Alan Smithee

So the new one wasn’t an upgrade. I like my LG but not buying any more of their products for making such a bad decision.

Josh-da-man

I'm wondering if they'll stop making new DVD/Blu-ray/4K players.

Since there are still billions of discs out there, and they players are backwards compatible with previous formats (Blu-ray, DVD, CD) I would think (hope) someone would still be making players, and they wouldn't go the way of the laserdisc player or the 8-track player. Vinyl records are currently experiencing a renaissance; was there ever a time in the 90s or 00s when nobody was making record players?

morriscroy

Technically there is nothing to stop anybody from manufacturing dvd players which only play dvd-video discs.

Just about all the dvd-video and basic dvd patents worldwide have expired already.

TheBang

The last Hollywood VHS title was in 2006, and the last new VHS player was manufactured in 2016. DVD has an even longer tail than VHS, and new DVD titles are still being released, so even though there aren't a lot of new DVD player models being created, I think they will still be manufacturing new units for quite a while.

Now, having said that, I just looked at player sales, and didn't realize how much they had declined over the past few years:
https://hdguru.com/cta-u-s-ultra-hd-...to-963k-units/
I guess that makes sense in light of the rise of streaming. With such a precipitous decline, I imagine that we'll see a few more manufacturers exit the market in the next few years. There will still be some companies making them though, and one bright spot is that 4K player sales have held steady over that period.

clckworang

The answer to this question is likely no. Even when people weren't buying records as much, you still had DJs with turntables.

Gizmo

Bad decision? 3D is DEAD for Home Theater

How many US Blu-ray releases come in 3D now a year? a dozen?

It's a fantastic decision to no longer include a function and make the consumer pay for it when 99.99999% of the population does not need it. Keep your aging TV as long as you can.

Gizmo

PSVR2 is not backwards compatible with software. Can the PS5 play 3D Discs?

Adam Tyner

Sure, but that wouldn’t preclude support for 3D movies. Certainly a different situation than supporting software with lower targeted hardware, different number of buttons on the controller, a different method of tracking movement, etc.

No, but the PS4 didn’t support 3D discs early on either until it was patched in, so it’s not impossible — though unlikely, sure — that the same could happen here.

Sony is pretty lousy about bells and whistles like this, and I’m certainly not holding my breath, but I’m hoping for 3D support with the headset. And if not, eh, maybe something can be rigged up on a PC down the road.

Alan Smithee

Meanwhile every TV still includes motion smoothing, even though nobody with an ounce of knowledge would ever use that and it’s certainly not a required capability to view any movies.

Gizmo

Motion Smoothing does not require special glasses (no longer produced/sold), special hardware (no longer produced/sold) and special discs (in the US? LOL).

But I can see how those two are very much related.

Alan Smithee

It’s something I’m “forced” to pay for that I never use, as it ruins a movie’s intended look. Since most TVs also default to it being on, it’s become an intelligence test to see who turns it off vs those who just leave it on and don’t see anything wrong with it. But sure, let those people decide I can’t watch 3D movies anymore.

I was forced to pay for voice search on my TV which I never use either. Have they ever measured how many people use that?

But if you pay more than $2000 for a TV, it should be able to do everything.

Josh-da-man

Motion smoothing is good for watching sports and maybe some concerts, but it should be turned off for watching any kind of movies or tv series.

Gizmo

3D is dead for Home Theaters.

The Cow

My 3D movies still work in my theater, and I still occasionally order new ones.

Alan Smithee

I declare motion smoothing dead. Also any standard DVDs made after 2009.

morriscroy

Is there a death penalty for non-compliance to your declaration?

Adam Tyner

The irony being that DVDs are actually starting to hold a little more appeal to me than they had for many, many years, thanks to catching up on Super Sentai as well as the Ultraman sets of series that were produced in standard-def. I was also given (an admittedly terrible) copy of Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama on DVD last year, and that's a movie I wouldn't have been able to watch in any other form.

Until last year, the last DVD I bought for myself that didn't have some kind of connection with someone I knew was back in 2014!