What just happened? One of the few remaining big-name manufacturers of Blu-ray players, LG, has discontinued production of the devices. It's sad news for fans of physical media and means that Panasonic and Sony remain the last two major companies still operating in this field.
It's been almost six years since LG launched its last Blu-ray players, the UBK80 and UBK90 UHD. As reported by FlatpanelsHD, the Korean firm will not be making more of these or any other optical disc players. It's now just a matter of clearing out the remaining stock.
LG stopped short of confirming its exit from the market to FlatpanelsHD, ensuring it could return if demand picks up again. That seems unlikely as its Blu-ray players aren't the most popular.
LG is joining Oppo, which stopped making optical disc players in 2018, and Samsung, which did the same a year later.
Sales of Blu-ray players have been declining in recent times, primarily due to the increasing popularity of streaming services. In the United States, unit sales of Blu-ray players decreased from 25.2 million in 2014 to 9.1 million in 2018. In the third quarter of 2024, DVD and Blu-ray sales in the US dropped by 26% year-over-year.
Things aren't looking good for Blu-rays and physical media in general. Best Buy stopped selling Blu-ray, Ultra-HD Blu-ray, and DVD movies last year, and in June, Sony said it was winding down production of recordable Blu-ray media.
While Sony continues to manufacture Blu-ray players, the PS5 Pro does not come with a disc drive, though you can purchase a detachable one separately.
Many people are lamenting another big firm's exit from the Blu-ray player business. The image quality these players offer is much higher than that of streaming, featuring a bitrate that can go up to 128 Mbps in the case of 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays. Most streaming services are somewhere between 15 Mbps and 25 Mbps.
Blu-rays also tend to offer less aggressive compression and better audio than streaming. You're not reliant on the quality and stability of an internet connection, either. There's also the contentious subject of people not actually owning digital media; you are typically buying a license to access the content.
Blu-rays and the associated technology are far from dead, but one has to wonder how long it will be before they end up on our 'Once-Iconic Tech Products That Are Now a Fading Memory' list, joining the likes of floppy disks, VHS tapes, and Betamax.