Deep into the era of streaming, physical media is disappearing, and Blu-ray isn't exempt from the trend.
With over 18 years of history, Blu-ray technology was designed to take CDs and DVDs to the next level. Not only can they hold significantly more data than their predecessors, but Blu-ray discs even let you view high-quality (and 3D content) that often are closer to the experience of watching in theaters than the compressed versions you'll find elsewhere. Not to be confused with DVDs, Blu-ray discs use a different kind of laser technology, which eventually became the industry standard for film and movies by 2008. In part, this is due to the fact that its players could be backwards-compatible with DVDs, but not the other way around.
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Although some things can (and have) lasted the test of time, the natural progression of most technology is that something becomes obsolete when a newer, better, or more efficient model comes along. In terms of the Blu-ray discs, there are several things that have pushed them to obsoletion.
I got a cheap visio from a thrift store, so I was lucky. The only problem is I have about a million ways to play DVDs, but don't use it that much because I only got it for one movie. Came with DVD and Blu-ray, but my setup is old enough that Blu-ray makes little difference quality wise for me. Still cool to have since I have a dedicated distraction free DVD player, though.
Well that's probably a bit predictable given what community this is. But I really think the pricing is way out of line with what your average person is willing to pay and it only serves to make the physical media more niche.
I fully agree with this. I'm sure the prices are so high to get people to use streaming services or online rentals like Amazon does. At $30/disk though, that's enough that there isn't a single piece of media I care enough about to preserve physically. The ones I care the most about are also television shows, so that's even more expensive. I have nothing but gratitude for the people that are out here buying these disks, and saving them for the rest of us.
I mostly consider physical media to be merch when I buy it