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LG Discontinues Blu-ray Players (tomshardware.com) 109

Posted by msmash from the end-of-an-era dept.
FlatpanelsHD: LG has discontinued all Blu-ray players, including the UBK80 and UBK90 UHD Blu-ray players, with remaining units only available while stocks last.

The announcement echoes similar moves from Oppo in 2018 and Samsung in 2019, when both companies exited the optical disc player market. LG has now officially discontinued its Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray players, as reflected on LG's online portals and confirmed by multiple sources to FlatpanelsHD.

LG Discontinues Blu-ray Players More | Reply

LG Discontinues Blu-ray Players

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  • uh oh (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Kwirl ( 877607 ) <kwirlkarphys@gmail.com> on Thursday December 12, 2024 @05:42AM (#65007543)
    this sucks

    • Re:uh oh (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Zocalo ( 252965 ) on Thursday December 12, 2024 @05:57AM (#65007555) Homepage
      They're presumably not selling in sufficient volume, because clearly too many people have yet to realise they are only renting media online and the content they thought they had bought to own for life can be pulled at anytime, or lost wholesale if the provider of that media shuts up shop for any reason. Or they're content with the 10min at a time ad-ridden slop put out on the likes of YouTube, TikTok, and the like. Samsung does have a Samsung TV app on their devices, so presumably they do have a finger in that pie, not sure about LG but AFAIK they're much more hardware focussed than Samsung.

      Whatever. I picked up a fully unlocked and region-free Blu-Ray player for a little over £100 not so long ago with a really nice feature set. Maybe I'll get another one, or even two, to keep on the shelf and keep giving them the finger for longer should one ever pack-up. I've got lots of box sets, etc. to re-watch when I feel the need, and am definitely not going to suffer the death by a thousand cuts of subscribing to every service out there that has a few scraps of content I want on; if they won't make it available on the more common services or physical media, then it'll be the Torrents.

      • Re:uh oh (Score:5, Interesting)

        by vlad30 ( 44644 ) on Thursday December 12, 2024 @06:58AM (#65007601)
        My 2 daughters and all their friends started buying CD's. When I asked why we have multiple streaming services and therefore all the music anywhere anytime. The answer they came back with was they want to own the music they like

        • They still don't "own" the music. They only have a very specific and limited license for it.

          • There is a real distinction though between cloud delivery and physical media, at least for CDs. Even if the copyright owner suddenly decides to revoke your license, there isn't much they can do. CDs do not authorize themselves online; once you've got the physical media, there is nothing they can do to physically stop you from enjoying the content.

          • On music CD's and audio-book CD's it is DRM free so yes they do own it like a film tape. Also according to mouthbeef you can back up those non-DRM formats up too in those formats as I recall. Still copyrighted but you have more rights to those and I have never seen a license before putting in your CD player. Though with a bag of grapes a company tried putting terms in their fruit.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by cfalcon ( 779563 )

            Specifically when you buy a CD you own the CD. You can sell it, and you can copy it. You have these rights because the CD is your property; you own it.
            There is a copyright clause though; this prevents you from selling copies legally. That's because ownership of the CD isn't meant to imply that you can legally go into business selling copies of what's on the CD.

            But the distinction between owning a CD and being allowed to make as many copies for personal use, versus "owning your own music" is pretty narrow

            • Anyone with Apple Music can confirm this by looking up "De-Lovely (Music from the Motion Picture)". Of the 18 tracks released only 2 are still available for streaming. The rest, assumably, have been pulled by the label and can no longer even be listened to on Apple Music.

          • At least you can sell a physical CD. Even if you don't have unlimited rights to the music on it. Good luck selling your digital streaming library, most services don't support that.

            • This is a big issue with video games. Some game publishers are very out in the open that they fear used games more than they fear piracy. They are firmly opposed to retro games being played on emulators, even if those games are not available for purchase.

              Here's an even scarier quote from a legal opinion about prerserving old games: “there would be a significant risk that preserved video games would be used for recreational purposes.” That is, the risk is that preserving older games that coul

          • I don't need to "own" distribution rights to music that I like. Having the CD and ripping it into mp3s that I can backup on to multiple drives is sufficient. Good for your kids for wanting to own the physical copies. Those will last 15-20 years until the ink on the CDs starts to degrade.

            Your post actually gives me some hope for the younger generations.

            • Pressed CD's do not have ink that can degrade. Burned CD's and DVD's do, except for MDISK DVD's.

              • That's quite interesting and very good to know. Does this have to do with the process used to write the data or the type of ink used?

                • PRessed CD's have the pits on the data layer stamped. It's physically pits in an aluminium layer. MDISK also has an aluminium layer, and uses a laser to burn holes in the layer for the data pits. No ink involved in either of those processes.

                  Normal CDR's have a layer of ink, and a laser is used to alter the dye to write the data. This will fade over time, and is really sensitive to temperature changes and sunlight.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by irving47 ( 73147 )

            who cares. They lost any good will or the cooperation of rational people when the MPAA head (I think it was Rosen) tried to tell people that it was "ok with them" if people "backed up" their CD's onto their computers. But if they lost their CD's in a fire, or if someone stole them, they were "obligated" to delete the music from the computer.

          • If the state of California considers it to be a "sale" then it qualifies as ownership.

            (Note: I fucking love that law. It's the best thing that any American legislators have done in a long time.)

          • No this is fundamentally not true, though the record companies would wish it were so and want you to believe it is.

            When you buy a physical copy, you own it outright. The government limits what you are allowed to do with it through copyright law. You can listen to your music privately, and that's largely it, but there is no license involved at all. You do not license the work from the copyright holder when you buy a CD.

            copyright holders may also grant you licenses which give you additional rights.

            • The OP said of his daughter, "The answer they came back with was they want to own the music they like"

              Not that they want to own the CDs or media the music is on. They "want to own the music".

          • I can play it when and where I want, I can put the music onto a USB drive and play it in the car even if it has no CD player. I can play it when there's no internet, because I don't need permission from the internet. I can store it for a couple decades and it will still play. It will still play even if cd.com goes out of business. The CD will work in America, India, Russia, and even Antartica. I can give that CD away to a friend, or a stranger. A library can lend out the CD. There is no encryption to

            • "I can play it when and where I want"

              Can you play it at a business you own and charge admission to listen?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by chefren ( 17219 )

            The license is not enforcable, because you are not required to agree to it when buying the product. Instead this is handled by standard copyright law. They own the copy they have purchased and depending on their home country's laws they probably have rights to make copies of it for their own use (e.g. rip it to a computer)

            On a streaming service their favourite music might just disappear one day.

          • > They still don't "own" the music. They only have a very specific and limited license for it.

            That is legalese for "we can limit what you do legally in spirit but cant actually limit you".

            Only Ned Flanders would not play a CD if he saw an email asking not to.

            Thus, when you have a CD in your possession, you do indeed own it. Interfering with your ability to play it, share it, transport it, sell it, would require physical intervention and currently there is no body employing people to hunt down and contro

            • "people who hold physical media have possession of that media"

              Again, they own the media, not the music. There is a difference.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by antdude ( 79039 )

          They could just buy music like MP3s from Amazon.

        • > therefore all the music anywhere anytime

          A very common misconception peddled and encouraged by the services themselves.

      • There's still other brands, for now (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Pollux ( 102520 ) <speter@tedat[ ]et.eg ['a.n' in gap]> on Thursday December 12, 2024 @07:06AM (#65007607) Journal

        The story isn't all Blu-Ray players are being discontinued, but rather only LG is being discontinued. Sony & Panasonic still make them. The market's drying up, and that leads to consolidation. I'm with you, I think people have lost an understanding of the value of owning your own music & movies, but kids today live and die by their smartphones, and all they know is streaming.

        I bought my second LG Blu-Ray player four years ago. While the Blu-Ray works, the streaming quality was terrible. I loved the first LG Blu-Ray player I bought back in 2012, so I stuck w/ the brand thinking the quality would be consistent. The quality of recent models just went straight downhill. I suppose it make sense, I mean, who would pay over $100 for a Blu-Ray player in today's market, with so few selling in the first place?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Zocalo ( 252965 )
          Sure, but if Samsung and LG are no longer seeing the product line as viable, then how far behind can the rest of the manufacturers like Sony and Panasonic be? I guess the Chinese knock-offs will be around a little longer, the writing is probably on the wall, unless it can get into the same kind of niche as vinyl and see a resurgence at some point.

          FWIW, the one I got recently was a Panasonic. As a company, they've always been very "friendly" towards unlocking right from the early days of DVD region codi

          • Sure, but if Samsung and LG are no longer seeing the product line as viable, then how far behind can the rest of the manufacturers like Sony and Panasonic be?

            The number of people wanting to buy a player isn't changing, so right now Sony and Panasonic sales will double. Then the numbers go down until one of them leaves, and the last ones sales double again.

            The last seller should announce very loudly before they leave the market, so people with 2 or 3 year old players have a chance to buy another one just in case. So announcement -> strong sales -> sales drop -> stop production.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mjwx ( 966435 )

          The story isn't all Blu-Ray players are being discontinued, but rather only LG is being discontinued. Sony & Panasonic still make them. The market's drying up, and that leads to consolidation. I'm with you, I think people have lost an understanding of the value of owning your own music & movies, but kids today live and die by their smartphones, and all they know is streaming.

          I bought my second LG Blu-Ray player four years ago. While the Blu-Ray works, the streaming quality was terrible. I loved the first LG Blu-Ray player I bought back in 2012, so I stuck w/ the brand thinking the quality would be consistent. The quality of recent models just went straight downhill. I suppose it make sense, I mean, who would pay over $100 for a Blu-Ray player in today's market, with so few selling in the first place?

          The market is drying up because people aren't buying Blurays. Its never really taken over from DVDs. People kept buying DVDs until streaming took over. Hell, if you buy a physical game these days it still comes on a DVD. It never replaced DVD as cheap, portable storage. If you want to burn something to a disk, you're still using CD or DVD recordables (for when you need an archive with a bit more permanence than cheap flash).

          It was this generations Betamax, despite "winning" against HD-DVD.

      • That's great, but if no one is making DVD/Blu-ray players, who do you think is going to be releasing content on those mediums anymore?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dmay34 ( 6770232 )

        People perfectly realize they are renting their media. That's literally all most people ever wanted to do with most of their media anyways. The only reason why anyone ever owned media to begin with was so they had something to watch when they wanted to watch it without driving out to Blockbuster to rent something new.

        We don't need that anymore.

        • Correction, YOU don't WANT that anymore. Speak for yourself. Many of us want our physical copies and we're happy to pay for it with money.

          It's like owning a car. You don't need to anymore but it's most certainly a benefit to do so. I know owning my own car gives me more access and privilege. The same is true for owning my own physical copies of media content. So long as I have electricity and a computer, I can watch all the purchased content whenever I want, regardless of what anyone else says.

          If your only

        • > That's literally all most people ever wanted to do with most of their media anyways

          Not in my family. As a kid I may have rented the odd thing from Blockbuster but the stuff I watched way more often was what was recorded off TV. Renting involved spending my limited money and I wasnt happy about that when I was young, paying for something only to give it back again just seemed odd.

          So till this day I rarely rent or subscribe. I record and buy. Can't understand why anyone would pay to not have anything, e

      • because clearly too many people have yet to realise they are only renting media online and the content they thought they had bought to own for life can be pulled at anytime, or lost wholesale if the provider of that media shuts up shop for any reason

        Or... people have already realised that entertainment is fleeting and there is no sense in actual ownership of content in a world that sees an average of 4 movies released EVERY DAY in America alone.

        Personally I don't get it. Is movie X not available today? Whoope de do, the average Netflix user has a watch list that is >20 movies long they can choose from to entertain them at any given time. And that's what people are after, entertainment. The exact nature of entertainment is largely irrelevant these da

        • I've got enough purchased content that if nothing new was ever made, I'd be okay with that. Of course, I've had decades to build my collection. My collection is BETTER then your average streaming offering. Sure, I can't compete with all of them, but I also don't need to.

          My single biggest problem will be the decay of my physical media and at some point soon, it will be prudent of me to buy a new set of hard drives to backup my current set of hard drives, as entropy will affect those as well.

          I'd rather deal w

          • I've got enough purchased content that if nothing new was ever made, I'd be okay with that.

            Your opinion of entertainment may differ to those of others. Personally (and I know many people like me) I have little interest in watching something twice, beyond using it as a refresher when watching something new in the series. Yeah I get it, it's not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls from Nakatomi plaza, but I'm okay with only experiencing one Christmas in my life.

            • I re-watch and re-read stuff I enjoyed all the time but I can totally understand why someone would be happy to be a one and done for most any kind of book or movie. This probably also extends to story-based video games as well, if I had to guess.

              Thankfully new stuff is always being made for you and my old stuff is still available for me to enjoy without repaying.

          • > My single biggest problem will be the decay of my physical media and at some point soon

            It must depend on the factory it was made in and your environmental conditions in the area of the worl you are in.

            Here in the UK, besides some mold in some VHS tapes that were not mine, I have never had any physical media fail on me. Nor have I seen anything from anyone else apart from well known stories of instances of severe failure due to a manufacturing process issue (PDO, UK in the 90's).

        • > And that's what people are after, entertainment

          Some people; what I call the entertainment version of "thrill seekers". They want the “new” stuff. My mum is one of them and it’s bloody annoying lol. She barely can stand the idea of watching a repeat, even if she last saw the episode/movie in the 80's.

          I'm the total opposite. Although I do watch some new stuff, when they manage to grab me, I mostly watch and re-watch old stuff. Most new stuff is boooooring or simply bad. Reality TV

      • because clearly too many people have yet to realise they are only renting media online
         
        More like a 4k Bluray disc costs $30+. Aint nobody got time fo dat

        • More like a 4k Bluray disc costs $30+. Aint nobody got time fo dat

          I remember back in March of 1987 "Top Gun" was released on VHS Videocassette for $26.95 - Equivalent to $75 today. This was the lowest price ever offered for a movie, and it flew off the shelves.

          Prior to that, movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark would sell for $79.95 ($225 today).

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by KlomDark ( 6370 )
          You sound poor

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by SeaFox ( 739806 )

          More like a 4k Bluray disc costs $30+.

          Learn to shop better. [blu-ray.com]

        • > More like a 4k Bluray disc costs $30

          $30 for LIFE vs $9.99 PER MONTH regardless of if you actually use the service or not.

          So $9.99 x 12 = $119.88 per year, which is already way more than that $30

          If you buy 10 $30 4K boxsets with all the EXTRAS, which you dont get on the streaming service, heck you might not even get subtitles or audio description that costs you $300 once, just once. You keep and rewatch those sets over 20 years, randomly. To do the same you would need to spend $2397.6 for that streami

      • > because clearly too many people have yet to realise they are only renting media online

        I also say that many people are no longer subscribing to the idea that they need to buy a new devicve every year.

        They hold onto their TV's, mobiles and players etc way longer, to save the planet or their pocket.

        My TV is from 2012 for example and my main DVD player is older than that. I have several DVD/bluray capable devices, all working and some in use.

        Many of my CD players are from the 90's.

        Even my washing machine

    • Next, they're coming after our Walkmans!

  • Looks like I'll have to go out and pick up a few while they're still available. After that, start checking thrift stores to see what's there.

    • Looks like I'll have to go out and pick up a few while they're still available.

      I saw the writing on the wall about three years ago and picked up an Elgato capture device and a generic HDMI splitter (which removes HDCP). If I can watch it, I can record it.

      Most of the time someone else has already done the needful and made the content available on the high seas, but dead torrents are obviously still a thing when it comes to older and more obscure films/TV shows.

    • Yup. I just moved into a new house and bought one Bluray/UHD player. I'm thinking I'll go back and buy the other one I was eyeballing to keep as a spare, and maybe grab one more for safe keeping as they start to get discounted in the coming months.

      Funny parallel: One of my friends just gave me an old VCR because I couldn't find an operational one for the new place, despite having boxes filled with VHS tapes. He stocked up when they went out of fashion, and still has six of them in storage. All of them get t

    • No rush. SOny and Panasonic will be making them for a while longer.

      Keep in mind this is just LG no longer making standalone players, they said nothing about stopping making drives for other peoples players. LG might even get out of making TV's as well, but they would still make the parts for other peoples TV's. Just because they dont want to market their own branded device doesnt mean they are not manufacturing the parts they have always provided to others. Those are separate parts of the company.

      As for

  • Did they believe the streaming hype? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Viol8 ( 599362 ) on Thursday December 12, 2024 @06:49AM (#65007591) Homepage

    A lot of people still buy DVDs because they want their own copy of something that they can watch over again without having to pay each time even if they also have a streaming account.

    Also not everyone lives in an area where broadband is good enough for HD streaming (or even any streaming).

    The media was constantly telling us how CD was dead 5 years ago and vinyl 20 years before that. Yeah, how did those predictions turn out? Just because something becomes less popular doesn't mean its going to vanish altogether.

    • Also not everyone lives in an area where broadband is good enough for HD streaming (or even any streaming).

      Starlink pretty much drove the last nail into that coffin. They're very likely main contributing factor to the demise of RedBox went under.

      The media was constantly telling us how CD was dead 5 years ago and vinyl 20 years before that. Yeah, how did those predictions turn out?

      Yeah, you can still buy CDs but good luck playing them in a late model car. While there's still plenty of used portable CD players on eBay, most of the new ones are all various no-name Chinese brands (or they're licensed the name of some defunct company). As for vinyl, most of what's being produced these days is just FLAC files pressed to a big plastic disc. At least

      • They're very likely main contributing factor to the demise of RedBox went under.

        And here's proof that either Slashdot needs an edit feature, or I need to avoid posting before I've had my coffee. Let me try that again:

        They're very likely the main contributing factor which lead to the demise of RedBox, which recently went under.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Viol8 ( 599362 )

        "Starlink pretty much drove the last nail into that coffin."

        Since when? Have you ever met anyone who used it?

        • Since when? Have you ever met anyone who used it?

          As a matter of fact, my father who lives in the mountains of NC has been using Starlink since it was invite-only. The price is quite high compared against what I pay for cable broadband here in FL, but it otherwise seems to work just fine for Netflix et al. So, the whole "people in rural areas can't do streaming" meme is a bit out-of-date.

      • My entire music collection is physical media and then backed up in mp3 format. All my music fits very nicely on my phone and the phone connects to the car. I have playlist available but I also usually just play a folder with VLC. Works perfectly and has zero Internet needs.

        All the new music I buy is either CDs I buy from the artist at their shows or bandcamp, which sells me drm-free mp3s of high quality. It's pretty awesome.

        • My entire music collection is physical media and then backed up in mp3 format. All my music fits very nicely on my phone and the phone connects to the car.

          I still have a bunch of CDs too, and no shortage of legacy devices that can still play or rip them, too. But eventually things will get to the same point with optical media where they are with VHS. There isn't a single company remaining that still manufacturers VCRs.

          Audio cassette tapes have already suffered a similar fate. While you can technically still buy portable new production cassette players, they're all abysmally poor quality compared against vintage gear, and you can't sustain a large scale mar

      • Starlink?

        Dont make me laugh. Look at the specs, take out a thing called a calculator and do some basic divisions and then try and laugh about it.

    • A lot of people still buy DVDs because they want their own copy of something that they can watch over again.. Just because something becomes less popular doesn't mean its going to vanish altogether.

      As others have pointed out, there are still a few companies making DVD and Blu-Ray players for the decreasing number of people who still want them. Very few products actually completely vanish, they just become hard to find niche items. I probably can still buy a buggy whip if I really needed one.

      I don't know how many that is. If you gathered them in my living room, it would be a lot. If you compare it against how many sold 15 years ago, I'm sure it's a paltry number. For fun, I tried to find some numbers.

      • > I probably can still buy a buggy whip if I really needed one.

        There are plenty of people breeding horses for the decreasing numbers that still think they are viable in 2024 so finding a "buggy whip" is not going to be a problem, you can find a saddle too.

    • without having to pay each time even if they also have a streaming account

      Okay... that's not how streaming works. That's how movies on demand works, and that isn't a big growth market.

      • > Okay... that's not how streaming works

        True, streaming works by charging you to retain an account on their system. They rent you the account no matter how many years it was since you last bothered to log in and actually use the service.

        Neat

    • They didn't stop making DVD players, just Blu-ray DVD players.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Physical media is going to be around - it's going to be a niche, but nothing truly disappears.

      The problem is, movies on disc revenue has been dropping cosistently the past decade. It's still a multi-billion dollar business, but think of it this way - Walmart sells the majority of discs out there. And they are the majority owner of Studio Distribution Services, basically the distributor behind all physical media (DVD, Blu-Ray, UHD Blu-Ray) for North America.

      But it's a fraction of what sales were a decade ago

      • Cinemas and libraries are going to end up closing and being demolished soon as well.

        Movies on media may be not selling but Hollywood (other industries are available) also are losing the cinema. Nobody is bothered going to sit in a covid filled room anymore.

        Peak streaming is also killing streaming, leaving film studios starved, they cant sell on the streaming networks as there is no money in streaming and the cinemas are dying. The only way to make profit on a movie is in the cinema and physical disc sales

    • > A lot of people still buy DVDs because they want their own copy of something that they can watch over again without having to pay each time

      To add:

      DVD's and bluray/UHD also have extras, subtitles, multiple language tracks and in many cases an audio described track for the partially sighted. Many of those features rarely exist on a streaming service option, subs and languages do, extras rarely do.

      If I became partially sighted I'd prefer a disc player simply for the additional tactile feel alloing me to

      • Also, the bitrate of most streaming services is terrible. I watch most stuff on my desktop PC, sitting close to the screen, and I notice it. Netflix video and audio quality are atrocious, as are YouTube's and Amazon's. Ugly compared to a good BR or UHDBR. There are few exceptions to this, one of them is Sony Pictures Core.

        • It varies between services too.

          My brother started re-watching Stargate SG-1 on Amazon Prime, I started watching it again on NowTV (fropm Sky, who originally aired the series back in the day).

          The Prime version was terrible! Over brightened, over sharpened, the SG-1 series was filmed on actual film throughout its entire run so on a HD or UHD version youd expect to see grain, but this was a SD stream and the grain wasnt grain, but digital noise where the codec had been struggling! It looked like an 90's over

  • Fix media licensing (Score:3)

    by bubblyceiling ( 7940768 ) on Thursday December 12, 2024 @07:41AM (#65007657)
    I think, we should try and fix the minefield of digital media licensing, rather than trying to hold on to physical media. One idea that could potentially work, would be to make licensing of media legally mean the same thing as buying a physical copy.

    • That would've been the one legitimately useful thing to do with NFTs. But of course, rather than use them as a decentralized repository of ownership for digital media, some idiots just tried to sell dumb ape JPEGs.

    • I think, we should try and fix the minefield of digital media licensing, rather than trying to hold on to physical media. One idea that could potentially work, would be to make licensing of media legally mean the same thing as buying a physical copy.

      While I agree with your essential premise here, there's only one problem with it: How do you convince the media companies, who are in control of the media we want, that there's a profit to be made in making digital media licensing fair to the end-user/purchaser of said license? They *LIKE* being able to yank media anytime they want. They also like the control it gives them over the people's ability to view/listen to said media. They seem to believe that holding the licensing rights for a movie or a song sho

      • Good luck cutting me off from my CD/DVD/Bluray collection. Unless you cut power to my house.

        Your terms are acceptable. A representative from Springfield will soon arrive to cut off your electricity and install the mandatory sun reflector dish.

        What? You thought that they, who own the politicians, would allow you to use renewable energy for free? Remember you'll own nothing, and *in drill sergeant voice* BE HAPPY!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by amorsen ( 7485 )

      Don't worry, they are on it. You will get your wish that buying a physical copy means the same thing as licensing media.

      • > Don't worry, they are on it.

        Are you being sarcastic?

        If that were true, that would have been how it was done from the start. But it wasnt, they chose not to do that as this method is much more lucriative to them.

        They actually want to re-educate you into learning that there is nothing that can be "owned" or under "your control" here. When they only way to get this stuff to you was by making CD's or printing books, they had to accept that you all got used to the idea that you retained physical control a

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by amorsen ( 7485 )

          I think you missed what I said...

          Owning a physical copy and licensing the media will be the same, because soon physical media will be nothing more than a fancy receipt for the media license.

  • How will we watch movies?

    • You'll have to buy a different brand. Preferably one where it is easy to bypass region locks (Panasonic UB820?)

  • I just picked up my first-ever Blu-ray player at a Salvation Army thrift store a few weeks ago... a very happy find!

  • We moved house last March. Our Blu-Ray player has been sitting in the back of our storage room since then, still wrapped in plastic, along with all our discs in binders in a large box.

    I can imagine it will still be there after we hit the one-year mark in this new place.

  • This makes me glad I recently bought a USB3 bluray disc drive. It comes in handy from time to time. Sad state of affairs to kill off all the physical media. Makes me glad I'm older and care a lot less about modern media content. I've had enough time to collect a serious collection of tv and movies that I am more or less content with what I have if I never watched anything new again.

    It of course greatly helps that the vast majority of content being put out is just poorly done rehashes of content I already ha

  • I recently purchased a used 2001 model automobile with a tape deck in the radio. My kids laughed until I pulled out my collection of tapes I PURCHASED from 1980 onward. "That's the power of ownership", I told my kids. Their response? "Look at all of this old dad music!" They're amazed that the tapes still work perfectly.

  • All the more money for those that continue to serve the UHD TV/disc playing market.

    The article also talks about standalone players, not drives. So LG may just make the drives for other players.

    To be honest I was never particularly into the idea of an LG player, I buy Sony or Panasonic. LG have been making the generic el-cheapo PC and laptop drives for donkey’s years, when you strip down a PC or laptop you usually find a H&L drive, which is LG. Most rebrands are like that too.

    As for streaming, I c

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