Audio Video News

Everyone was caught off guard last week and perhaps a bit perplexed when Samsung confirmed that it will no longer produce Blu-ray players for sale in the U.S. The move is seen by many as yet another nail in the coffin of physical media, sales of which continue to decline as a growing number of Americans turn to streaming for at-home movie and TV entertainment.

Even so, with consumer spending on DVD and Blu-ray at $4 billion — just shy of a third of what consumers are spending on subscription streaming services such as Netflix — discs aren’t going away any time soon. Which is why we put this question to our readers in last week’s poll:

How long will you continue to buy discs?

A full three quarters of respondents vowed to continue buying 4K Blu-ray discs “as long as Hollywood makes them.”

Doing so is a no brainer in the words of one respondent, who likely spoke for many when he commented: “It's the same price to buy digital only as it is to buy the physical disc, which also comes with a code for streaming! I buy discs primarily because they look and sound better than streaming, and I also have the convenience of the streaming option when I travel. Why anyone would pay full price for streaming only is beyond me.”

The remaining 25% of respondents indicated they’ve either already transitioned to streaming all or most of the time or are starting to buy fewer discs.

Here’s a complete breakdown of the survey results:

• 75% I’ll continue buying 4K discs for their superior performance as long as Hollywood makes them.

• 8% My disc purchases are few and far between these days as I morph into a bona fide streamaholic.

• 8% Discs are so 20th Century. It’s full stream ahead.

• 5% I’m already throttling back my disc purchases as I start to stream more content.

• 4% I’m thinking about cutting back on disc purchases as I start to stream more content.

Have a topic you’d like to suggest for a poll? Leave a comment.

Related:

No Shortage of Blu-ray Players…Yet