PhantomStranger

Yeah, Walmart has always carried a larger DVD than Blu-ray selection. Once Walmart more or less eliminated BDs from their $5 bins, overall BD sales outside of new releases seemingly fell off there.

d2cheer

I have not popped into this thread in years but seeing DVD STILL outselling BD is baffling to me now even though I probably stated in this thread multiple times BD would not overtake DVD.

Yeah I am a hypocrite.

Josh-da-man

I don't have any stats and this is purely anecdotal, but very few people I know own blu-ray (or UHD) players that aren't gaming consoles. Most people, if they even still have a disc player, have an old DVD player.

So this shouldn't be surprising.

Also, how many blu-ray players are currently available? I think the only companies still making players are Panasonic, LG, and Sony, which is pretty wild. And even then, they're still selling the same models they were years ago.

Coral

A few years ago I gave my POS brother my BD player when his broke as I haven't used it for a long time and figured that I could just use my XBOX One X for BD and 4K discs.
Not only have I not used it yet, I gave my XBOX away to my cousin as I haven't been in the mood to game for quite a while.

I don't know anyone who has a regular BD player, and the ones with consoles have never used it to play movies on discs.

I was curious last week about the price of 4K players and saw only 1 model that was under $300 CAD ($250). That's just too expensive for the average consumer.
Some BD players are under $100, but I doubt many are buying them anyway.

Josh-da-man

I suppose it's kind of telling about the popularity of blu-ray when they're still making and selling DVD players.

At this point in time, a DVD player that upscales to HD retails for about $45, while a cheap blu-ray player sells for about $65 or $70. By now, with the prices what they are, I would think they would just discontinue the DVD players and only sell blu-ray players (which also play DVDs) instead of keeping separate product categories.

I'm guessing they're still selling a lot of DVD players since they could just discontinue them and upsell the blu-ray players for an extra twenty or thirty bucks.

Eventually, I would think they would just start selling nothing but 4K UHD players -- which will play any DVD/blu-ray/4K -- once the prices for those fall down to the $70 mark. But since DVD players are still hanging around...

morriscroy

If I had to guess, that $20 differential between standalone dvd and bluray players, might have to do with the fact that bluray is still patent encumbered.

In most of the world, a standalone dvd player is already patent free. The last remaining standalone dvd player patents will expire this August 2024 in the European Union + South Korea and January 2025 in Japan + Taiwan. For a standalone dvd player without any bluray functionality, the last American patent will expire in a few months in June 2024.

The earliest this $20 differential might disappear entirely, could be in 2033 when all the standalone bluray player patents expire in america.

orangerunner

I suppose the license to use DTS HD Master and DOLBY TrueHD audio codecs is also an extra expense the DVD format didn't have to account for. Early WiFi-enabled Blu-ray players probably had to incur the expense of licensing youtube, Netflix, hulu, CinemaNow etc.

Alan Smithee

Went thrifting yesterday and saw TONS of Blu-Ray players for $25 or less. When Blu-Ray players show up at Goodwill in mass quantities, they aren’t “new” technology anymore.

lwhy?

Rumors are abound on X/Twitter that Target will stop selling physical media in store and online by 2025:

milo bloom

I know retail chains are capable of really dumb decisions but there's still a demand for physical media and there are fewer brick and mortar places that sell it. I can't imagine that there aren't other items at Target that sell way fewer numbers than DVDs and Blu-rays but they still keep them on the shelves.

morriscroy

Did you find tons of 8-track players ?

Alan Smithee

No, I should probably get a backup though.

Coral

If there was enough demand and they were selling well enough, Target would continue to sell physical media.
They're obviously reacting to the sales data that's in front of them. Did you think they were doing this just on a whim?

milo bloom

I can see the corporate heads making a sweeping decision based on a macro view of product sales, not taking into account local demographic trends, yes absolutely. It’s what happened to Kmart.

Josh-da-man

So that will leave Walmart as the only national retailer still selling physical media?

For how long?

I guess the thing for me that is the strangest aspect of this is that Best Buy and Target aren't even selling it online. I mean, it's one thing to not want DVDs, CDs, and Blu-Rays taking up valuable floor space, and another to not even offer them through mail order on their websites.

Adam Tyner

The Target rumor isn’t from a reputable source. It wouldn’t surprise me if things shake out that way — the writing’s pretty well on the wall — but I’m skeptical of any inside knowledge.

Target has and Best Buy had their online DVD/BD orders invariably fulfilled by distributors like Ingram and Alliance. So on one hand, it’s a small lift on their part to maintain things online with someone else doing the heavy lifting, but maybe there’s not enough upside to make it worth the trouble. Opportunity costs and all that.

Tom Pennock

It's a collectors market now and the general public are not collectors. If they can do something for less like streaming they will do it. I think when the formats started it was a fad for the general public. They were not into collecting movies. I have been collecting 16mm prints for years. The general public will go for the cheapest way possible. I think in the long run streaming will fail. I have what I want and I will be lucky at my age to have ten more years of life.

Josh Z

I think Barnes & Noble counts as a national retailer, unless you were referring specifically to department store chains.

orangerunner

The late 90s/early 2000s was such a renaissance of new tech with everything from laptops, MP3 players, digital cameras, color printers that the general public just devoured everything in sight without really giving it too much thought.

I distinctly remember overhearing people next to me in the DVD aisles filling-up their baskets and lamenting "I think I know this actor.", "Someone said this might be good." and then ring-up $142.50 at the cash registrar for 5 movies. This is where streaming has saved these folks a lot of money and wasted space.

PhantomStranger

Target getting out of movies isn't a great shock or even much more than passing news. Target getting out of music is a bit different, as they were still one of the country's biggest music sellers even as late as 2020. Target's music department carries tons of exclusive releases which I guess are going away.

Adam Tyner

The source about Target dropping physical media is not reputable. For instance, they recently posted an exclusive image of AMC's Deadpool popcorn bucket, but it was an AI-generated thing they slapped together. It's engagement bait for Twitter/X.

Target dropping movies is certainly in the realm of possibility, but I wouldn't take anything this guy's saying as gospel, and their support of music does seem much more solid than their support of movies.

milo bloom

All the Target locations around me have way much more music than movies. There's always tons of Taylor Swift CDs and vinyls.

lwhy?

Target just responded: https://www.ign.com/articles/target-...res-and-online

Retail chain Target has responded to the recent reports claiming that it will stop selling physical media, revealing that it will continue to sell physical media but will limit the number of copies it sells in its retail stores.

A Target spokesperson told IGN that the retail chain will be "transitioning the limited assortment of DVDs" they carry in retail stores. The official website will still offer "thousands of titles" for customers to purchase. Though the retail stores are pivoting to a more selective approach in what physical media it carry, the spokesperson told IGN that it would offer select DVDs in its stores when it a new release or "during key times throughout the year when they are more popular," such as Black Friday or during an anti-Prime day sale.

"Based on our guests' shopping patterns and broader industry trends, we're transitioning the limited assortment of DVDs we carry in our stores to Target.com, where guests will continue to find thousands of titles," the spokesperson said. "Moving forward, we'll offer select DVDs in stores when they are newly released or during key times throughout the year when they are more popular, like for gift giving during the holidays."

The spokesperson also confirmed that its new policy will not impact physical games sold in its retail stores. This will only impact the physical copies of movies and TV Shows.

lwhy?

I'm glad that we'll still hopefully get more future buy 2 get one free sales. I unfollowed Physical Media President on twitter.

Tom Pennock

I agree completely. I enjoyed your posting. I bought most of my classics on video from Big Lots. Sold many on e-bay. Bought 16mm IB Tech prints from a friend who had access to Technicolor in Burbank. Was able to secure a lab mint scope 16mm print of Thunderball for $2,500.00. It was in storage since the 1960's and never assembled. I would not sell it now for any less than 5K. I did sell my Mary Poppins IB Tech 16mm print to a man at TCM for over 2K. Film holds it's value. I have done really well on film prints. I am also into original foreign and domestic movie posters too. I have been collecting since age eight back in 1963.