letters

Down the Stream

My disc library continues to grow rapidly even as the focus of home media shifts to the ever-popular streaming services. I don’t think I have to explain my continued reliance on discs, and that’s not the point of this letter. Basically, I’m met with frustration as a consumer and hobbyist. Here’s the main reason why I believe disc formats might disappear in the near future: TV makers and studios don’t care about how media is delivered as long as manufacturers can still sell TVs and Hollywood can receive residuals from streaming.

After replacing my last Blu-ray player with Panasonic’s fantastic DP-UB9000, I began to look at the player market as a whole. My local retailers carry approximately three players, all of them low build-quality models that are missing basic features but provide plenty of built-in streaming apps. Are these supposed to be disc spinners?

The way I see it, the industry’s plan to kill off disc formats is simple. Step one is to release new formats minus the right content. Some movies and TV shows are still being released on DVD, not Blu-ray or Ultra HD Blu-ray disc.