Audio Video News

S&V Poll: Enthusiasts Not About to Abandon 4K Blu-ray

SV Staff  |  Feb 26, 2019

Everyone was caught off guard last week and perhaps a bit perplexed when Samsung confirmed that it will no longer produce Blu-ray players for sale in the U.S. The move is seen by many as yet another nail in the coffin of physical media, sales of which continue to decline as a growing number of Americans turn to streaming for at-home movie and TV entertainment.

Even so, with consumer spending on DVD and Blu-ray at $4 billion — just shy of a third of what consumers are spending on subscription streaming services such as Netflix — discs aren’t going away any time soon. Which is why we put this question to our readers in last week’s poll:

How long will you continue to buy discs?

A full three quarters of respondents vowed to continue buying 4K Blu-ray discs “as long as Hollywood makes them.”

Doing so is a no brainer in the words of one respondent, who likely spoke for many when he commented: “It's the same price to buy digital only as it is to buy the physical disc, which also comes with a code for streaming! I buy discs primarily because they look and sound better than streaming, and I also have the convenience of the streaming option when I travel. Why anyone would pay full price for streaming only is beyond me.”

The remaining 25% of respondents indicated they’ve either already transitioned to streaming all or most of the time or are starting to buy fewer discs.

Here’s a complete breakdown of the survey results:

• 75% I’ll continue buying 4K discs for their superior performance as long as Hollywood makes them.

• 8% My disc purchases are few and far between these days as I morph into a bona fide streamaholic.

• 8% Discs are so 20th Century. It’s full stream ahead.

• 5% I’m already throttling back my disc purchases as I start to stream more content.

• 4% I’m thinking about cutting back on disc purchases as I start to stream more content.

Have a topic you’d like to suggest for a poll? Leave a comment.

Related:

No Shortage of Blu-ray Players…Yet

COMMENTS
barfle's picture
Submitted by barfle on February 27, 2019 - 5:57pm

I have subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu through my Roku (and apps on my ipad), so I’m not a complete ludite, but how many times have those services simply stopped carrying a show you were watching or a movie you had on your list?

Streaming is good for movies you want to see once. I’ve watched hundreds of movies over the streams, but if I want to save a show because I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT, I’m going to buy a disc. It’s the only way to keep a keeper.

joeydonq's picture
Submitted by joeydonq on February 27, 2019 - 10:11pm

I have pretty much all the popular streaming services available Hulu,Prime,Netflix etc... Recently amazon prime had The Doors for free prime 1080p "Dolby Digital".I started watching it and when the movie got to the desert and the song The End comes up I felt something amiss between the garble in his voice just before the scene unfold to the bass notes at the start of the song felt flat and uninspiring. Upon noticing this i pause and looked for my dvd copy of the movie not blu ray but 480p dolby digital copy. i put it in my uhd player jumped to the scene and Wow! goosebumps . I have had this discs for years if not decades and just amazing bass dug deeper his voice had a visceral feeling throughout his garble wich made me sit back in amazement I even got my wife to listen to both side by side and agreed. The studio painstakingly tries to embed the sound so you can try to reproduce it in your home as it would sound in the theater and with the right equipment this is achievable for this reason I am still faith full to physical copies of both music and movies.

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