Samsung To Stop Making Blu-Ray & 4K Blu-Ray Players For US Market

CNET ^ | February 15, 2019 | Ty Pendlebury

[CaliforniaCraftBeer]

Samsung [announced] that it was no longer making 4K players and has confirmed that it will also halt production on new 1080p models. "Samsung will no longer introduce new Blu-ray or 4K Blu-ray player models in the US market," a Samsung spokesperson told CNET.  Samsung launched its last 4K players in 2017 and didn't add any new models to its lineup in 2018. A high-end 4K player for 2019 along the lines of its UBD-M9500 was in the works, a Forbes report says, but has now been scrapped...

[sparklite2]

And the future is here! They finally have more good stuff than I can keep up with.

[sparklite2]

You know, I have the boxed HD set for Battlestar Galactia, but I still watch it by streaming. Disc handling is too much like work.

[LostInBayport]

Seriously, why would I want to own a CD or DVD?

So you don't have to pay more than once to watch something you really like. Prices for streaming will go not likely go down once physical media becomes a niche. They will have consumers at their mercy.

And someday many of the movies and shows we enjoy will be edited, censored or banned because someone somewhere is offended. I will be able to watch a Charlie Chan DVD but you will go online and find that the Ministry of Feelz has banned them because Chan wasn't played by an Asian actor.

[Jmouse007]

BINGO! All of the studios are going to try and "lock up" ALL of their properties so that future generations won't be able to OWN ANYTHING, but will have to RENT IT, alah "pay per view".

It's the old "Circuit City DIVX SCAM" all over again in new clothing.

[rlmorel]

I buy physical copies of my favorite movies. Casablanca, Best Years of Our Lives, The Caine Mutiny, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Band of Brothers, things like that.

For the same reason I buy certain books like Witness, Atlas Shrugged, Dune, Moby Dick, Tale of Two Cities, rather then checking them out from the library.

[sparklite2]

My broadband is metered too at a max of 350 Gigs a month. It allows for all the streaming I normally watch. And at a rate than never stops to buffer. Life is good.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

You didn't correct anything.

I live out in the country and me and my neighbors all stream. We do not subscribe to cable or satellite programming, and most of us don't even watch regular TV.

[LostInBayport]

BINGO! All of the studios are going to try and "lock up" ALL of their properties so that future generations won't be able to OWN ANYTHING, but will have to RENT IT, alah "pay per view". It's the old "Circuit City DIVX SCAM" all over again in new clothing.

It is the old video rental store model, just without the brick and mortar storefront and rewind charges.

[Big Red Badger]

to add ,
How about an RV life style,
Pop in a Disc and I’m entertained!

[gibsonguy]

“It’s mainly for people who always have to brag about everything they have being the best”

Well l never brag and like others have said if you ever saw an actual comparison between 4K stream and 4K DVD on TV or projector that can show the difference you would get it. An imperfect comparison would be like saying who needs air conditioning when you can get a fan.

[CaliforniaCraftBeer]

another GREAT reason to own a physical copy.***

***make an uncompressed digital copy of those discs and upload to ‘the cloud’.

[LostInBayport]

I’m the same. I have many movies,tv shows and books that I have enjoyed more than once and hopefully will again during my life. I’m not paying each time!

[Drew68]

Streaming and on-demand is the future.

Yep. The cable companies are going to have to start bumping up their 1TB/month data ceilings.

[joethedrummer]

My answer is: because I spent a small fortune on VHS format movies, then ANOTHER slightly larger fortune on DVDs and BluRay copies of the same movies...

Ain’t doing it again. They got enough of my money. I’d just as soon buy 3-4 BluRay players now before they’re gone.

Didn’t we all go through this with music? L.P’s, then tape, then Cds, which were supposed to have perfect sound and last forever...

Mmmm Hmmmm...ehhh.. No.

[moehoward]

“Crap. Anyone know of a good alternative?”

A Playstation 3 or 4. Plus they support aps -Netflix etc- and of course play games.

[Mariner]

” This sucks. Again quality is scarified over convenience and distribution costs.”

You and exactly 103 other people thought this was important. Almost everyone is happy with standard Blu Ray and have no burning need for 4k and up.

No market. Almost no media.

[Drew68]

It is nice to be able to own a physical copy so you don't have to rely on your Internet connection. Ask those who lost media on Plays-for-Sure and iTunes how that worked out.

The studios have decided they no longer want us to have physical copies of their music or films. They want the final say to decide what we can watch, or if we can watch it at all.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

It is nice to be able to own a physical copy so you don't have to rely on your Internet connection

You can easily create a collection of films on an external hard-drive device, and stream it into your television or monitor.

Hard copies of movies deteriorate over time, there's storage issues, discs get damaged, etc.

But to each their own I guess

[CaliforniaCraftBeer]

Panasonic +1

thanks for sharing that.

[TianaHighrider]

I just ordered Casablanca on DVD. Oh well.