LG stops making Blu-ray players

[thewayne]

The article says Samsung also exited the market, something that I had not heard. I guess I should make it a priority to buy a 4K player while they're still available! I've been thinking about it for some time, even though I do not yet have a 4K TV it's all HDMI and apparently the player will down-sample the output to match the TV.

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/lg-stops-making-blu-ray-players-marking-the-end-of-an-era-limited-units-remain-while-inventory-lasts

Comments

[lovelyangel]

Ugh. I guess it's time for me to invest in a backup Blu-ray player. I'm probably going to go top-of-the-line Panasonic. Not cheap. I'm lucky that I own a much-sought-after Oppo UDP-203 Blu-ray player that I bought new many years ago. I wish they still made those.

[thewayne]

Yeah, not happy about this.  Ars Technica had a good article where the comments also discussed software for ripping and compressing.  I've been wanting to do that to my collection for some time and reduce my volume.

[disneydream06]

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like maybe I should pick up an extra machine just in case. :o :o :o
I can't remember what brand my 4K player is. EEP... It's an LG. :o
Hugs, Jon

[thewayne]

They're not considered repairable devices, it really doesn't matter that your current one is an LG.

[disneydream06]

Lots to choose from on Amazon. lol...

[mtbc]

I keep being relieved to find multi-region DVD players still exist (I never upgraded beyond).

[thewayne]

Curiously, your edited comment arrived in my mail before the original did!  Anyway, I always wanted a multi-regional, but never got around to getting one.  I think what I need to do is get a PC Blu-ray drive for ripping and a 4K BR player for watching movies with.  If we move out of the country, I'll just deal with that when it happens.

[silveradept]

I'm not surprised that people are not purchasing physical media players when there's so little physical media being pressed these days. The article extolls the virtues of physical media, which are all the reasons why so many media companies and corporations want nothing to do with physical media. They don't like people owning things, because owning things means people can do what they want with them, not just what's been approved for them.

Admittedly, I do all of my watching on a television connected to a computer, with a drive in it to read discs and software that can assist in turning them into owned media files, so I'm not helping in this regard. I also don't have any screens capable of anything greater than 1080p, so I don't need anything that's 4k, not yet, and if/when I get it, it'll probably have to come with an increase in storage space on my machines, rather than as a physical player device.

Keep circulating the tapes, and keep finding ways to break and strip out the DRM.

[thewayne]

One of the comments, either on /. or Ars, mentioned that streaming really slams audio quality because of bandwidth limitations.  Yet another reason to prefer physical media.

[silveradept]

Indeed. We want good sound as well as good pictures. And we want them as owned files, not steaming rentals.

[thewayne]

As the reports of things disappearing from digital "purchases", no, we want to own physical copies.