Samsung ends Blu-ray player production, impact on DB media?

[mecha3000]

Alright, so I know Samsung and Dragon Ball are two things that have never been brought up on these forums, but hear me out. Samsung has recently announced they're ending the production of their Blu-ray players and other companies are most likely to follow this. It's been a slight fear of mine for years and it seems like it's honestly upon us: The end of physical media. So, this is where I bring Dragon Ball into the whole thing.

We know we're getting a collectible 30th anniversary home video release soon. Well, will there come a day when Funimation ceases production on Dragon Ball home media (and perhaps their anime catalog as a whole)? I mean, the future is streaming. We're seeing it with Disney and their new Disney+ service coming at the end of this year. Personally, I like collecting and the idea of maintaining a physical Dragon Ball collection. Almost nine years ago, back when I was 13, I ordered Dragon Ball Z Kai: Part 1 on DVD. It had been years since I had bought a new DB release since my mom told me I could no longer watch it (she saw Goku touching Bulma and thought it was instantly pornography, which was understandable as I was about ten or so). However, turning 13 enabled me to get back into Dragon Ball and ordering Kai got me hooked on physical Dragon Ball releases. I cherished Kai and bought it many times over and now own Kai Parts 1-8 with the first four rare Kenji score (that will never be legally available digitally due to the Kenji scandal).

This is the point I'm making. Besides the joyous hobby of collecting, let's imagine a hypothetical. Let's say, Kai came out in 2029 or something like that instead of 2009. It was only ever available digitally and then the Kenji scandal happens. Funimation/Toei immediately remove all the Kenji score episodes and replace them with Kikuchi. Now, just like the Scott Pilgrim video game, fans can never enjoy it because it was only ever available digitally. This and my appreciation of physical media (despite concerns of what it takes to produce it sometimes as well as the annoying wait between digital and Blu-ray release) make me cautious of the loss of physical media when it comes to anime, especially Dragon Ball.

Also, anime is an industry that thrives off the collector's market so I'm not exactly sure how the end of Blu-ray production will impact it. Still, if DB ever ceases to be released physically, at least we would've had many types of releases to satisfy us. With the Samsung news, I hope now more than ever that the 30th anniversary release is the definitive one we can be pleased with enough to move on from physical media. Thoughts?

[ABED]

Physical media will not completely end. If vinyl can have a resurgence, I don't foresee physical media ever completely go away.

[Kuwabara]

Sony wants out too, the PS4 Pro not offering 4K Blu-ray support, even though Sony had a hand in developing UHD Blu-ray, says as much. These entertainment companies just don't want to bother with shipping physical product any more now that streaming is becoming more and more ubiquitous. That said, there is still a demand for Blu-ray, and the base for it is big enough that discs will still be made for years to come. I also wouldn't be shocked if DVD ended up outliving Blu-ray in the long run, they're so cheap to produce and still so convenient for a large swath of consumers.

[JohnnyCashKami]

Huh, Blu-ray might die out and yet DVD will still stand standing. Of course, this means that there'll be a new HD disc format to take BD's spot.

ABED's right. Physical media may become less popular in the future but it'll still exist.

Also, don't forget that Music CD's still exist and there was never a physical "HD-CD" disc (I think I remember one but it didn't took off) so the next step was digital. Still, the lossless CD quality is near to what was recorded in studio so it's as good as we'd get.

FLAC/WAV may be better than CD if it comes directly from the studio, but I dunno.

Anyhow, Dragon Ball media is some of the most wanted out there so it will always be preserved. Whether it's in physical state or digital state.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I used to think physical media would one day be completely phased out. The more time goes by and the more releases that are still being put out across a variety of formats (Blu-Ray being one of the most popular) the more I've been doubting that line of thought.

Companies like Samsung, Sony, LG, etc will try to cut their own shipping costs by ceasing production of Blu-Ray players and focus on making more advanced Roku players in an attempt to lure customers away from physical, but it won't last.

Let's say, Kai came out in 2029 or something like that instead of 2009. It was only ever available digitally and then the Kenji scandal happens. Funimation/Toei immediately remove all the Kenji score episodes and replace them with Kikuchi. Now, just like the Scott Pilgrim video game, fans can never enjoy it because it was only ever available digitally. This and my appreciation of physical media (despite concerns of what it takes to produce it sometimes as well as the annoying wait between digital and Blu-ray release) make me cautious of the loss of physical media when it comes to anime, especially Dragon Ball.

Also, anime is an industry that thrives off the collector's market so I'm not exactly sure how the end of Blu-ray production will impact it.

This is a great hypothetical example. Customers who are paying good money over time to own their favourite movies and TV shows don't want to be at the mercy of these major corporations who can make changes to their products on a whim, or worse yet take them away from whoever purchased them.

[JohnnyCashKami]

DBI @ Netflix for some time now allows customers to download shows and movies to be watched offline (most at least) so they're always accessible. Well, as long as you pay that monthly subscription (like XBLG and PSN+).

Music-wise digitally, iTunes and Bandcamp are excellent because they don't DRM it. iTunes is compressed to M4A whereas Bandcamp offers in FLAC.

I've bought the Kai 2014 score from iTunes and I can't complain, it's as good as we'll ever have it.

[tinlunlau]

Physical media will never die out. Streaming services can only license stuff for a certain amount of time. They don't stay on streaming services for that long.

[MasenkoHA]

. Streaming services can only license stuff for a certain amount of time. They don't stay on streaming services for that long.

This only applies to third party streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll.

There’s been an increase in companies like DC and Disney starting their own streaming service where “we can only offer this show/movie as long as the licensee allows” doesn’t apply


Even Netflix has been big on creating their own original content that they don’t have to license from other companies s

[JohnnyCashKami]

Physical media will never die out. Streaming services can only license stuff for a certain amount of time. They don't stay on streaming services for that long.

If you purchase a show, soundtrack or game then you can just re-download but otherwise, you're right. It eventually gets removed due to license issues and whatnot. The Office is rumored to leave Netflix cause NBC is apparently going to make their own streaming service (ugh).

Currently it's impossible to buy The Simpsons Arcade, TMNT Arcade or OutRun Online Arcade digitally because of licensing probs. The alternative to these games in particular? Either buy the console version, pirate it or hope it becomes available again.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Streaming services may be on the up, but so will their prices. Netflix has raised its subscription cost by $2 a month, and I have no doubt when Disney Plus catches on it will also go up. It may sound like an incremental jump in price, but when you consider all the streaming services there will soon be, it all adds up over time, especially if your anything like me and like a lot of different movies and series from a range of different studios.

I fully understand there are many who like digital purchases for the convenience aspect. I'm personally not a fan of it as nothing beats the payoff and satisfaction of being able to hold the product I bought in my hands and appreciate the cover art, packaging, etc.

[Chuquita]

Companies can earn way more money charging you per month for a service than a one time purchase. Didn't movie and TV companies flip out back when recordable VHS players came out and Mr. Rogers had to go to court to try to convince people that being able to record programs for home use is good? What about that news headline the other week about how Netflix used the ambiguous alternate ending for The Notebook instead of the ending U.S. audiences saw in theatres without warning and upset a lot of people?

I don't think physical media will ever completely go away, but I'm willing to bet many companies wish it would so they could have complete control over the product.

[eledoremassis02]

Japan is also slower on tech trends, heck they were one of the last to Drop Laserdiscs. So if Funi stops with physical you can always import it (I know it'll be a lot more) and perhaps some other countries might still produce physical media

[JohnnyCashKami]

Streaming services may be on the up, but so will their prices. Netflix has raised its subscription cost by $2 a month, and I have no doubt when Disney Plus catches on it will also go up. It may sound like an incremental jump in price, but when you consider all the streaming services there will soon be, it all adds up over time, especially if your anything like me and like a lot of different movies and series from a range of different studios.

I fully understand there are many who like digital purchases for the convenience aspect. I'm personally not a fan of it as nothing beats the payoff and satisfaction of being able to hold the product I bought in my hands and appreciate the cover art, packaging, etc.

Streaming services at a certain point will stop being convenient when customers realize there are too freaking many of them.

PC gaming used to rely solely on Steam, but now there's the Windows Store, Origin, Epic, Uplay, GoG, Twitch Prime and who knows how many more.

TV streaming services are going down the same route; It began with Netflix and now there's Hulu (revamped), Prime Video, Now TV, FUNimation Now, Crunchyroll, ABC, HBO, CBS, FOX, CN, CBC, BritBox, etc.

How is that close to convenience? I'd say quite the contrary. Using only Netflix would be, using 5-10 services isn't.

By the way, Dragon Ball series and movies are streamable on Netflix Japan.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

It can be noted that when Blu-ray was being rolled out over a decade ago, some people at the time thought that it was immediately going to become the big new home media standard that everyone uses. Something along the lines of when DVD first debuted back in 1997 although it took a good few years until the early 2000's for it to really come into its own and supersede both VHS and Laserdisc in one fell swoop. What's happened? Even though BD has a higher resolution than standard def DVD it still hasn't sold in high enough numbers to really be called the end all be all replacement as many still gravitate toward the latter for multiple reasons (price among them) though that's not to say Blu-ray is a bad format in of itself necessarily, it just hasn't done enough in terms of sales to fully replace DVD. As such they continue to co exist even though it's continuing to be branched out (4K, 3D) in spite of all that.

Same goes with the digital streaming platforms, even with that it's not going to fully invalidate physical media as a distribution venue for films and television series.

[Danfun64]

4k blu-ray's can go up to 100GB AFAIK. If no new physical video formats are made, physical video media won't end until hard drives are regularly sold at... let's say 32tb, and flash drives are regularly sold as 2tb.

As of now though, physical media allows for a better bitrate, making it the better option for videophiles.

[ABED]

Streaming services may be on the up, but so will their prices. Netflix has raised its subscription cost by $2 a month, and I have no doubt when Disney Plus catches on it will also go up. It may sound like an incremental jump in price, but when you consider all the streaming services there will soon be, it all adds up over time, especially if your anything like me and like a lot of different movies and series from a range of different studios.

I fully understand there are many who like digital purchases for the convenience aspect. I'm personally not a fan of it as nothing beats the payoff and satisfaction of being able to hold the product I bought in my hands and appreciate the cover art, packaging, etc.

Streaming services at a certain point will stop being convenient when customers realize there are too freaking many of them.

PC gaming used to rely solely on Steam, but now there's the Windows Store, Origin, Epic, Uplay, GoG, Twitch Prime and who knows how many more.

TV streaming services are going down the same route; It began with Netflix and now there's Hulu (revamped), Prime Video, Now TV, FUNimation Now, Crunchyroll, ABC, HBO, CBS, FOX, CN, CBC, BritBox, etc.

How is that close to convenience? I'd say quite the contrary. Using only Netflix would be, using 5-10 services isn't.

By the way, Dragon Ball series and movies are streamable on Netflix Japan.

But given that issue, someone will come up with a solution. I don't have HBO Go, but I do get HBO through Amazon Prime on occasion, like when the new season of Barry, Game of Thrones, and Silicon Valley come out. Even though there are a lot, it's still a better deal than cable and buying physical media.

[PacificOceanDub]

I’ve noticed that the layman just doesn’t really care about the difference between a DVD and a Blu Ray. There’s a ton of us that love and support the format, but I can’t tell you how many people I know that still buy new movies on DVD because it’s cheaper and they just don’t see enough of a difference to go for the Blu-Ray or 4K.

Is Sony stopping production of UHD players as well, or just 1080 players? Either way, the physical format won’t die anytime soon, there are way too many supporters

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

How is that close to convenience? I'd say quite the contrary. Using only Netflix would be, using 5-10 services isn't.

By the way, Dragon Ball series and movies are streamable on Netflix Japan.

I was referring to purchasing individual titles on services like iTunes and Google Play. I often hear people claim they prefer this to physical purchases because of the convenience of only needing to access their accounts to watch any titles they've purchased rather than having to carry around Blu-Rays whenever they travel, are at a friend's house, etc.

Studios have been trying to push this, as seen with the many movies that come out on digital before disc. Its a clever business move for enticing the consumers who want to own a new release at the earliest convenience to not have to wait for the physical release. Studios can also use it as an excuse to scale back on releasing discs if they see a significant decline (which they certainly are, but a decline is not the same as a death) and they will do it to try scrap the costs of shipping discs out to venders. I think this will cause a lot of movies and shows to be released exclusively on digital if not enough people wait for the DVD/Blu-Ray options, but bigger, more successful titles like Star Wars, Marvel and Game of Thrones will always have enough people interested in the physical options. Dragon Ball home releases will more than likely go on too. A lot of fans have built pretty sizeable collections of the different releases over the years, and Funimation knows those fans will be more than happy to continue adding to their collections.

[JohnnyCashKami]

4k blu-ray's can go up to 100GB AFAIK. If no new physical video formats are made, physical video media won't end until hard drives are regularly sold at... let's say 32tb, and flash drives are regularly sold as 2tb.

As of now though, physical media allows for a better bitrate, making it the better option for videophiles.

Some people who buy 4K movies on iTunes say that the picture quality is nearly identical to the 4K Blu-rays but with a vastly smaller size than the BD.

Those who prefer disc over digital format are a minority while those who favor digital over disc are the majority. Physical media will slow down but won't disappear entirely.

It's also thanks to physical media that a lot of content has been recovered which companies themselves lost it or threw it away.

[eledoremassis02]

I dont blame people sticking with dvd. The 4k aquman is 29.96 while the bluray is 24.96 and the dvd is only 17.96 digitally vudu has it for 19.99 (cant find it on prime video)
. I wouldnt be getting the 4k if I didnt use swagbucks which basically gets me the 4k for free. But a lot of people now-a-days dont have the spending cash so if you want a physical copy, people tend to go for the cheapest.