LG Stopping Blu-Ray Player Production

[@JWUniverse]

I go to both of my Targets and none of them have Blu-Ray’s or DVD’s now I get most of my stuff from either Amazon or Walmart!… I use my Xbox Series X to watch my 4K’s Blu-Ray and DVD’s! Awe man you just took me back with Bobby’s World damn… Life with Louie as well. Big Guy and Rusty!

[@tomboling2309]

LG players wear ok not a big deal right now. Bc if Sony stop making players then there is a time to worry

[@MichaelKikle]

But I would argue that this is a sign to BE concerned, since the Sony announcement is probably right around the corner. But I do believe 4K will be the first to go.

[@goosebumpscompletionist7709]

I have two setups: a Bluray 3D compatible tv from like 2017 with a Panasonic 4k/bluray 3d player that upscales DVDs and Blu-ray’s. Then I have a Sony 4k standard player with no real noticeable upscale for DVDs. And I have of course an AVI adapted VHS/dvd player that has terrible resolution but it plays and works. I’ll speak my mind on which is superior: DVD, Blu-ray, 4K. It honestly all depends on your setup and hardware. Remember once upon a time surround sound systems from Bose were all the rage but once technology suppressed the technology into smaller and smaller and smaller speakers. People were constantly updating and adapting that alone in a span of 5-6 years in the late 2000’s. That’s essentially what a solid 4k player is today, you get everything in one and you don’t need just a Blu-ray or old Bluray system. As you brought up, video games have hit peak resolution and quality and there’s no real need to keep pushing it further. But for movies, like physical video games, are dying because streaming and downloading into a system or even TV that automatically upgrades resolution makes it kind of obsolete to collect physical media. UNLESS, there’s a 4K of an older film with a specific label and specs that you can really get only with the disc. And then the special features and what have you, that will probably be more missed than anything else if physical media up and died tomorrow. As far as LG discontinuing the player, it makes since given that Blu-ray’s haven’t really been “top dog” since they put HD DVD out of production. Even when they were the highest resolution, the tvs when it was at the highest didn’t show much output difference than a DVD that was upscaled even then to a relatively nice Panasonic or LG player. Yeah it was superior, and nowadays it’s considerably more affordable than a 4K making it competition. Sometimes it’s hard to tell a difference between Bluray and 4k but then again - it depends on your hardware. The writing is on the wall when it comes to players, but I don’t think they’ll stop being made because when the quantity decreases due to lack of demand, the demand still there will still warrant a company to keep producing players. My biggest worry is that when players become down to maybe 2-3 reliable companies, they’re not gonna make as much and the prices are gonna be INSANE or the quality of player will begin to suffer because the don’t have to stake much reputation given it’s a dying collectible essentially to even buy movies physically. I think your best bet is to just buy a 4k player with resolution adjustment, and make sure your tv (as long as it isn’t pre-4k) can utilize 4k input. You’ll be able to play everything minus Beta,VHS, and Laser Disc and have decent quality of whatever you play. If it has Bluray 3d compatible features, buy them Bluray glasses while you still can lol. Anyways, great video Mike!

[@MichaelKikle]

Nah, Man, I hate the bluray 3D and 4K hahah. The 4K specifically because of the insane prices for movies, that just shows one more red flag of the physical market dying-out, sadly. I can’t believe people are buying each Star Wars movie, for example, for near $50. Deadpool and Wolverine for nearly $70, for the steelbooks. People like me won’t switch over, because I just don’t think the difference is noticeable at all, unless it’s an old movie. To comment on the surround sound system you brought-up, that’s actually an interesting side to the conversation, because I still hate surround sound to this day, if it’s in a house instead of a theater. Ruins the experience for me. I think too many are diving into these insane, more expensive tech pieces for movies, and the new movies and shows are so bad, they aren’t usually worth the price of buying all this lame, new equipment, to most people that feel more like myself about things like 4K. I just don’t think any of this new stuff is worth it, man.

[@goosebumpscompletionist7709]

@ I don’t think you quite picked up on my point. Look at CD’s for example. When’s the last time you seen CD players for sale at Walmart but they still sell cds? People are playing them somewhere right? They play them in cars, gaming systems, players etc. The cd market is still alive because they adapted through the shift to MP3/Ipods killing the very players initially designed for them. Not having a physical Blu-ray player wouldn’t render Blu-ray obsolete, because the hardware you need to play one is all on a 4k, which upgrades the quality for you if you have the right hardware. I get it man - the days of cheap media are over and it’s become a niche market and average joes are being priced out by market dictated prices and secondary market prices on stuff. It’s a shame, but the comic industry has been dealing with that shit for years lol. A 1000 copy ratio key issue is going to sell 1000x more than a used trade featuring the same issue cause of collectability or to say you have it. Movies are becoming that way sadly. But like I said a simple solution is: just buy the 4k player. You don’t need to buy 4k, just use its hardware to play what you buy. That’s all I’m saying. I just think the panic over a Blu-ray player getting discontinued isn’t serious when the main 3 are still making 4k’s, now if all of them said “hey we aren’t making any players anymore, no matter the type” then the real shitshow begins because available hardware is now cut off at the legs. Plus, Panasonic is better than LG on their players. They’re more durable and last longer, and I’ve had both of mine for like 5-6 years and never had any issues with them. But if you don’t wanna go that route, I’d suggest you’d buy a few backup Blu-ray’s just in case I guess. (Not saying you will but to all the panicked people out there spending more on 4 Blu-ray players than one or two 4k players). It’s all just silly to me personally.

[@jonathanaldecoa1099]

I’m cool with 1080p blu ray. I’m just like you; the 4K’s I do have is because it came in a pack with a blu ray.

[@MichaelKikle]

Me too, man. Looks fantastic. I just saw Tron: Legacy on bluray for the first time ever, and that movie blew me away! Looked incredible!

[@Chris-B.]

Discs are going nowhere. People have been saying this for twenty years. I roll my eyes when people say Blu-Ray and 4k discs are under threat. Physical media is here to stay. Even media that long since vanished, like Vinyl, came back. Heck, even VHS tapes are now being produced. I will copy and post this exact same comment on KZbin in the next twenty years 😁

[@MichaelKikle]

Look, I hope you’re right, but the manufacturing industry and the push from media companies to go all-digital for future releases is already happening with things like the now-two-years-old Texas Chainsaw sequel. We have a bunch of Star Wars shows that are stuck on digital, as well-and I mean the good ones, like Tales of the Jedi and Visions, not the shitty, live action garbo lol. I want to believe that streaming will collapse before physical will, since it’s not making money for these companies, but the way normies don’t buy any physical movies and the way the companies are forcing us into this position points the opposite direction, to me.

[@HomeCinemaEnthusiast]

No loss to the movie industry, lg made budget players . Not reference players . Atleast they still make good washing machines 👌👌👌👌

[@sethm.woodiwiss786]

I'm just the opposite. I have collected a lot of dvd's from the start of the late 90's and DID NOT buy into the bluray propaganda. My dvd's were just fine and I could watch them in HD on all the movie channels or Direct TV. It wasn't until the advent of large panel 4k OLED tvs that I noticed that my old dvd's looked like shit and bluray were ok, but when I popped in the 4k version of the movie Alien, I finally saw what everyone was talking about and now have been on the path of upgrading all my favorite movies up to 4K and love what I see. Nobody will tell me any different. 4k is finally better than DVD and Blu-ray.

[@sethm.woodiwiss786]

I still do buy Blu-ray but only if I can't find a 4k version and I don't pay all that much more. You just have to actually hunt a little or wait for the sales. I very seldom pay more than $10 to $15 for all the 4k's I've bought except for a very select few of my favorites that I really really wanted in the premium packaging.

[@MichaelKikle]

@@sethm.woodiwiss786I don’t agree with you, but that’s okay. Mainly because the general public and normies will decide the fate of these things, and I don’t believe they’ll ever care about 4K, man.

[@kylekullin2520]

​@@MichaelKikleBlu-Ray for me.

[@sethm.woodiwiss786]

@kylekullin2520 I thought the same thing when all I had was a 4k tv that was smaller than 65". I couldn't see much of a difference in Bluray and 4k, but then I bought a 75" OLED with Dolby Vision, and it truly was like night and day. I'm NOT saying that you aren't correct in what your saying about the majority of the public not swinging towards 4k physical media and that's because the majority of the public are streaming 4k and even with HDR that's still only going to look equivalent to Bluray on most people's tv's. What I'm saying is the fact that you are wrong in saying bluray's are just as goid as 4k. I'm sorry, but that's just not even close to being true. Try projecting a bluray up on a 100" screen and tell me what it looks like and then put a properly remastered 4K up on that same screen and if you can't see the difference then you need to get glasses or something. Most people are NOT even going to buy Bluray players anymore, and that's why LG is getting out of the player game. Mainly because most of the collectors out there also know LG 4k players don't hold up against Panasonic and Sony not only because they are better players but their upscalers are a lot better than LG.

[@kylekullin2520]

@sethm.woodiwiss786 I'm used to the Blu-Ray. I'm not really saying they're better.

[@d_manoil1647]

Im buying as much blue ray as I can- finding used stuff $1 each. With AVR 4k upscale -I see no reason to get 4k discs. but I want to update my really old blue ray player- so struggling if i should buy a 4k player.?

[@MichaelKikle]

Dude, I get that. It’s a struggle to figure-out what’s good, now that we’re near the end of physical media. I know a lot of people are buying extra players, if they have the room in a basement or closet. I may do the same.

[@jonathanaldecoa1099]

@@MichaelKikle I might be a backup blu ray player as well. I have a region free player as I get a lot of stuff from the UK.

[@iansteventon4221]

4k uhd looks and sounds fantastic. Jaws , Lawrence of arabia, and recently signs look fantastic, if you seen them in person you would think so also. You need to pick the best restoration or releases . It is worrying the lack of manufacturing of the players tbh, if the next generation of games consoles doesn't include a disk drive, that will be the end imo , the ps3 saved blu ray and the ps6 could kill it.

[@natalebiundo1753]

Panasonic player is the way to go. They have low end to high end players. I have the 420 model which was 249$now on sale for 200$, one step up will get you Dolby vision, if your tv supports it. I do have an older LG player dvd/vhs combo. I’ll be getting another Panasonic player to keep my collection going. Yes blu ray looks very good, fyi the 4k player will upscale the Blu-ray dvd which is great.

[@MichaelKikle]

@@natalebiundo1753 I had heard the 4K upscale were cool, but I don’t see the difference, so I don’t think it’s worth it, honestly.

[@HeyJay2000]

Yeah, I have the 820 and it makes both my 4Ks and Blu Ray's look absolutely stunning. First movie I tried on there was Batman and Robin, and the may not be that good, but my god it is absolutely beautiful on the 820. Looks even better than the Burton ones. I'm thinking of getting the 9000 but still debating on it.

[@georgevillalvazo9154]

I wanted to own a fantastic home theater system, which includes a Sony 83 inch a 90 J master series big screen TV along with a Panasonic UB 9000 4K THX Blu-ray player which I love. ! But to your questions about 4K, I just love 4K and I’m replacing all my regular DVDs cause I can tell the difference between a 4K and the regular DVD and what I like about it is that when you buy the 4K, you get the Blu-ray as well! I’m not concerned about LG not selling DVD players anymore. I think they’re promoting more into the TV sets.. but I’ll tell you this every time. I listen to my home theater. It gives me a big smile.!👍

[@MichaelKikle]

@@georgevillalvazo9154 I’m glad you’re liking 4K, man, but for clarity, I think there’s an obvious difference between DVD and 4K. I just don’t see any difference between bluray and 4K lol. I personally think 4K is a scam, but-again-I’m glad some of you collectors out there enjoy it.

[@LegandaryMusician201]

@@MichaelKikleI was honestly like you a few years ago, I would’ve died on the hill that blu-ray is just as good as 4K. And while for some titles that may actually be true, when you experience a really great 4K transfer, blu-ray just does not come close to the 4K. The bit rates can sometimes triple that of the standard blu-ray, and the overall viewing experience is enhanced greatly if you have a proper home theatre setup. Check out some of your favorites on 4K if you have a proper 4K setup, that’s what really sold me on 4K. No turning back for me at this point as my eyes have seen the light! Lol

[@MichaelKikle]

@@LegandaryMusician201 I’m not willing to spend $50 to $70 a single movie, man-that’s horseshit and I don’t think anyone could ever justify paying that much for a movie, no matter how much you love it.

[@LegandaryMusician201]

@@MichaelKikle I’ve never payed anywhere close to that for a single 4K movie. Recently the entire Back 2 the Future 4K trilogy box set was on sale for $23 (which really shows what 4K can do) and single movies can be found $6-$10 and most places like Gruv do sales like 3 for $33 etc even new release stuff. If you’re paying $50-$70 for a 4K you’re getting ripped off for sure. That will usually be one of those Boutique labels anyway with one of those collectors editions of a movie.

[@MichaelKikle]

@@LegandaryMusician201 No, it mostly depends on where you live. Deadpool & Wolverine, however, was $60 per 4K steelbook, online, everywhere. It’s a fact, man. You might not like it, but it’s the truth-4K is a scam.

[@trevormaurer3684]

Recently Bought another 2 3D Blu Ray players as backups to keep my collection alive for a long time saw this coming.

[@MichaelKikle]

Agreed, man. I need to buy a couple extra players, alongside some VCRs, since I watch a lot of tapes around Christmas time, every year.

[@vanstraelend]

I have 250 blu ray 150 dvd's and only 1 4k,because it was cheaper than the blu ray ,and blu ray was included.Not going to invest in a 4k player,because time is running out for physical and like you said 4k is going first,dvd wil be the last man standing.

[@theshadowman1398]

This sucks since LG is my brand of choice when it comes to blu ray players.

[@MichaelKikle]

Yeah, man, I think LG is a pretty decent brand, myself, even though I use my ps4 and Xbox one more than an actual player, nowadays.

[@PUsokrJosh305]

They are the worst of the bunch. Go buy a Panasonic player and you will never want to buy from another company.

[@FernandoGastelo]

The colors on 4K are amazing. But not worth it for every movie. I only upgraded my top top favorite films. But Blu-ray is best for most

[@MichaelKikle]

Thanks for being honest about that. I have good friends I’ve known for close to over a decade that are still in denial that 4K doesn’t look the best on every movie lol.

[@StevenDavies-el8ss]

Absolute rubbish. Colors on 4K look crap. Bizarre revisionist colors that look teal 🤣

[@HorrorFFA]

Nothing I hate more than having to manually adjust color correction on 4k’s. I won’t even touch a vintage paramount release after H20’s 4k release you’re better off buying Scream Factory or boutique half the time where there were people legit putting passion in the color correction lol. I’d even say cheap Blu-ray’s is a toss up for crappy color correction too, it depends on the quality of the disc sometimes or just the rendering of the movie can be crap.

[@StevenDavies-el8ss]

@@HorrorFFA New York Ripper on 4K was teal city. Had to turn the gamma right down and it still looked crap. The old Bluray has way better colors. 😎

[@HorrorFFA]

@StevenDavies-el8ss Blu-ray uhd discs most often than not are compatible to 4K real talk. I tend to keep Blu-ray UHD and never need to upgrade. And if I am upgrading these days, I’m buying labels like Scream Factory (even though their transfers aren’t even consistent in terms of quality). If you are buying a studio imprint like Sony or whatever, you’re fine with just the Bluray because they don’t any attention into the 4k transfer anyways.

[@jx5189]

The time to panic would be when the studios stop releasing Blu-ray content, we are not at that point Disney has tried doing that in some other countries I don't think it went well. I think everything went on VHS because there was no licensing fee not sure about DVD but I know that there is for Sony's Blu-ray that's why there is hardly any adult content.

[@MichaelKikle]

@@jx5189 Agreed. But this is still a massive red flag that things are coming to an end for we collectors, man. I hate to say it, but it’s happening.

[@jx5189]

It will get Pricier for the collector but if there is even a small demand the bigger studios will just outsource the work to smaller labels to a great degree they have already started doing that. I guess only time will tell. All I know is if they do kill physical media, it will just increase piracy.

[@LukeDodge916]

I honestly havent seen too much of better visually with 4K, but I'm still buying my favorite movies on 4K sometimes. And I've stopped buying from Best Buy and Target since they got rid of physical media, for what that's worth. Looks like I'll stop Walmart too eventually. It does suck. There's so much not on streaming that i want to watch, especially TV so I'm still buyi g DVD. But im nearing 50 in a few years so i wonder how much longer I'll care about these things on my shelf... Merry Christmas everyone.

[@MichaelKikle]

@@LukeDodge916 Yeah, man, I haven’t been to Best Buy since they stopped. They were always too expensive, anyway, but still. Target lost me when they removed all of the movie shelves and replaced them with ridiculously priced records of Taylor Swift and post-modernist books. Ugh. Remember Black Fridays at Target? And how much shit you could buy, that were brand new movies from that year? Unbelievable. Merry Christmas!

[@LordDementus1987]

I haven't bought a Blu-ray in just over 3 years unless you count Terminator 4K. I only have that because it's my favorite movie and my Xbox plays them. Discs are dead. It's just easier and often cheaper to get it through Apple. If they take it away, people will just pirate it.

[@MichaelKikle]

@@LordDementus1987 pirating isn’t as easy as people make it out to be, which is why I don’t agree with you.

[@32lilbruce]

Nothing beats physical media though. Just cause you buy it from apple it doesn't mean you own it plus physical media quality is superior.

[@ar-game-test]

@@MichaelKikle Its only not because most PC users dont have burners anymore imo. I myself do and still burn movies for friends and family be it DVD/Bluray/4K. As for digital rips you can find them easily if you know where to look

[@reelfishstories]

4k DVD’s aren’t true 4k, they’re digitizing the image to make it look sharper but make the image look waxy and weird. I prefer a grainy, dust/scratch filled picture that looks like film. I don’t need to watch movies that look like they were shot on an iPhone. What’s the point of getting a 4k dvd or a recent movie revealing all the cgi imperfections? It’s just a selling point

[@MichaelKikle]

Absolutely agreed, dude.

[@HorrorFFA]

Did you see that even DVDs are being priced at $30-$35 buy in prices brand new for movies like Deadpool and Wolverine. I buy all types of physical media from VHS-4K. But I’ll be damned, I won’t pay $30-$35 for a DVD. Yeah it’s cheaper than a $40-$45 bluray and what have you. The days of cheap physical media will die once big box dumps off inventory and they get liquidated for tax write offs. Walmart owns a dvd company which is why they’re able to slash prices, but if they go, oh prepare for the crossroads there. DVDs always have and should be cheap, imo. That’s really their only selling point to me, even as of today. I’ll pay $2 for a dvd or maybe a $10-$12 Walmart flier movie. But $30-$35? Let them burn lol.

[@PUsokrJosh305]

I think you are referring to James Cameron films on 4K. Most studios don’t go for the “digital look” in terms of what the movie looks like. Take the recently released North By Northwest on 4K. There is plenty of grain and is well detailed.

[@natalebiundo1753]

Buy 4k when they are on sale for 30$ and less. I’ve purchased 4k movies from Amazon as low as 11.99, interstellar, Christine, shining for 19.99, but look around . Now I’d say some 4k movies are none to not much improvement over Blu-ray, and others that are. Terminator 6 pack at Walmart for 20.00 looks great. Bttf on blu ray looks same as 4K , but probably because the Panasonic 4k player is upscaling it. Good luck

[@MichaelKikle]

@@natalebiundo1753 I haven’t seen anything that makes me see a massive difference in newer movies, but definitely obvious in older movies like Halloween. $30 is still too much to buy the same old movies or the shitty new ones lol. For me, anyways.

[@jasonscarlett8868]

I'm so glad you said this, and I totally agree 💯 DVD and Blu-ray is where I stop, and I'm fine with that! I have a 7.2 system and a 75 inch 1080p TV and sometimes you can't tell the difference between 4K and Blu-ray, so i'm tired of these 4K guys 🤨 acting like you're missing out that's cool I can still get the hottest releases on blu-ray and DVD and still have money in my pocket😂 Respect fam👊🏽🇨🇦

[@MichaelKikle]

@@jasonscarlett8868 glad to see the debate getting a lot of focus on it. I’m glad the 4K crowd like what they like, but that shit’s a scam, as far as I’m concerned lmao.

[@user-or2eb7mn3u]

Buy an old movie on 4k movie for 50 dollars, no, thanks.

[@MichaelKikle]

For real, man. I understand upgrading something here and there, but 4K is so pointless and lame lol. When it vanishes, I know the community will lose their minds, but I fully believe DVD and Bluray will be the final two big physical media formats.

[@d_manoil1647]

agree

[@Corvus-Moon]

LG stopped making phones too, the company is near bankruptcy!

[@PUsokrJosh305]

I bought White Christmas (1954) on 4K UHD Blu-ray for $25, which included a blu-ray and Digital code. I’m also getting for my wife North By Northwest for $21 on 4K UHD Blu-ray. Not sure where you are getting the $50 from.

[@PUsokrJosh305]

It sounds like you really haven’t kept up with things. LG is stopping production because their players haven’t sold thanks to them being the worst on the market. Samsung also had the worst. Panasonic and Sony will continue to make players because they actually have good 4K and Blu-ray players. As to 4K, I think you need to understand that the reason why 4K TVs and Blu-ray Discs exist is that the theoretical highest resolution of 35 mm film print is 4K. That’s why we have 4K existing and when a movie is remastered in 4K properly, it will look its best. Wizard of Oz, White Christmas, the Harry Potter films, Star Wars, Back to the Future, have all been released on 4K and they look amazing! Yes, regular blu-ray is great. But once you realize that some were done poorly, like the Harry Potter films were compressed to no end on regular blu-ray, that you will want to switch to 4K.

[@MichaelKikle]

No, I just disagree with people like yourself lol. I think 4K is clearly a scam that people are falling for, and the details don’t look any different, outside of classical movies (as you mentioned, which I also mentioned in my video). But newer movies? No, they don’t need 4K, because it looks identical to bluray lmao.

[@supersonicsjm]

@@MichaelKikle This argument just reminds me of when people told me HD looks the same as SD when I was at uni and I literally sat them side by side to show them the difference. 4K physically can't look the same as blu-ray when there is 4x the resolution as what blu-ray is capable of. Modern movies look significantly better on 4K blu-ray and yes, I've seen the difference. As long as the movie is mastered correctly which most movies today are, it will look better on 4K blu-ray. Comparing it to something like Laserdisc is a false equivalence.

[@MichaelKikle]

@@supersonicsjm Keep coping, man lol. The bluray of a newer movies looks identical to the 4K of a newer movie.

[@supersonicsjm]

@@MichaelKikle sure, and the blu-ray of identical movies looks the same as DVD's

[@PUsokrJosh305]

@@MichaelKikle Ah, you are just looking at the 4K resolution/ details. But what you seem to not understand is that the 4K format is more than just resolution. It’s improved contrast and brightness through HDR, expanded color palette, and bigger storage (66 & 100 GB), allowing less compression of the image. Now yes, some newer movies have smaller differences between the regular blu-ray and the 4K. The main differences though are the improved colors and contrast/brightness, which provides more accurate picture to what the filmmaker intended for you to see. If you want proof, search up HD Numerique here on KZbin. He has plenty of comparison videos that show the differences between BD and 4K BD.

[@yunoyuluvit]

I want my favourite movies in as higher quality as is available and that is 4k Blu Rays. Movie buffs and collectors will always buy physical media, you only have to look how music fans caused a resurgence in vinyl. Being reliant on the version a streaming service is showing, if they are even showing it at all, is not for me.

[@MichaelKikle]

@@yunoyuluvit And that’s the point of the video lmao.

[@ar-game-test]

Not all movies are best in their 4K version, sometimes studios mess with the color or remove grain and then Bluray is the better version

[@zztop7000]

Who cares we still have Xbox and Playstation and Panasonic or Sony and Magnetar etc. and more physical media is here to stay millions of millions of Playstation or Xbox ownership out there used Xbox alone can play dvd or bluray

[@MichaelKikle]

@@zztop7000 Those current PlayStations and Xboxs mostly rely on Internet access-and that’s not a good thing, I’m sure you’d agree. This topic matters, because eventually there won’t be anything available for us. People act like VCRs were always available consistently since they fell out of favor, but they absolutely were not. If you found them used, that was worrisome, but there weren’t any new ones available until recently.

[@GRORGvideot]

@@MichaelKikle you don't need an internet connection to play movies on those..

[@MichaelKikle]

@@GRORGvideot You don’t need one for the ps4, but you absolutely have to have the internet to sign into an Xbox one for the first time. Otherwise, it won’t let you in. This was a problem ever since the one was released, and people like me have bitched about it for ages, because there was no need for it, at all. I don’t have a clue about PS5 or Xbox series, I don’t have those.