The Death Of Physical Media

So with the tormentous announcements from both Oppo and Samsung about stopping manufacturing all Blu-ray players you can be forgiven for thinking that those shinny plastic discs are on their way out. Well they are NOT.

First things first. There is no other source available to the home that can provide the superior video and audio quality that a Blu-ray disc can. These little shinny discs can support over 70Mb/s data streams, almost three times what you can get of any internet streaming service. That translates into a far superior image and a lot less artifacts. More importantly you OWN it and it cannot be taken away from you EVER. Files in the ‘clouds’, if they are not on your home media server, can, have been, and will be taken away from you! Read up on the recent debacle with ULRAVIOLET, here and here.

With that out of the way what is happening with these main stream manufactures and the plastic shinny disc industry?

Clearly these behemoths of the player manufacturing industry did not pull out of it on a whim. They could clearly see the light at the end of a long term tunnel. 4K is most probably as far as physical video media will go. 8K is highly unlikely to ever appear on disc, it may be streamed just like NHK in Japan. As for stamping out 8K Blu-ray discs…..I do not think so.  This means that player manufactures have nothing left to develop and sell except low cost player transports, as all modern receivers do all the heavy lifting by decoding all the video and audio data. In short there is no real money in producing these transport style players. Most low and mid range players no-longer support multi-channel analog outputs. ONLY expensive high end audiophile players support 7.1 and stereo XLR analog outputs now. For which few average users have any use.

But the end of Blu-ray media it is not.

Here are the current video disc format market shares:

• DVD – 55.2%
• Blu-ray – 39.8%
• 4K UHD Blu-ray – 5.0%

Approximately 78 million homes in the US own Blu-ray players and 40 million own 4K displays. The global installation of 4K players is approximately 4.5 million and is expected to rise to 7.4 million during 2019 and up to 17.5 million by 2022., with 4K UHD disc sales increasing by over 80% between 2017 and 2018. These are not small numbers, and produce very high revenues for both hardware manufacturers and movie houses. (Figures from Nielsen, Futuresource and the Blu-ray Disc association)

So while DVD sales do in fact continue to decline, Blu-ray and 4K UHD sales are taking up some of that slack. It is true, not all of it, but enough never the less.

This all means that everybody is still making a LOT of money. The demand for HD and 4K plastic discs worldwide is still very strong and growing, despite the overall numbers declining as each year passes as streaming takes another bite out of the market. Peoples disc libraries continue to grow, and I do not see that slowing down too much in the near future.

So we are just left with a handful of manufactures to tough it out and grab more market share by adding features like HDR10+ and Dolby Vision to their players. With just Panasonic and Pioneer trying to fill the high end audiophile 4K UHD player void left by Oppo. The good news for these remaining manufacturers is that with less competition they will grab a larger share of the market and that will hopefully spur support on and keep development rolling along.

It is true to say we are seeing a gradual shift from the desire to own physical media to streaming. Convenience and choice will always trump quality. So long as there are enough high end consumers like me, and hopefully you my reader, high end media will be available. BUT it is important to let those distributors and movie houses know that WE want it. I am as guilty, just as I am sure many others out there are, of waiting until that smash hit 4K Blu-ray drops in price. My sweet spot is $19.99. At least its not the bargain basement at $9.99! That doesn’t help our case. It hurts the movie houses and ultimately it will hurt all us video and audiophiles. THEY need to know that WE want their product!

We have all seen this stage play out before; the battle of vinyl versus the compact disc or CD. Video streaming could be considered to be the CD of audio with vinyl the 4K of video. CD sounded terrible and many discs still do despite massive improvements to the digital signal chain. Vinyl was kept afloat by audiophiles like myself who would not give up such a quality product that has been further developed with modern technology. It has now become a multi-million dollar industry that is continuing to grow in leaps and bounds as younger generations hear what vinyl has to offer over a CD. 2018 saw total sales of almost 18 million vinyl discs just in the US.

I suspect that same fate will eventually overtake the 4K plastic disc. But just like vinyl, it is here to stay, and quench the avarice thirst of the videophile for a quality product to feed those massive 4K projection screens and flat panel displays.

So yes, streaming is definitely complementary to physical media but I believe it will be a very long time, if ever, that it will replace it. Did vinyl die….NO! So put your money were you heart is, don’t wait too long to buy that bargain basement disc. Show the movie houses you want a quality product and buy, buy NOW. Don’t wait too long or it may send the wrong signals to those corporate executives and CFO’s.

4K is still a new media format, come to that so still is HD. 4K’s growth and uptake by the public at large will continue, despite the overall numbers of users gradually decreasing, especially with the huge uptake worldwide in 4K displays. Let us not forget all those, like myself, upgrading their projectors to 4K.

So for all of us, including me, my advice to all of us is just to relax and enjoy all your physical media, those shinny plastic discs and that luxurious vinyl. Yes streaming is now part of our lives but it can and will coexist with physical media for a very log time.

Yes, it’s possible that physical media may go away at some point. But that day is not in my lifetime nor many of my readers or their families lifetimes.

Just one final though about Blu-ray plastic and vinyl.

We buy them expecting a significant improvement in the video and audio quality to further enhance our enjoyment of a movie or album. Unfortunately the record labels and movie houses DO NOT always play ball with the purchasers by re-releasing old material in these new formats that is not suitable, nor can it provide, any significant benefits for the purchaser. This trend started with the continued re-release of old albums on re-mastered 180 and even 200 gram vinyl spinning at 45RPM. This is sometimes a gimmick to jump on the audiophile bandwagon under the premise that what they are re-releasing is much better than the original. This is sometimes NOT the case and to be honest leaves a nasty “taste in my mouth”. It has resulted in me being very picky and purchasing a lot fewer vinyl albums. Also, many new so called 4K releases were not filmed in 4K but 2K, and then upconverted and graded for HDR and WCG. That is not to say that some, for example; The House With A Clock In Its Walls, don’t look excellent, because they do. Don’t be fooled 4K doesn’t mean that the source was 4K. The opposite also applies, for example 2001 a space odyssey. This 75mm film was scanned in at 8K and put out at 4K and looks excellent.

The physical media industry needs to take full responsibility for what it releases in its attempt to entice us all to buy the new and improved release. You cannot always “make a silk purse out of a sows ear”, not even with modern technology and techniques.

So ‘buyer beware’. Read the specifications and reviews prior to buying your physical media, so that you’re not going to be disappointed, become disillusioned and ‘turn to the dark side’.