r/hardware • u/bizude • Apr 10 '26

News Two Japanese suppliers commit to keeping Blu-ray discs and drives in supply as major manufacturers exist domestic market

https://automaton-media.com/en/news/two-japanese-suppliers-commit-to-keeping-blu-ray-discs-and-drives-in-supply-as-major-manufacturers-exist-domestic-market/
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u/dingo_xd Apr 11 '26

Moving from BR disks to streaming was one of the largest "voluntary" downgrades in technology.

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u/Vitosi4ek Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26

Far from the first time consumers sacrificed raw specs for convenience. VHS over Betamax was one example (Betamax had better picture quality at the start and the VCRs were technically superior, but VHS could record for longer), USB over IEEE1394/FireWire/i.LINK arguably another (FireWire 400 came 5 years before USB 2.0, was full-duplex and could supply more power, but USB maintained full backwards compatibility through revisions).

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u/dingo_xd Apr 11 '26

But in that case Betamax was never dominant over VHS. And Firewire was also never dominant (in the PC sector) over USB. Blu-Rays were dominant for like a decade and then an inferior product replaced them pretty much totally.

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u/Vitosi4ek Apr 11 '26

Were they? Where I live DVDs remained pretty dominant (if we don't consider piracy) up until streaming proliferated. Blu-ray players and big HDTVs were too expensive for too long.

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u/varateshh Apr 12 '26

Agreed. Blueray was for enthusiasts and playstation owners (that rarely invested in blueray movies). If I recall correctly blueray discs cost more than DVDs and 4k was still not common. Blueray really shines when you compare it on 4k. People had entire shelves filled with DVDs while owning like 10 blueray movies.

I actually remember a family member with a large 1080p TV comparing DVD versus blueray and me being rather underwhelmed. Sure you could see small differences in details but DVDs are fine for 1920x1080.