LG is officially putting the kibosh on any further production of its Blu-ray players, adding to the growing sense that we're witnessing a slow and unfortunate end to physical media as we know it.
According to FlatpanelsHD, who received confirmation of the change via inside sources, LG is ceasing its Blu-ray player production but isn’t fully stepping away from the market. LG Korea claims a return to optical discs isn’t totally out of the question, but for now, it isn’t feasible given minimal demand.
In fact, LG hasn’t made any new Blu-ray players since 2018. These two models, the UBK80 and UBK90, are still widely available in a variety of different stores — though, interestingly not on its own store page. It’s almost as if LG completely forgot it even had a Blu-ray arm under its wing, as Oppo and Samsung both left the market in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Any remaining LG Blu-ray players on the market will be the last units you can ever purchase — for now, at least. That will leave Panasonic and Sony as the only major brands still actively selling Blu-ray players, though they too haven’t made any new devices since 2018.
The slow, sad death of physical media
In tandem with the rise of several of the best streaming services, popular gaming consoles like the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 offer somewhat similar capabilities to Blu-ray players, and most households already have such a device. Blu-ray players have slowly dwindled both in use-case and in popularity, and LG is just following in the shoes of rival brands, namely Samsung and Oppo, who similarly left the market back in 2018 and 2019.
Blu-ray players are often expensive, too. For reference, the LG UBK90, which launched in 2018, still goes for around $379 today at Amazon — and you still need to buy the Blu-ray DVDs themselves, which also don't come cheap. The whole experience is quite the investment for those simply looking to get the best possible viewing experience for their favorite movies and shows.
LG hasn't even brought a new 4K Blu-ray player to market since 2018 and there's really no reason for it to continue selling them, especially since LG's models weren't viewed as favorably by enthusiasts as Sony and Panasonic Blu-ray players. Interestingly, these two brands are still actively selling Blu-ray players on their online store pages.
Physical media is seeing a slow and calculated death. Few buyers want to deal with DVDs, Blu-ray or not, when streaming services offer so many options for content that it's literally often too hard for people to choose amongst them. Add to that newer devices hitting the market that do away with an optical disc drive, main among them the PS5 Pro, and it's not hard to see the quickening succession of digital media.
Thus, it comes as not surprise that LG is now shying away from making and selling any more Blu-ray players. It's still a sad sight to see, especially given the fact that Blu-ray players are much better than those aforementioned gaming systems, as they tend to support Dolby Vision and sport better performance gains.
That being said, if you're in the market for a new 4K Blu-ray player or are just getting interested in the hobby, it's the perfect time to get yourself one before any remaining LG models are scooped off the market.
