I was so sick of new media formats coming down the pike every few years when the HD disc wars started, I was more than happy to jump to streaming. At the time, I worked at the most famous NYC video store chain, renowned for having rare and unusual titles, and I’ve been a big enthusiast of physical media since I was a child. But I just stopped buying, and streamed.
A bit later, I did buy a Blu-Ray player and a couple of rare titles that I thought would never be available in the States. I also set up 3D to maybe eventually watch those golden era 3D movies on my projector.
During COVID, when all the repertory theaters shut down, I got heavily into indie label Blu-Rays. It looked better than streaming, and the oversaturation and fragmentation of streaming led to an expensive, and mostly shoddy product.
I haven’t looked back, and I’m not alone: the collector’s Blu-Ray market has absolutely boomed these last few years, with more obscure titles than anyone can keep up with. Yes, it’s still a small, specialized market, but it’s really great for those interested in quality cinema.
Streaming continues to fragment, and mostly costs more than cable — its growth is no nonexistent — and there still isn’t a viable alternative for linear, live and sport programming, as cable is holding on to those markets with a death grip (which many be killing them for young people who have no history of watching cable).
I’m happy with my deluxe Blu-Ray editions, with lavishly illustrated booklets and nicely designed packages. Hopefully it’s here to stay. NYC just had its first Blu-Ray store open in Brooklyn.
Feels like there's a bit of a turning away from streaming services with some people buying physical media again and making their own media libraries from rips. I hope movie publishers don't stop pressing Blu-Ray discs for those of us still wanting physical libraries!
Lmao keep making up lies in your head that are not whats actually happening,streaming is the #1 format literally nobody is going backto discs,your entire comment is lies #factd
Wrong as always d u m b a s s troll who knows nothing,you're the ignorant & arrogant one,plus you don't live in the real world & are in denial,naive,delusional & dementia ridden old fart,only in your sick old fart head you think that discs are #1 & that streaming is #2 lmao,it's hilarious how your insulta describe you not me #facts
The bet I’d like to see Sony make is on a decentralized digital platform. The infrastructure exists, Sont even launched a blockchain to achieve this but they haven’t hit the right fit yet.
Continue publishing physical media AND make digital releases that are independent of any platform/app. That’s the future.
In 2009, I was looking to get the best value blu-ray disc player and It was absolutely the PS3 that win for the price ask.. at 300CAD it was a no brainer.. I still use it and they even issue a firmware update in 2025!
The other war format that they have lost was the PSP FILM format disc the infamous UMD.
Actually the war between Sony x Toshiba, BD x HD-DVD, trying to control the disc format, was what pushed streaming to become what it’s today.
By the middle of 2000s the general public, studios and companies were screaming for a new HD format for movies and a new high capacity medium.
Meanwhile Sony was trying to control everything and fighting against anything remotely open, which it was what the DVD became after it's copy protection was broken.
Which also impacted the way we consumed movies, programs, games and such, since DVD was cheap as hell.
But trying to force it's format on everyone and putting lots of DRM to control it, killed the Blu-ray in the end.
Today the format is niche at best, when not completely irrelevant.
It's the best medium format to movies by far. If you have the - expensive - equipment to play it.
The PS2 was widely credited for DVD's success as well, so Sony launched a successful video format via its consoles twice.
Also it's worth noting that while HD-DVD's discs were more refined out of the gate, the first generation players were extremely clunky. I have a Toshiba HD-DVD player and inside is literally the guts of a Pentium 4 laptop. When you power it on, it takes over a minute to boot up and be usable, and starting playback after inserting a disc is very slow and glitchy as well.
Once the disc is playing it's fine, but getting there is a real journey. The Blu-ray experience on the PS3 and standalone players was miles ahead.
Wtf!? Y'all had me worried!! The Last Disc!!! Seriously!!! I thought Sony announced the death of Blu-ray. I am an avid collector of physical media. I have VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray. I intend on staying that way because when the Internet goes down. Which is common here. I still have discs. Long live physical media!!!
I'm glad that physical is dead & irrelevant,it was limited,outdated & not the future,nobody even buys discs anymore(not fir music,games,movies,series,etc since digital is the ultimate modern & future proof format,it has no limits,it's convenient,cheaper & better than every physical format)as it has always been the young generation are the demographic in everything,the boomers aren't the demographic nor future in anything,everything they like is outdated,irrelevant,dead & no young person likes what they like,even though I'm from the old generation I embraced everything new since it's better,it was do stupid so pay for things you only play or watched once plus having to waste gas on the process,physical was never convenient nor future proof it was like the article said a chore,now with digital & the advancements in online shopping I don't even have to leave my house to get things now thats progress,moving forward & the future,I'm not going to be a cenile old fart like the ones you always see in comments sections who are afraid of progress(not just with technology but in life,politics,etc since that makes you seem like a dementia ridden uneducated fool obsessed with the outdated past because you're too immature & uneducated to understand what's right & whats wrong)I don't have an unhealthy attachment with the past like boomers they are like that because they have no lives & are failures,digital killed every physical format & im glad I don't have to wait for some dumb limited physical thing to come since there's nothing that can top digital #facts
Blu ray is already obsolete,digital is the dominant format that killed every physical format which are useless,outdated,wasteful & limited,so those are the things that you're a fan of,just like others here & anywhere else you're afraid of progress #facts
"Now, the sharpest picture often comes from the cloud."
What?! This is complete nonsense. 4K UHD discs offer much, much higher bitrates (and therefore massively superior picture and audio quality) than even the highest tiered plans from streaming services.
Just to clarify, I wasn't saying streaming has the sharpest picture. My point is that despite physical media having better quality, it's now in single-digit market share because consumers are prioritizing convenience. Streaming has become the go-to, not because it’s the best quality, but because it’s easier to access, and that shift is what's driving the market now.
I still think on TVs of the day HD DVD was the better quality than Blu Ray.
That was before 1080p was widespread on HD TVs. I remember spending so much time explaining to customers what hd ready (720p with 1080i max for some) versus HDTv was when I was slinging TVs and home entertainment centers at circuit city.
I was so sick of new media formats coming down the pike every few years when the HD disc wars started, I was more than happy to jump to streaming. At the time, I worked at the most famous NYC video store chain, renowned for having rare and unusual titles, and I’ve been a big enthusiast of physical media since I was a child. But I just stopped buying, and streamed.
A bit later, I did buy a Blu-Ray player and a couple of rare titles that I thought would never be available in the States. I also set up 3D to maybe eventually watch those golden era 3D movies on my projector.
During COVID, when all the repertory theaters shut down, I got heavily into indie label Blu-Rays. It looked better than streaming, and the oversaturation and fragmentation of streaming led to an expensive, and mostly shoddy product.
I haven’t looked back, and I’m not alone: the collector’s Blu-Ray market has absolutely boomed these last few years, with more obscure titles than anyone can keep up with. Yes, it’s still a small, specialized market, but it’s really great for those interested in quality cinema.
Streaming continues to fragment, and mostly costs more than cable — its growth is no nonexistent — and there still isn’t a viable alternative for linear, live and sport programming, as cable is holding on to those markets with a death grip (which many be killing them for young people who have no history of watching cable).
I’m happy with my deluxe Blu-Ray editions, with lavishly illustrated booklets and nicely designed packages. Hopefully it’s here to stay. NYC just had its first Blu-Ray store open in Brooklyn.
Love everything about this publication.
Feels like there's a bit of a turning away from streaming services with some people buying physical media again and making their own media libraries from rips. I hope movie publishers don't stop pressing Blu-Ray discs for those of us still wanting physical libraries!
Lmao keep making up lies in your head that are not whats actually happening,streaming is the #1 format literally nobody is going backto discs,your entire comment is lies #factd
Oh so ignorant and arrogant
Wrong as always d u m b a s s troll who knows nothing,you're the ignorant & arrogant one,plus you don't live in the real world & are in denial,naive,delusional & dementia ridden old fart,only in your sick old fart head you think that discs are #1 & that streaming is #2 lmao,it's hilarious how your insulta describe you not me #facts
The bet I’d like to see Sony make is on a decentralized digital platform. The infrastructure exists, Sont even launched a blockchain to achieve this but they haven’t hit the right fit yet.
Continue publishing physical media AND make digital releases that are independent of any platform/app. That’s the future.
In 2009, I was looking to get the best value blu-ray disc player and It was absolutely the PS3 that win for the price ask.. at 300CAD it was a no brainer.. I still use it and they even issue a firmware update in 2025!
The other war format that they have lost was the PSP FILM format disc the infamous UMD.
Actually the war between Sony x Toshiba, BD x HD-DVD, trying to control the disc format, was what pushed streaming to become what it’s today.
By the middle of 2000s the general public, studios and companies were screaming for a new HD format for movies and a new high capacity medium.
Meanwhile Sony was trying to control everything and fighting against anything remotely open, which it was what the DVD became after it's copy protection was broken.
Which also impacted the way we consumed movies, programs, games and such, since DVD was cheap as hell.
But trying to force it's format on everyone and putting lots of DRM to control it, killed the Blu-ray in the end.
Today the format is niche at best, when not completely irrelevant.
It's the best medium format to movies by far. If you have the - expensive - equipment to play it.
Yeah, Blu-ray arrived with baggage. But do you think any company could’ve pulled off an open HD format and still got Hollywood on board back then?
The PS2 was widely credited for DVD's success as well, so Sony launched a successful video format via its consoles twice.
Also it's worth noting that while HD-DVD's discs were more refined out of the gate, the first generation players were extremely clunky. I have a Toshiba HD-DVD player and inside is literally the guts of a Pentium 4 laptop. When you power it on, it takes over a minute to boot up and be usable, and starting playback after inserting a disc is very slow and glitchy as well.
Once the disc is playing it's fine, but getting there is a real journey. The Blu-ray experience on the PS3 and standalone players was miles ahead.
Wtf!? Y'all had me worried!! The Last Disc!!! Seriously!!! I thought Sony announced the death of Blu-ray. I am an avid collector of physical media. I have VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray. I intend on staying that way because when the Internet goes down. Which is common here. I still have discs. Long live physical media!!!
I'm glad that physical is dead & irrelevant,it was limited,outdated & not the future,nobody even buys discs anymore(not fir music,games,movies,series,etc since digital is the ultimate modern & future proof format,it has no limits,it's convenient,cheaper & better than every physical format)as it has always been the young generation are the demographic in everything,the boomers aren't the demographic nor future in anything,everything they like is outdated,irrelevant,dead & no young person likes what they like,even though I'm from the old generation I embraced everything new since it's better,it was do stupid so pay for things you only play or watched once plus having to waste gas on the process,physical was never convenient nor future proof it was like the article said a chore,now with digital & the advancements in online shopping I don't even have to leave my house to get things now thats progress,moving forward & the future,I'm not going to be a cenile old fart like the ones you always see in comments sections who are afraid of progress(not just with technology but in life,politics,etc since that makes you seem like a dementia ridden uneducated fool obsessed with the outdated past because you're too immature & uneducated to understand what's right & whats wrong)I don't have an unhealthy attachment with the past like boomers they are like that because they have no lives & are failures,digital killed every physical format & im glad I don't have to wait for some dumb limited physical thing to come since there's nothing that can top digital #facts
That was actually pretty intriguing. Good writing. I just hope blu ray doesn't go obsolete. I prefer physical media.
Blu ray is already obsolete,digital is the dominant format that killed every physical format which are useless,outdated,wasteful & limited,so those are the things that you're a fan of,just like others here & anywhere else you're afraid of progress #facts
"Now, the sharpest picture often comes from the cloud."
What?! This is complete nonsense. 4K UHD discs offer much, much higher bitrates (and therefore massively superior picture and audio quality) than even the highest tiered plans from streaming services.
Just to clarify, I wasn't saying streaming has the sharpest picture. My point is that despite physical media having better quality, it's now in single-digit market share because consumers are prioritizing convenience. Streaming has become the go-to, not because it’s the best quality, but because it’s easier to access, and that shift is what's driving the market now.
I still think on TVs of the day HD DVD was the better quality than Blu Ray.
That was before 1080p was widespread on HD TVs. I remember spending so much time explaining to customers what hd ready (720p with 1080i max for some) versus HDTv was when I was slinging TVs and home entertainment centers at circuit city.
Once the PS3 became affordable it was all over.