LG is snipping the power cord off its Blu-ray player business for good, as FlatpanelsHD reported late last week , and which you can see for yourself just by perusing LG’s 174 results when you search its website for the term “Blu-ray.” In the upper right-hand corner of each product page, you’ll see “discontinued” plastered. Blu-ray sales have been tanking like a papier-mâché submarine for years, surprising basically no one who hasn’t spent the past seven years in a coma.
Physical media sales were down 25% in 2023 compared to 2022, and it now makes up just 3.6% of the American video market’s revenue, according to a report by the Digital Entertainment Group. Videos by VICE Meanwhile, the streaming juggernaut continues—its revenue stream grew by 22% from 2022 to 2023.
Now accounting for 86.3% of revenue, digital rentals and digital sales make up the remaining 3.9% and 6.
1% of revenue, respectively. That means 96.3% of the market is digital.
There’s just less and less business case for manufacturers to stay in the physical media market. And yes, that adds up to 99.9%, but that’s because the figures cited are rounded to the nearest tenths.
We all knew this day was coming. But while the average person won’t much notice Blu-ray’s loss, it’s a blow to cinephiles who savor Blu-ray’s greater viewing quality, which streaming can’t match. (The market once felt the same way about vinyl records, and look at the resurgence that happened there.
But then again, that was decades in the making.) Why blu-ray still matters to enthusiasts It’s all in the amount of information that Blu-ray discs are able to transmit, measured in megabytes per second (Mbps). That means they’re generally capable of superior video quality compared to streamed shows and movies.
Standard Blu-ray video bitrates top out at 40Mbps, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray’s top out at 128Mbps. To keep their own costs lower, streaming services restrict their bitrates. Even if you’re watching something in 4K, Netflix recommends 15Mbps.
For 1080p high definition, it’s 10Mbps. Hulu recommends 16Mbps and 8Mbps, respectively. Amazon’s Prime Video only vaguely recommends a minimum of 5Mbps, without specifying whether they mean 1080p or 4K.
But given the bitrates recommended for 4K on other streaming services, and that 5Mbps is awfully slow, they surely mean 5Mbps or higher for 1080p. Only HBO’s Max recommends at least 50Mbps for 4K streaming. Still, that’s less than half the speed of a comparable 4K Blu-ray.
you maniacs! you blu it up! For now, Sony and Panasonic remain in the game of manufacturing Blu-ray players. But without a new Blu-ray player having been introduced by either of them since 2018, it doesn’t seem like the party will last forever. LG said it wouldn’t rule out a return to manufacturing Blu-ray players if the demand surges again, per FlatpanelsHD .
But I’m not holding my breath. I’d say it’s time to spool up the iMovie app, layer Sarah McLachlan’s “I Will Remember You” over a montage of Blu-ray’s best moments, and weep softly as you watch the twilight of its fading life. On a Blu-ray, of course.
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Technology
Pour One Out for LG’s (Now Discontinued) Blu-ray Players
LG is snipping the power cord off its Blu-ray player business for good, as FlatpanelsHD reported late last week, and which you can see for yourself just by perusing LG’s 174 results when you search its website for the term “Blu-ray.” In the upper right-hand corner of each product page, you’ll see “discontinued” plastered. Blu-ray [...]The post Pour One Out for LG’s (Now Discontinued) Blu-ray Players appeared first on VICE.