Jowi Morales Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
SkyBill40 I think this will end up being seen as a mistake by Sony and they end up walking this one back. It might not be immediate, but they'll likely start up production again at some point sooner than later. Reply
bit_user I've used my PS5 to play a few blu-rays. Got a PS5 Pro when they went on sale for $600, last year (can you even believe it?). Then, made sure to order the optical drive add-on at the beginning of this year, since I didn't trust them to remain available. Also got the vertical stand for the Pro, which they don't include by default (grrr…) Reply
bit_user Kicapan07 said: What needs to change is a fundamental rewriting of copyright law to be much more pro consumer LOL, that'll never happen. Kicapan07 said: while reducing the rights of creators including the time of protection. The 90 year + life of author thing is ridiculous. Yeah, I agree that's ridiculous. A lot of people couldn't believe it when they didn't keep extending it! Kicapan07 said: Right now creator s have way too much power and control over their work and that needs to change. As well companies and creators also need to be forced to sell access rights to consumers at a reasonable price. The main thing I wanted to see was antitrust-type laws that forced separation between content producers and content delivery companies (i.e. streamers). However, we're way too far down the road of the two being integrated ever to go back. I sort of hate the idea that the only way you're ever going to see a Netflix movie is if you get a Netflix subscription*. Content from some of the services (e.g. HBO Max) can be rented through Amazon, but will probably never be included as free content in the Prime Video base package. * A workaround to watching some titles that Neflix showed in theaters is to get them on blu-ray. However, that will probably happen less and less. Kicapan07 said: But politically this will never happen because creators, both large corporations and the indie writers, are too greedy to give up what they have. Politicians aren't going to side with consumers on this because of the economic activity generated by the industry as well as the strong opposition by the creatives. In the long run, I think it would be a net-positive to decouple creators from distributors. Both economically and for consumers. It just would be far too disruptive to break up the big media companies, at this point. Reply
bit_user SkyBill40 said: I think this will end up being seen as a mistake by Sony and they end up walking this one back. It might not be immediate, but they'll likely start up production again at some point sooner than later. I don't know. I think they're probably getting hit from both sides: rising component costs making the product less profitable, while falling demand and encroachment by Chinese competitors(?) reduces the volume. While they should conceivably get relief on component prices at some point, the shrinking volume seems unlikely to reverse. That said, I'm really not worried about disc players ever completely disappearing from store shelves. There's just way too much optical media floating around in the world for demand ever to drop too low to support that market. Reply
SkyBill40 bit_user said: I don't know. I think they're probably getting hit from both sides: rising component costs making the product less profitable, while falling demand and encroachment by Chinese competitors(?) reduces the volume. While they should conceivably get relief on component prices at some point, the shrinking volume seems unlikely to reverse. That said, I'm really not worried about disc players ever completely disappearing from store shelves. There's just way too much optical media floating around in the world for demand ever to drop too low to support that market. Understandable concerns, for sure. My hope is that my existing Sony 4k unit doesn't suffer some kind of failure and I find myself in what would then become a difficult predicament to replace it. I suppose I could buy an optical drive and set up a small HTPC rig to play them instead seeing I've got some spare parts lying around which would certainly handle that task. Alas, we're going to be in a state of "wait and see" and that can go either direction. Still, a highly dubious time for enjoyers of physical media no matter how one chooses to view it. Reply
usertests There's no technical reason preventing a new optical format. They could take the previously manufactured Archival Disc, 300 GB or 500 GB (1 TB was never made), put H.266 video on there (UHD Blu-ray uses H.265 up to 100 GB), and you'd have even higher quality 4K or 8K, and more runtime. But while some bemoan the slow death of optical discs, consumers helped to kill it by switching to streaming. Too bad about this timeline. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/sony-japan-marks-last-standalone-4k-blu-ray-player-as-discontinued-playstation-5-now-the-only-blu-ray-player-left-in-sonys-lineup#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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- Retro Atari VCS platform will end with the closure of its software store in February 2027
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.