will be cheaper as well for 64-128GB capacities.

 

[KangarooFactory]

There's no reason to buy an LG 4k player. There was nothing special about LG's players.

The Sony X800M2 can work with a spoofing device called a Vertex 2, which enables LLDV on non Dolby Vision devices. It is a game changer for many projectors.

And Panasonic's 4k Blu Ray players are top notch. Their 820K player is a great high end player. It has really good color correction curves.Their 9000k model is probably the top 4k blu ray player being sold at the moment.

Pioneer's 4k Blu Ray player is also very nice. But I believe it's discontinued. It has some analogue outputs that appealed to audiophiles.

The OPPO 205 is the most sought after, but it has been out of production for many years.

A quick google showed a Magnetar player, but I've never heard of that. And it's expensive.

So as of right now, only Sony and Panasonic are making mainstream 4k players as far as I know.

 

[gmk2311]

There's still Panasonic, right?

​

Amazon.com

​

Not to mention gaming consoles still available with disc drives (although the PS5 Pro switched to making it an add-on accessory).

I got one of the last Oppo 4k players, though I had to buy it used. Unlike the PS5, it still supports bluray 3D playback!

Technically, I think the 2nd gen PS5 made the disc Optional (2023).
PS5pro (2024) just followed thru and has not yet intro'd a package including the disc drive. I expect it to come by Christmas 2025 along with a price drop. PS5pro is still in its infancy, no?

 

[gmk2311]

I don't really care about blu-ray players as I have never owned one. But if they go away, then blu-ray discs won't be far behind. As noted Best Buy doesn't sell them anymore and Target had become my source for new movies on blu-ray. But Target has stopped selling them in store. Still available online at least. I buy and then rip so I can "stream" them in my own house without needing anyone's permission to do so.

Streaming is fine for finding new things you might like. But if I actually do like a movie or TV show/anime, I want to own them for myself. It will suck if the last option goes away. Netflix is already screwing this up as many of the things they produce are not available for purchase anywhere as they intend it to be.

Oddly you failed to mention the default for us smelly carpet baggers, Walmart. 🛠️ My dollars don't really make it to fashionable Targe' 🎯 very often, but Wal-Mart had Deadpool Wolverine in all the formats on release day. I just didn't expect a line for them as they came out of the cartons. Thank goodness they were lower tier Blu-ray shoppers so we were able to splurge on the 4K UHD flavor. ☺️

 

[rluker5]

Those are getting hard to watch. 3D TVs stopped being made years ago.

I've never seen a 3D TV worth watching but DLP projectors are another matter. New projectors still do 3D. This one isn't that fancy, but it seems pretty decent and has what I'm looking for:
https://www.optomausa.com/product/uhd38x
It is a shame I don't use the old one I have enough to justify the upgrade. There aren't even that many good 3D movies to watch, but looking into it I found a decent one I haven't seen so I might as well pick it up: Man of Steel.

 

[gmk2311]

I think that next Gen Consoles will use Flash disks instead of optical disk for games .. by 2027 Flash cards will be cheaper as well for 64-128GB capacities.

That's an interesting angle. I have yet to discover a truly reliable thumb drive. The older 256mb and 512mb drives seemed more reliable. Typically if I'm not transferring the data immediately to another node, I don't rely on flash.
SanDisk certainly doesn't get my vote.
SD cards have not been quite as bad, but I do lose data that hasn't been accessed for a while.
I would not be interested in my only copy of something I'll need years later being on flash. I suppose they call it flash for a reason. 🤪

 

[bit_user]

We skipped PS5 covid debacle altogether.

I am pretty patient about these sorts of things. I got my PS5 last year. The waitlists finally disappeared early in the year, but I waited for a Prime day sale and got it the disc version for $450. Plus, it was the N6 respin, so it runs a little cooler and quieter than the launch revision or the first update.

 

[bit_user]

I think that next Gen Consoles will use Flash disks instead of optical disk for games

You mean like SD cards or USB thumb drives? NAND flash has terrible shelf life, though. Games will have to include a "sell by" date, to be sure the data doesn't go corrupt by the time you actually try to use it.

 

[bit_user]

Technically, I think the 2nd gen PS5 made the disc Optional (2023).

I have a CFI-1200 (disc version) and the drive certainly is not externally detachable. I haven't checked under the panel, but the case of the disc version looks the same as earlier models. The only way you know it's CFI-1200 is by looking at the model number.

PS5pro (2024) just followed thru and has not yet intro'd a package including the disc drive. I expect it to come by Christmas 2025 along with a price drop. PS5pro is still in its infancy, no?

I have no idea, but yes I would expect probably some discounts on it next year. Right now, I think the Pro is too expensive, if you compare it to the launch price of the no-disc version. So, let's hope it gets discounted, or they offer a version with the drive bundled that goes on sale for the same price.

 

[bit_user]

I've never seen a 3D TV worth watching

My Panasonic plasma had very little 3D cross talk. Basically, the only time you saw a double image was like when there was a bright white object on a black background. Normally, you'd never notice crosstalk.

New projectors still do 3D. This one isn't that fancy, but it seems pretty decent and has what I'm looking for:
https://www.optomausa.com/product/uhd38x

Awesome! Thank you! That's actually not a bad price, either!

 

[usertests]

Discs are ultimately just data that will be ripped and pirated, but IIRC pressed Blu-ray discs could have a long shelf life, perhaps better than HDDs.

The real problem with the commercial death of Blu-ray is that there is no next disc for consumers. 120mm optical discs and backwards compatible players could be kept alive with a new format bringing terabytes per disc, making it more convenient for backups than 25-100 GB and bringing it in line with current hard drives (~32 TB). But with streaming taking over, the industry is unlikely to create any new disc for consumers. A useful option is being taken off the table.

 

[williamcll]

I hope at some point that a law is passed where, if you purchase a digital copy of a movie or show (be it an episode or a season) and it is rendered unavailable later, you would be entitled to a refund. That wouldn't obligate the company to continue selling "new" copies via the platform, as long as existing owners could still play the movie they already paid for.

Lobbyists will drive this proposal down the gutter.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I think that next Gen Consoles will use Flash disks instead of optical disk for games .. by 2027 Flash cards will be cheaper as well for 64-128GB capacities.

I don't think you can beat Optical Media in $/GiB if you're using Flash Cards as your comparison.

There's a reason why Optical Media is still king of cheap distribution of Data, short of Digital Only.

Especially given the WORM (Write Once, Read Many) nature of mass produced discs.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The real problem with the commercial death of Blu-ray is that there is no next disc for consumers.

There is, it's called "Archival Disc".
Sony & Panasonic both STUBBORNLY refuse to release it to the mass consumers and try to limit it as a Enterprise solution ONLY, that FAILED miserably.

And now they're being stubborn and not trying to release it to the masses because "Digital Downloads is the future".

-_-

If they ever chose to release the specs and update it, they could EASILY have a 500 GB Archival Disc using 3x Layers only.

They can easily go up to 4x Layers, but that would give them 666.6… GB, & we know the thing about superstition.

If you include the Middle center 3 Layers from the proposed HD-DVD / Blu-Ray hybrid, but use the Archival Disc density, you could get 7x Layers on a single side of the Disc at 1166 GB, with Double-Sided @ 2333 GB.

But that would cost a slight bit more per Disc, maybe $.50 to manufacture considering the amount of parts that you have to press together.

120mm optical discs and backwards compatible players could be kept alive with a new format bringing terabytes per disc, making it more convenient for backups than 25-100 GB and bringing it in line with current hard drives (~32 TB). But with streaming taking over, the industry is unlikely to create any new disc for consumers.

It's really Sony / Panasonic who refuse to do it, they were searching for the "Big Enterprise $$$".
They FAILED, MISERABLY with ODA (Optical Disc Archive).

A useful option is being taken off the table.

I concur. We, the masses need affordable, cheap MASSIVE Storage that is Optical Based that we can burn ourselves.

A Optical Disc only needs to be 1 digit behind the common maximum storage medium (HDD's) that consumers can normally buy in 1x drive.

We're in the 2-digit ## TB era.

Optical Disc only needs to hit 1 TB cheaply, then they can slowly improve that until we get to the 3-digit ##TB era.

There are SO MANY encoding techniques / other techniques that can be implemented as a standard.

They REFUSE to bring it to market for whatever reason.

 

[Priscus]

Have nothing against online option, but find that I am rarely selecting such.

I am in UK. When I search for a movie or box set of a drama series or similar, I usually find that buying the physical media, even with postage charges, costs me less than download of the same material. Maybe I have to spend some time to find the former at a good price though.

And, as already mentioned , buying physical media means that it is mine: I can watch where I choose, on equipment of my choice, and not relying on a commercial entity who could deprive me of ability to view at some future date.

 

[stuff and nonesense]

“ The ramifications of this change are profound - but only for enthusiasts and not the general public. This brings up the hot topic of digital ownership - where your rights to the media you purchased can be taken away at any time.”

The ramifications are huge for the general public as you carry on to say. If all you do is stream you only have a license which can be revoked at any time. Owning the media means they can’t take it from you.

It’s sad that people see the smart TV as their media portal. Unless the software is updated it all too soon fails to be compatible with the server and again the access to the stream is lost. Buy a new TV, Apple TV, Roku device, firestick?

Sad day.

 

[thestryker]

I very much understand the streaming/digital only convenience factor, but to me this has been exactly like MP3s were when they came to the market. You could get better quality from rips off of discs that cost you nothing but knowledge of where to get them. Now here we are with the same issue on streaming where there's better quality to have, but most people still just don't care. The sad part of course being if all the negatives of streaming/digital only come to pass it'll be way too late for anything to change.

This is sad for film makers and viewers who are looking for quality images to watch on their 4K HDR OLED DolbyHD Atmos home systems. Does anyone think that there will ever be a streaming service offering a 92GB version of Justice League for serious film viewers? We're doomed to low quality images that don't even come close to using the full potential of 4K HDR systems. Streaming has killed off quality in the name of mass consumption.

From what I understand Apple streams movies (ones that also have UHD BR releases at least) at around UHD BR quality currently, but like every other streamer are limited to AC3 derived audio. There's of course no guarantee this will continue, but it's what it is for now.

 

[emitfudd]

I still have my LG BD390 hooked up but I never use it. My entertainment center would have an empty spot if I removed it. LOL